Charitable Giving – Daley, Bush and Us

Back when all those rich Republicans were running for the senatorial nomination, I tried to do a story on what percentage each was giving to charity.

From what I remember, current GOP state chairman Andy McKenna was the highest, closing in on the Biblical 10%.

Today I saw stories on Mayor Richard Daley’s and President George Bush’s income tax returns.

The Daley’s reported $13,690 out of $363,647 went to charities (and churches, I would presume, but the story does not say).

The Bush’s reported $78,100 to churches and charities out of their $765,801 income.

The percentages are

3.8% for the Daley family and 10.2% for the Bush family.

Both are less than what Methodist Church founder John Wesley recommended:

Gain all you can.

Save all you can.

Give all you can.

Wesley died with very little, having given away what he got as it came to him.

A Korean Methodist bishop recommended willing about one-third of one’s life’s assets to one’s children and giving the rest to charity.

High standards indeed that few can live up to in this materialistic world.

And the Skinners' favorite charity this year, besides our church, is Rise International, which builds schools in rural Angola for $12,500.

And, with local elections coming up Tuesday, there is and has been a lot more on McHenry County Blog about them.

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