ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512220015
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Charity
SOURCE: JOHN LEVIN
Say what you like about the commercialization of Christmas, but there's more than conspicuous consumption at the malls this time of year.
Watch shoppers who plunk down their pocket change - or open their wallets for dollar bills - at the Salvation Army's red kettles or leave wrapped gifts for underprivileged children at angel trees.
There's no doubt that the season of shopping also comes with a spirit of generosity.
"This time of year, people give you money who wouldn't give you the time of day in July," said Maj. Dan Delaney, commanding officer of the Salvation Army Inc.'s Roanoke operations.
"People are just motivated to give. Mostly it's because people want to help someone. They are motivated by the moment and the time of year," he said.
Americans - businesses, foundations and individuals - gave $130 billion to charities last year, according to the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel. That amount rose slightly from 1993, after remaining flat for several years, and is expected to rise again this year, thanks to a stable economy.
While charities collect money year-round, many such as the Salvation Army see between 80 percent and 90 percent come between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, Delaney said.
The organization collects about $500,000, most of it in the familiar red kettles with volunteer bell-ringers at Roanoke Valley shopping centers and supermarkets. Only about $75,000 of that comes in increments the charity terms large gifts - $500 or more. "We have thousands and thousands of people who make small donations," he said.
People's greater generosity during the holidays is not overlooked by charities; 65 percent of all direct-mail solicitations go out in the last quarter of the year, said Robert Kulinski, president of United Way of Roanoke Valley.
Charitable groups that benefit from the annual United Way campaign agree not to conduct their own fund drives between August and the end of October, when they would conflict with the United Way's drive to raise about $5 million.
But the United Way wraps up its solicitation by early November, knowing its member charities need to take advantage of year-end generosity.
"Our advice to any charitable organization is you've got to do year-round fund-raising," Kulinski said. "But doing it in the last quarter takes advantage of both a generous climate and tax planning."
Despite a tax system that encourages donations by making many of them deductible, the local charities said that's not the primary motivation for most of their gifts.
Only about 1 percent of United Way's donors ask to be billed before the end of the calendar year to take advantage of the tax deductions, Kulinski said.
"People who make large gifts, especially of appreciated property, are tax-motivated," said Gene Seago, professor of accounting in Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business. "If I have property that cost $10 and it's now worth $100, I can give it to charity and deduct $100, and, depending on my tax bracket, it can save me $45 in state and federal taxes.
"So that gift really costs me only $55," he said, explaining the tax impact.
For the average person, that thinking affects only regular and scheduled gifts, such as those to churches, colleges and health-related charities, Seago said. For most, there's little evidence that taxes have a direct impact on giving that's spontaneous or simply an expression of generosity.
"But the desire to give is an impulse thing to some degree," said Roanoke accountant Patrick J. Budd. "So many people put themselves in front of you this time of year, people asking for donations because they know the timing is right at Christmas.
"The tax motivation affects the amount, but it's secondary."
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