What the Book of Mormon Says About Those in Need

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[lostinblue 1,989]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/mitt-romney-gives-million_n_924414.html

Mitt Romney Gives Millions To Charity

According to IRS documents reviewed by The Huffington Post, Mitt and Ann Romney's charitable foundation gave $4,325,000 to the Mormon Church in three hefty installments in 2003, 2008 and 2009. That was 74 percent of their foundation's donations from 2002 to 2009, during which time the couple gave a total of $5,854,916 to charity.

Including another $300,000 that the couple gave to Brigham Young University, the church-run college in Provo, Utah, where Romney earned his undergraduate degree, the proportion of their giving that went to support Mormon missionary work, the upkeep of church buildings and other religious activities rises to 79 percent.

That doesn't include earlier gifts to the church or its subsidiaries.

In 1998, Romney gave BYU $1 million to create the George W. Romney Institute for Public Management in honor of his father, the Detroit auto executive and governor of Michigan who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1968. The couple also gave a total of $311,000 to the church in 2000 and 2001.

The Romney foundation did not make religious contributions each year. In 2003, for instance, it handed over a whopping $1,925,000 to the church. In 2005, however, it gave nothing. In 2008, the Romneys gave the LDS Church $1.8 million. The following year, they donated $600,000.

Mormons are expected to tithe 10 percent of their income to the church. During a 2002 gubernatorial debate, Romney cited the tradition of tithing, claiming he gave 13 percent of his annual gross income that year to charity. Although financial disclosure forms released in 2007 showed his worth at between $190 million and $250 million, Romney has not released income tax forms that would allow confirmation of the percentage he sets aside for charity.

In an email to HuffPost, LDS church spokesman Lyman Kirkland refused to give details of Romney's tithing, calling such contributions "personal, private matters of the individuals who make them."

But he said members typically make "contributions to church programs such as our humanitarian efforts to alleviate pain and suffering around the world, or to a fund that helps young people improve their educational opportunities and raise their standard of living. These are the types of things you would expect from a church."

David Campbell, a University of Notre Dame political scientist and co-author of “American Grace: How Religion Unites and Divides," said members are required to be a "full tithe-payer" at 10 percent of their income in order to be admitted to LDS temples, although the church doesn't conduct audits at the door. He noted that even though Mormons give a large chunk of their income to the church, it is not a "zero sum game." Mormons, he has written, give more to religious and secular causes than any other faith group.

The couple established the Ann D. and W. Mitt Romney Charitable Foundation in 1993, just as he was preparing his ill-fated bid to unseat Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). It lay mostly dormant until 1999, when the couple deposited more than $3.6 million worth of high-tech stocks in it and began to make significant contributions.

Now known as the Tyler Charitable Foundation, it is scheduled to release its 2010 financial reports later this month.

"Mitt and Ann Romney are very involved in the community," said campaign spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom. "Some of their activity is public through their foundation, but that is not the only vehicle for their philanthropy. Their charitable giving is not something they generally talk about, but I think it's fair to say they feel an obligation to give back."

The foundation has been the Romneys' main vehicle for giving, whether to keep the lights on with a $10,000 check to a homeless shelter for veterans that couldn't pay its electric bill or to send relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina ($10,000) and the South Asia earthquake and tsunami ($25,000).

The GOP presidential hopeful has donated $127,000 in proceeds from his 2010 campaign book, “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness." Seven charities serving children, cancer and MS patients and severely wounded veterans got donations ranging from $10,000 to nearly $33,000.

The businessman-turned-politician has also foregone payment for work he did as governor and as head of the Olympics.

As head of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Romney took no salary for three years while donating $1 million to the games. Later, while he was entitled to $135,000 annually as governor of Massachusetts, he drew a salary of $1 a year for serving as the state's chief executive. And while he hasn't explicitly said so this time around, Romney vowed during his last campaign for the White House that, if elected, he would donate his $400,000 salary as president to charity.

While her husband was forgoing a paycheck, Ann Romney donated her time to a variety of causes. She has worked as a board member of New England Chapter of the MS Society to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis, the disease with which she was diagnosed in 1998, and has been a long-time supporter of the United Way of Massachusetts. She also has served as director of the Best Friends Foundation, a controversial program that promotes abstinence-only sex education for inner-city girls.

