putting your money where your mouth is

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Slate.com has a series of interesting articles about the political, economic, and social complexities that underlie charitable giving. They just published their annual report of the 60 largest American charitable contributions. Daniel Akst recently discussed how to get the most "bang" for each charitable buck. In the wake of the tsunami, Daniel Gross addressed whether charity was a zero-sum game. In 1997, Steven E. Landsburg suggested that your "charity portfolio" should not be diversified: "You can puff yourself up with thank-you notes from a dozen organizations, or you can be truly charitable by concentrating your efforts where you believe they will do the most good." In 2002, Daniel Zalewski and James Surowiecki discussed Dave Eggers' first novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity, which made Daniel wonder "if sentiment and intimate human contact should play a more central role in gift-giving."

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