Work, Success and Charity

Many successful working professionals in better-than-average circumstances believe in shared social responsibility to try to help people in need directly. Some have genuine passion to help because of a personal connection to a cause. Most, at the very least, feel good about helping others. My own social convictions correspond with these sentiments. Regrettably, time to be had to do so often stands in the way of getting personally involved.

The American Time Use Study released June 2007 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures the entire population to report the overall distribution of time allocation for society as a whole.

Americans reported that they spend, on average, .13 hours per day dedicated to volunteering (organizational and civic activities). Some of the many reasons for that small measure of time are as follows:

Employed persons worked 7.6 hours on average on the days that they worked—multiple jobholders were about twice as likely to work on an average weekend day as were single jobholders

On an average day, 84 percent of women and 64 percent of men spent 2.2 hours doing household activities, such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management

Adults living in households with children spent 0.8 – 2.0 hours providing primary childcare

People spent, on average, 9.21 hours with personal care activities including sleeping, bathing, dressing, health-related self-care, and personal or private activities

On an average day, nearly everyone age engaged in 5.5 hours of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising

For those engaged in the labors of work to sustain and better personal and family circumstances, time is indeed precious. To alleviate a guilty conscience respecting community involvement, many elect to give money as an alternative to dedicating “free” time. As reported by the U.S. Census 2000, contributing households donated 2% of personal income to qualified organizations or for out of pocket expenses serving as a volunteer—far less than the 10% ideal standard set by tithing doctrines. Determining the right amount to give is an individual decision as charity by definition is a “gift.” Opinions differ as to how much to give, and whether it is better to give money or volunteer time.

If, however, you are an employees, employer or entrepreneur—take comfort, as it may be argued that work, in and of itself, reconciles disparity with respect to volunteering and contributing. Economic growth caused by capitalism has done considerably more to alleviate poverty and advance standards of living than all government, philanthropy and aid programs combined. It is likely markets will continue to do this for a long time. Increase in the production of goods and services over time is often used as a measure of increased material well-being of the citizenry generated through economic activity.

The beauty of capitalism is that it accomplishes aggregate good through what can be thought of as selfish motives. But it does not put an end to the debate as to the duty for those of us in better circumstances to try to help people and the community directly. Because capitalism and policies that promote them will not take care of everything, charity is neither a waste of time nor money.