this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2026
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Remember, the average person donates around 4% of their income every year.
Nearly all of these billionaires, with more money than you'd ever have in a thousand lifetimes, haven't donated as much in their entire life as you will in just one year, as a percentage of their net worth.
Keep in mind that donations to religious institutes are counted as charitable donations, whereas they can - in the best case - be more accurately described as variable membership fees. That's 39% of all donations according to the link.
Some of the donations to education institutes (19%) are also not really donations but rather bribes, aimed at receiving preferential treatment for children in admissions.
Even taking that into account, charitable giving (by non-billionaires) tends to be quite high in the US compared to other western countries. Perhaps general distrust of the government plays a role. Speaking only for myself, I could give much more to charity, but only give to the Wikimedia Foundation since by my reckoning most of the causes that should get more money (e.g., scientific research) can be handled overwhelmingly more efficiently by the government. So I would end up spending money which goes to lobbying against what I consider the better solution. I would much rather pay more taxes and vote accordingly.
I also occasionally throw a Wikipedia donation amount of money at the ACLU (I'm aware of the issues with them but they're also a load bearing institution on American freedom). Also bail funds during mass protests.
Fair point. The human right situation here is a bit better, so I don't feel like I need to do anything other than try to vote for the least shitty politicians. That might change if the (increasingly popular) fascists get their way, though thus far the threat doesn't seem immediate.
There is no bail either, that's just class justice and an egregious human rights violation.