Giving Progress 2017

​Another year sharing the luck

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Read this post by Mister Money Mustache this week, which reminded me about my own paltry efforts.

We’ve written about giving to charity before, first here and then an update here.

Basically giving money or time to others is one of the best ways to make yourself happier, as well as making the world a little better for everyone.

There is a huge multiplier effect too, as people start to pay it forward.

I decided to automate my giving, as this ensures that 1) it happens, and 2) I don’t need to think about it. I am pretty lazy, so like to automate anything that can be automated.

Like my investing, my giving is pretty random. Here are the charities I give money to regularly:

Severn Hospice (10 pounds a month plus one-off donation of 500 pounds)
My mum spent her last few weeks here, and they treated her and me extremely well. Supporting their future work really is the least that I can do.

Charity: water ($30 a month)
I can’t think of anything more basic than having clean drinking water. Charity: water seem to spend their money well and send a lot of information about the end users.

Amnesty International (2.50 pounds a month -should increase this one)
Drawing attention to human rights abuses supports and encourages the victims and puts pressure on the abusers.

Courageous Kitchen ($25 a month)
I went to Bangkok a few years back to meet Dwight (the founder of In Search of Sanuk which later became Courageous Kitchen) and was so impressed with what he was doing that I’ve been proud to support their work ever since.

Apart from the one-off donations, all of these are automated monthly payments. Most charities appreciate regular payments as it make it easier for them to plan and less necessary to fundraise.

Unfortunately I am not aware of any tax advantages in Japan for charitable giving (are there any?) but there are enough non-monetary ones to make this worth it.

I will be increasing my regular giving going forward as my income/financial situation improves.

How about you? Do you give time or money? Any good charities out there? Any way of getting a tax break on charitable giving in Japan?
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8 Responses

  1. You can save tax by giving charity money, but the receiving organization should be approved by J-IRS. Some NPOs are approved. (but not all).
    The irony is that most approved organizations are governmental / semi-governmental organizations. The public servants think only about themselves…
    Some NPO organizations such as Red Cross, UNICEF, Rotary Club etc are approved, so you can reduce your tax when you donate to these organizations. I gave donation to Animal Refuge Kansai, which is approved as well.
    One issue is that you do not know where the money goes, if you donate to larger organizations. I was involved in a Rotary Club, and have heard many rumors. We gave money to a country which was hit by earthquakes, but the local government officials and middlemen kept the money and they did not use it for the victims.
    If you donate, it is better to donate directly who actually need help.
    I hope it helps.

    1. This is towards EJ and Ben.
      This post comes at a really fortuitous time. Things have really turned around for my wife and I this year after both a serious illness and uncertain employment for 2018 and beyond. I promised myself starting in 2018 I would try to pay some of our good fortune forward.
      EJ: Animal Refuge Kansai is something I could totally get behind. Not only do we intend adopt next year (from ARK no less), but the way animals are treated in Japan are just appalling to us. From owl cafes to the 500,000+ stray dogs that J-gov euthanizes every year (something like 90% of strays in Japan compared to 15% in the UK or USA). There is no telling how many dogs and cats die in the puppy and kitten mills supplying Japan’s “pet as accessory” culture. -end rant-
      Ben: How do you set up automated donations? Through the organizations themselves? I don’t see an option at ARK for example. But they do take PayPal, maybe there is an option there.

      1. I seem to remember it being fairly easy to set up recurring donations with Paypal. I’ll be looking at my account in the new year to increase my payments, so should have a better answer then 🙂

  2. My wife (who does Corporate Social Responsbility for a Japanese megafirm), did donate to some charities. I would need to double check, but I recall the Japanese branch of UNICEF and one other.
    I also know that she was able to have them be a tax deduction taken via her company end of year adjustment.

  3. I donate a small amount monthly to Plan Japan (AKA Foster Parent’s Plan). I used to donate to Plan Canada, but moved my donations over to Plan Japan to reap the benefits of tax deductions. I also donate every christmas season to ARK or another organization. My husband takes my donation receipts to the tax office around tax time, and some nice worker always helps him fill out the forms online there. And I get a nice deposit of 12,000 – 15,000 of tax refund deposited in my bank account a few weeks later.
    You could do the same with Amnesty Japan, if you were so inclined to make the switch.