Excluding gifts to the Mormon Church and BYU, the Romney foundation typically donated a bit more than $200,000 annually to charities over the last decade. But some years the couple gave relatively little. In 2002 and 2003, they donated $75,500 and $81,200, respectively. During this same period, Romney spent more than $6 million of his own money on his successful campaign for governor, breaking previous Massachusetts records for self-funding.

Other than the $600,000 he gave to the Mormon Church that year, 2009 saw the Romneys donate a mere $31,000 to nonprofit groups. Of that, $25,000 went to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a conservative legal advocacy group. Like other foundations during that time, his took a hit from the tanking economy, logging a net loss of $513,270 to end the year with $8.5 million in assets.

Romney has spread his wealth mostly to groups based in Massachusetts and Utah. In addition to gifts to his children's schools and to his own -- including $50,000 to Harvard Business School in 2004 -- Romney has favored a few specific causes:

Health care. The Romneys have given more than $100,000 to research and service organizations for multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, cancer, epilepsy, Lou Gehrig's Disease and AIDS.

For the man who signed the nation's first comprehensive health care reform law, the choices have sometimes been personal. Ann's multiple sclerosis and her diagnosis in 2008 with early stage breast cancer have informed their giving. So has the plight of associates likes conservative columnist Dean Barnett. An early supporter who was Romney's driver during his 1994 Senate campaign, Barnett died of cystic fibrosis in 2008 at age 41.

Youth. The Boy Scouts of America, the Boston Scholars program for disadvantaged students and the Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund to prevent child abuse -- where Ann Romney served on the board -- all have benefited from the couple's largess. They gave $10,000 to the United Way Faith and Action Fund started by Ann Romney to help at-risk urban youth. Romney has given more than $60,000 to City Year, the Boston-based community service organization on whose board he once served.

Conservative think tanks. In 2006, two years after presiding as governor over the first state to legalize gay marriage after a ruling by the Massachusetts high court, Romney's foundation wrote a series of checks in an apparent bid to burnish his conservative credentials ahead of the 2008 presidential primaries.

The Massachusetts Family Institute, which fought same-sex marriage in the state, got $10,000. The anti-abortion rights group Massachusetts Citizens for Life was given $15,000.

Washington's right-leaning Heritage Foundation received $10,000 in 2006. So did the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group and, the next year, Citizens for Limited Taxation. Stanford's Hoover Institution, the conservative think tank that is home to the likes of Condoleezza Rice, received $25,000 in 2006.

Sports. No surprise that the man credited with saving the 2002 Winter Olympics would use his money to promote athletics.

Over the years, he has given $100,000 to Right to Play, an international group that uses sports as a developmental tool for children in disadvantaged areas of the world. His money has helped restore community baseball fields, teach sailing in Boston and support the U.S. Olympic handball team.

The Romneys also have given nearly $20,000 to the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation. It's a cause close to the heart of Ann Romney, whose therapy to cope with MS has included horseback riding.

Since 2002, he has also given more than $30,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, a sum Alexandra Fuchs, who oversees fundraising for the group, called "very generous." She noted that Romney gave his first donation after visiting a club in the rundown Roxbury neighborhood, later returned as governor to speak to a roundtable of opinion leaders in Chelsea and has been among many state and local politicians who have gravitated to the organization over the years.

"They want to give back to others who have not had the opportunities they had," she said. "For someone in a political role, the mission of creating responsible citizens and leaders, I think, would resonate with someone in a leadership role in business or politics."

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Donations to fight same sex marriage and to fund the Heritage foundation and other right wing institutions are charitable giving? How does that help the poor?

[lostinblue 1,989]

Donations to fight same sex marriage and to fund the Heritage foundation and other right wing institutions are charitable giving? How does that help the poor?

