Tsumitate - Charity Edition

[TokyoBoglehead]

I took Ben`s advice and signed up for charity:water monthly donation, https://www.charitywater.org/

I would also like to shoutout Second Harvest. http://2hj.org/english/ . I also set up a monthly donation there.

Set and forget, if it fits your budget.

[RetireJapan]

Fantastic! I also started a regular donation to Second Harvest last year. It's one of my six regular donations: https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/progress-report-2021/

This reminds me that I meant to add two more charities this year, but I can't remember if I did or not... time to check on that!

[TokyoBoglehead]

Fantastic! I also started a regular donation to Second Harvest last year. It's one of my six regular donations: https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/progress-report-2021/

This reminds me that I meant to add two more charities this year, but I can't remember if I did or not... time to check on that!

Fantastic!

I fully expect most people intend to donate, but just forget.

We are looking to add Doctors Without Borders, The Red Cross/Crescent, or Save the Children. My understand is you cannot go wrong with those three.

[TBS]

Bump for a relevant thread for those who may not have seen it. You can claim back 40%+ of the cost of charitable donations by filing a tax return, because donations can be deducted against income tax*.

*Caveats: the charities must be registered in Japan, and the deduction is shared with the furusato nozei limit. However you may be able to save on residents taxes too

[TokyoBoglehead]

My wife pick Doctors Without Borders/Medicins san Frontieres

Monthly Credit Card - https://www.msf.or.jp/donate_bin/monthly.php

We were considering amnesty international, but I dislike the pressure campaigns, and I am less certain about their model.

[robster]

In addition to Charity:Water, my wife and I support SHANTI https://sva.or.jp/english/ which I believe has a very good bang for the buck in terms of the high percentage of your donation actually reaching the needy recipients. They support literacy and education for children in the poorer SE Asian nations, which seems to me to be a sensible "teach a man to fish" approach to helping people in those regions.

[TokyoBoglehead]

In addition to Charity:Water, my wife and I support SHANTI https://sva.or.jp/english/ which I believe has a very good bang for the buck in terms of the high percentage of your donation actually reaching the needy recipients. They support literacy and education for children in the poorer SE Asian nations, which seems to me to be a sensible "teach a man to fish" approach to helping people in those regions.

Thanks! I will have a look.

We feel pretty good about our current list.
Second-Harvest
Doctors Without borders
Charity:Water

[zeroshiki]

On the topic of Second Harvest, I read the other day that the Tokyo Government (maybe Shibuya-ku?) closed down Mitake Park unceremoniously and without warning "for renovation". This is the park where the homeless moved to after Miyashita Park become bourgeois paradise. I don't know what the answer is to the homeless problem but just kicking them all out without warning is probably not it.

[sutebayashi]

*Caveats: the charities must be registered in Japan, and the deduction is shared with the furusato nozei limit. However you may be able to save on residents taxes too

Seeing the shocking disaster news out of Turkey, I was prompted to give a donation to such a charity today.

As for the tax deduction, when doing kakutei shinkoku, both furusato nozei donations and such charitable donations as this are to be included in the same 寄附金控除 bucket, I take it?

[TBS]

As for the tax deduction, when doing kakutei shinkoku, both furusato nozei donations and such charitable donations as this are to be included in the same 寄附金控除 bucket, I take it?

It depends on your income level. If your income is sky high and you are in the 45% marginal tax band (40+ million taxable income), bundling both in the 寄付金控除（所得控除）bucket will be the best option. Otherwise using the 寄付金特別控除（税額控除）special credit route for the charitable donations is best.

The good thing is if you prepare your tax returns via e-tax, it should automatically suggest the best option for declaring the charitable donations for you.