Free Republic

Texans cherish the memory of Davy Crockett's heroic death at the Alamo in 1836 but few know what led him there or why he fought so valiantly. Throughout his life, Davy Crockett was renowned for his love of liberty and fierce loyalty to the Constitution. Originally a Democrat, Crockett found he could no longer identify with the party's positions which he believed were straying from our country's founding principles. As a man who believed in individual liberty and the principle of congressional restraint this shift was unacceptable to him. He left the party in 1833 and joined the Whig party...

How miserly is The Donald? From 1990 through 2009, Trump has personally donated a total of just $3.7 million to his foundation, which was incorporated in 1987. In fact, the billionaire is not even the largest contributor to his own charitable organization. Tax returns show that World Wrestling Entertainment has given Trump’s foundation a total of $5 million in return for the developer’s assistance in working a couple of televised angles along with WWE boss Vince McMahon. The WWE gave Trump’s foundation $4 million in 2007 for his help in promoting that year’s WrestleMania festivities, and another $1 million in...

Founded in 2006, The Eric Trump Foundation (ETF) is dedicated to raising money for children battling life-threatening diseases at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. To date, ETF has donated and pledged nearly $30 million dollars to St. Jude. By using Trump-owned facilities, full-time volunteers and donated goods and services, The Eric Trump Foundation maintains one of the lowest expense ratios of any foundation in the country.

A southeastern Idaho cafeteria worker said she was fired for giving a student a free meal costing $1.70, but the school district offered her the job back after a national outcry. Dalene Bowden received a termination letter from the Pocatello School District last week after she gave a tray of food to a 12-year-old student who said she didn't have money for the meal.

What's the difference between a charitable transaction (like giving a hitchhiker a ride or giving a beggar your spare change) and an ordinary market transaction (such as paying for a bus ride or paying a kid to shine your shoes)?

Earlier this month I was reading an article from Ester Bloom at The Atlantic dealing with the burgeoning trend of crowdfunding which raises some perplexing questions. She starts out by noting that there’s been something of a cultural shift in America on the subject of money. There was a time when asking for money was a rather uncomfortable subject and people generally only fell back on that approach as a last resort. It was not that long ago that people were squeamish about asking each other for money. Bringing up the subject of personal finances at all used to be...

Are kids from more religious families more or less altruistic than their peers from less-religious families? That's what a high-profile new study from University of Chicago neuroscientist Jean Decety and a global crew of collaborators sought to determine... (snip) In their study, Decety and his colleagues gave the sticker test to 1,170 kids at schools in six cities--Amman, Cape Town, Chicago, Guangzhou, Istanbul, and Toronto...The researchers also gave the kids another test, in which they watched videos of people hurting other people, and then judged (a) how mean the bullies were, and (b) how much punishment the bullies deserved. (snip)...

MIAMI (CBSMIami) – It’s a celebration that’s become a pre-holiday tradition in little Havana… People lining up and camping out for a bit of holiday help, many waiting since Thanksgiving Day, dancing and playing dominos to pass the time hoping to snatch up one of 3,000 vouchers for a hot meal. For 50 years CAMACOL, the Latin chamber of commerce has handed out Christmas gift baskets, packed with turkey and all the trimmings. “It’s really good,” said Anna Duquerne, one of the many people waiting in line. “They help us a lot when they give this out.”(continued)

There was a time in my life twenty years ago when I was driving a cab for a living. It was a cowboy's life, a gambler's life, a life for someone who wanted no boss, constant movement and the thrill of a dice roll every time a new passenger got into the cab. What I didn't count on when I took the job was that it was also a ministry. Because I drove the night shift, my cab became a rolling confessional. Passengers would climb in, sit behind me in total anonymity and tell me of their lives. We were...

Thousands of volunteers for the Red Cross in the Netherlands say they are not prepared to help refugees, according to a confidential report in the hands of broadcaster Nos. The organisation carried out a survey of 1,300 of its 30,000 volunteers and found around one in five was unwilling to work with asylum seekers. The reasons given ranged from ‘I’d rather see our borders closed’ to ‘there is nothing for them here’, while others said most refugees are after an easy life. The Red Cross is holding a meeting with officials from all 25 districts on December 15 in an...

Don’t you love donating to causes you believe in? Don’t you love that warm fuzzy feeling from knowing that contributing to a worthy cause? And don’t you especially love that you can support whatever organization you choose anonymously? That last one is especially important given the news over the last few years that the IRS has been targeting conservatives with audits and denial of tax-free status for nakedly political reasons. Well, if the IRS has their way, this may be a luxury that will soon go the way of the dinosaur. A new rule is proposing that non-profit organizations collect...