The liberal mantra.....If I donate a kidney they want to know why not both. It is wrong that I should make a donation to the NRA correct. after all YOU should decide for me where my hard earned money should be spent.You try that through all kinds of tax schemes. Our Church had a plot of land free for anyone to plant a garden in. We told some welfare members about it even offered to help them get started with a garden. Man they just laughed. Never planted a garden ever. They just showed up at the food bank for their monthly hand out. The depression era church members had most of the garden. Now they are canning food for winter. Welfare members just like pigs at the government feed trough.Will not even help themselves when others do most of the work.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The liberal mantra.....If I donate a kidney they want to know why not both. It is wrong that I should make a donation to the NRA correct. after all YOU should decide for me where my hard earned money should be spent.You try that through all kinds of tax schemes. Our Church had a plot of land free for anyone to plant a garden in. We told some welfare members about it even offered to help them get started with a garden. Man they just laughed. Never planted a garden ever. They just showed up at the food bank for their monthly hand out. The depression era church members had most of the garden. Now they are canning food for winter. Welfare members just like pigs at the government feed trough.Will not even help themselves when others do most of the work.

I get it, you can rant. But you can't seem to answer the question you appear to respond to.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Mr. Big Dog

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Are you a Mormon, Steven?

Or are you a Christian?

Let he that is without sin cast the first stone.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

"Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." ~ Mark 7:8

Deuteronomy 15:7, 11 If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

Psalm 12:5 Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise, says the LORD, I will protect them from those who malign them

Psalm 41:1-2 Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble. The LORD will protect him and preserve his life; he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

1 John 3:17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

Edited September 19, 2012 by Commie Appeaser

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

“The 1 experts in the law 2 and the Pharisees 3 sit on Moses’ seat. 23:3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 4 23:4 They 5 tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them. 23:5 They 6 do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries 7 wide and their tassels 8 long. 23:6 They 9 love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues 10 23:7 and elaborate greetings 11 in the marketplaces, and to have people call them ‘Rabbi.’

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law 14 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! 15 You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! 16 For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law 18 and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, 19 and when you get one, 20 you make him twice as much a child of hell 21 as yourselves!

Matthew 23

[TiklingGuy 211]

Donations to fight same sex marriage and to fund the Heritage foundation and other right wing institutions are charitable giving? How does that help the poor?

The poor should get out and help themselves instead of relying on free hand outs. I was poor once, but because of good decisions and having an attitude that nobody will help me but myself, i am no longer poor.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The poor should get out and help themselves instead of relying on free hand outs. I was poor once, but because of good decisions and having an attitude that nobody will help me but myself, i am no longer poor.

That's great. I can say the same about myself. But that's not the issue at hand. Try and focus. You did it once and it helped you not be poor anymore. Try it again and it might help you make relevant contributions to this discussion.

[TiklingGuy 211]

That's great. I can say the same about myself. But that's not the issue at hand. Try and focus. You did it once and it helped you not be poor anymore. Try it again and it might help you make relevant contributions to this discussion.

That is relevant to your dumb question. Try and focus? Really? I am sorry i don't have a freeloader mentality. Give to the poor all you want, they will gladly take your money. I will continue to invest to become rich.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

That is relevant to your dumb question. Try and focus? Really? I am sorry i don't have a freeloader mentality. Give to the poor all you want, they will gladly take your money. I will continue to invest to become rich.

Okay, so you've got nothing to contribute on the actual issue. Thanks for clearing that up.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Okay, so you've got nothing to contribute on the actual issue. Thanks for clearing that up.

Since 1985, LDS Charities (aka Humanitarian Services) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has provided aid regardless of cultural or religious boundaries. Emergency assistance is provided through the Humanitarian Aid Fund, and long-term aid is provided through major initiatives such as clean water, wheelchairs, neonatal resuscitation training, vision care, immunization, food production, and a variety of local area initiatives.

Two tenets of humanitarian aid define LDS Charities: 1) One hundred percent of every dollar donated is used to help those in need without regard to race, religion, or ethnic origin, and 2) LDS Charities helps people attain self-sufficiency so they can be self-reliant long after LDS Charities departs.

In 2011, help was provided to more than 2 million people in 132 countries. Currently we are receiving donations for:

•Humanitarian Aid Fund

•Clean Water

•Wheelchairs

•Neonatal Resuscitation Training

•Vision Care

•Food Production & Nutrition

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.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=93HNqFXuJrk&noredirect=1