giving to Charities / organizations selfless or self gratifying?
 

I was watching Oprah the other day and she publically announced (twice) that she was to donate $50K of her own money to some fund.

And my first thought was ... how generous of Oprah.

Then i wondered does she ( or anyone else) who wants to publically (whether that be in the limelight or amongst friends/family colleagues) announce donations because they are self-less or because they like the self gratification it brings?

Is annonymous giving the sign of actually giving for that cause and not to be able to point out your own name or to bring forth attention on to your own self?

Any thoughts?

Whitney

For Oprah to brag about donating $50k I think it's pretty funny. Sure, it's nice and a great thing that people donate to charities regardless of the reasons, but there are many wealthy people that donate millions of dollars to charities and nobody ever hears a peep about it.

For her to announce it on her show, she wants all the moms to love her and think how great of a person she is. She does seem like a good person overall though...

ya she def is using it to capitalize on it BUT that exposure will also make other ppl think about donating money as well... win win for all parties involved... so all good in the end i guess..

:2 cents:

Actually that is a good point.. it will def inspire other ppl to be more giving... :)

Whitney

Yesterday I donated $5k to the Sly fund. You should too!

Everytime I have volunteered or have given donations my life has improved.

Wanna here a true story about giving money to a bumb?

I like to donate money. I never talk about it, but Oprah will bring awareness and be able to reach a very big audience and in turn they will donate. When I donate, I don't even get recipets to claim it on my taxes.

I'm sure any time someone gives their time money or even lends a hug to someone in a less fortunate situation... they will notice an improvement in their life.

And sure share your stories ....

donating anonymously is how it should be done - but if you want a little credit for it so be it, it's still a good thing. look at all the hospital wings u see named after people, rich people who donated millions - if that's what it takes to get some people to give then that's cool. if i gave a million dollars to some charity i'd probably want people to know - we're only human, i applaud those who donate anonymously, they are better than me.

i despise Oprah, she's full of herself.

Ya i appreciate some of the things she does for ppl.. kids etc.... but all in all smething about her bugs me

LOL yet everyday i watch her show... go figure!

aaah I'm bored so I will tell you anyways ...

I was SOOOO broke and looking for smokes one day in the clothes of my closet and found a pack of smokes and a ten dollar bill ...

I said screw it .. after programming a website for 5 days straight and never being out of the pad ...I'M GOING FOR BREAKFAST ...
as I left I said to myself - "I really need breakfast" ...


Left the apartment in Edmonton ... started walking down the side walk and a bum said to me "I really need breakfast".... I gave him the ten bucks ...

starting walking back and found $20 bucks ...
kewl ...

turned around and continued toward the diner of my target.

Was having a great breakfast when the waitress dropped a wack of bill from her pouch ...
gave her the money and she bought me breakfast ...

was walking back still with $20.00 and decided to throw $10.00 (saving enough for a pack of smokes) into the Video Lottery Machines. However, the bartender gave me change for a $50 instead of a $10 - went back to him and gave the money back ...

then made one spin and won $1000 dollars.

true story - mega eh???

Good Karma! :)

I do better in my life when I volunteer for something.

It's really "self gratifying" ...

its not for them - it's for me.

I don't know if that is selfish or not - but it seems to be true for me.