The IRS once again has stirred the ire of nonprofit groups, this time with a proposal organizations say could someday require them to collect and hand over the Social Security numbers of their donors. Under the proposed rule, the IRS would create an optional filing for 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Those participating would, as part of their yearly report, turn over the Social Security numbers of any donors who give $250 or more to a charity in a given year. “I don’t know any charity that would adopt this, but those who do will certainly be scaring their donors,” said Mark Fitzgibbons,...

Maybe people need to start listening to NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton when he recently suggested that New Yorkers refrain from giving money to street beggars if they'd like to alleviate the panhandling epidemic brought on by the serially-misguided DeBlasio era.   Of course he was immediately attacked as some sort of heartless monster by the left with hashtags and worse... And while I can't prove how much heart the NYPD's head cop may-or-may-not have, he's got to have one hell of a lot more brains in his head than the 'progressive' NYers now inflicting their knee-jerk' 'caring' on the man: handing drunks...

An offshoot of the Clinton Foundation has announced plans to resubmit its federal tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service, reversing an earlier decision against such a move. The Clinton Health Access Initiative, which offers HIV/AIDS treatment and vaccination programs, had decided on Monday that its 2012 and 2013 990 forms had only minor errors that do not require them to be refiled with the IRS. In the wake of media criticism, however, the group changed its mind again on Wednesday. 'As previously stated, the minor errors on the 2012 and 2013 CHAI 990s are immaterial and do not require...

The Clinton Foundation has until November 16 to amend more than ten years’ worth of state, federal and foreign filings, but it’s going to be virtually impossible to do so without acknowledging that it has engaged in massive accounting fraud since its inception The Clinton Foundation has gotten a good deal of unflattering attention as of late, which isn’t surprising given that its best known namesakes are Bill, a former president and chronic philanderer, and Hillary, who hopes to be the nation’s next leader. Furthermore, the foundation portrays itself as do-gooder nonprofit organization but a cursory look reveals questionable and...

A CHARITY has stopped providing aid to the Calais 'jungle' because aid workers have concluded the majority of migrants in the camp do not need to be there.The Human Relief Foundation (HRF) has been giving aid to the migrant camp with the belief that its occupants are fleeing war-torn countries like Syria. However, the charity decided to pull the plug after its deputy chief executive Kassim Tokan recently paid a visit to Calais. The shocked deputy claimed he discovered unwanted clothing and food "being dumped and burnt" by migrants. Mr Tokan said: "I thought they have valid reason, but...

A crisis relief charity chief is set to pull the plug on aid to the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp after discovering most people there are economic migrants ‘without any reason’ to leave their home country. The Bradford-based Human Relief Foundation has been running a project to help the ‘refugees’ at the makeshift camp and previously claimed they were all ‘fleeing war and significant atrocities.’ But a visit by a team led by Kassim Tokan, the HRF deputy chief executive, discovered a totally different picture on the ground, with unwanted clothing and food being ‘dumped and burnt’ by the migrants. Instead of...

Nothing has defined Carly Forina's presidential campaign quite like her outspoken opposition to Planned Parenthood — a point she has brought up repeatedly at debates and press conferences. It might seem odd, then, that her Fiorina Foundation has given half a million dollars to Planned Parenthood since 2011. The Fiorina Foundation isn't actually, legally, a foundation, per se; it's an account Fiorina and her husband hold with The Ayco Charitable Foundation, a "donor-advised fund" that stashes charitable donations for clients in case they want to quickly receive tax benefits, The Daily Beast explains. One expert on the topic described it...

Look at charitable giving budget after a lean year and I want to make every penny count. I tend to be suspicious of any philanthropy that engages in heavily emotional advertising. Opinions about WW from FReepers appreciated.

**SNIP** To know NASCO is to understand why Mr. Jones’ 2007 letter to Lois Lerner, in which he discusses a “sentiment” for charities to become more transparent, is so typical of NASCO’s hypocrisy about transparency, honesty and ethics. Their annual conference was once completely closed off from representatives of nonprofit organizations because NASCO did not like being criticized for their questionable and overbearing tactics. Indeed, in his 2007 letter to Ms. Lerner, Jones criticizes “’push back’ from the nonprofit sector.” These bureaucrats do not like criticism from those they regulate, and they are effective at chastening their critics. Jones also...