Charity Going Down the Drain

An article posted on the CNNmoney.com titled Americas wealthy turn less charitable by Charles Riley has caught the attention of America. Research has been done on the top charity donors of America. This research shows that they only gave $3.3 billion in 2010. This was the smallest donated amount since 2000. Out of the 400 wealthiest people in America only 17 of them appeared on the top 54 donors list.

Almost all of the 65 gifts of $5 million went to universities and colleges. This upsets people in America who believe that the money can be used to help other causes. The world’s youngest billionaire donated $100 million to the Newark, N.J., school system. “The lack of high-dollar gifts is likely to cause pain as charities work to survive a tough economy.” This was stated in the article to signify that one of the reasons charities are struggling is because they have a lack of gifts being given to them.

A statement made in the article that caught my attention discusses how all the money given to schools was not just to get their names put on a building. “But not all that money went to the "put my name on a building fund." Some of the gifts were specifically earmarked for student scholarship funds, or clean energy research programs.” This shows that people are donating money to the schools for the right reasons. Even thought the money is not being giving to charity it is still being used to help students who cannot afford to go to college.

Along with the statement about the schools receiving the money some people may argue that it is not needed there most. If students are not able to pay for college then we would possibly have more kids out of work and dropping out of school. The reasoning for the students dropping out would be not having anything to look forward to after high school. The money being handed out is being put to a good use even though it is not being used for charity.