Americans are the most generous people on earth. But we’ve gotten lazy. Instead of taking the time to give wisely, we’ve outsourced charity to middlemen who promise efficiency and deliver bureaucracy. The result? Less impact, more waste, and your money funding things you never signed up for.
Two case studies prove the point: United Way and the U.S. government. One gets your paycheck “voluntarily” through workplace deductions. The other gets it by law. But they operate on the same principle: take your money, skim off the top, and decide for you who’s “worthy.”
I’ve seen United Way from both ends—working inside the organization, and later at a nonprofit that had to play by its rules. The view from the inside wasn’t pretty.
Bottom line: United Way centralizes charity, distorts donor intent, and leaves small nonprofits groveling for table scraps.
Now scale that model up a thousand times, and you’ve got Washington.
The government didn’t get into the business of funding charity until the income tax gave it legal access to your paycheck. Just as UW runs payroll deduction campaigns, Uncle Sam has a standing deduction called April 15. The charitable tax deduction (1917) gave private giving a boost, but the real government “charity” binge began with the New Deal, and it exploded during LBJ’s Great Society.
Today, the U.S. government is the biggest United Way in history.
The result: nonprofits become satellite offices of federal policy, and your money ends up in causes you never voted for. Sound familiar? It’s the United Way model with nuclear warheads strapped to it.
It takes more effort to give wisely than to tick a payroll box or let Uncle Sam redistribute your dollars. But real charity is worth it. Here’s how:
- Give directly. Cut out the middlemen. Write checks or set up recurring gifts to the charities you trust.
- Do your homework. Use Charity Navigator, Guidestar, or the BBB Wise Giving Alliance to check where the money actually goes.
- Stay local. Give to organizations in your own community where you can see results with your own eyes.
- Invest your time. Volunteering sharpens your instincts. You’ll quickly learn which groups solve problems — and which ones exist to recycle grants.
Charity is meant to be voluntary, personal, and accountable. When you hand that power to United Way — or worse, to Washington — you’re not giving anymore. You’re outsourcing. And outsourcing your generosity is the surest way to see it wasted.
Big Charity wants you to think they’re doing you a favor. United Way and the federal government both sell themselves as efficient gatekeepers of generosity — but in reality, they’re middlemen skimming off the top and steering your money where they want it to go.
This column exposes how the United Way model of wasted overhead, donor illusion, and bureaucratic control scaled into Washington’s mega-machine — where “charity” becomes a political tool instead of a personal calling.
If you’re tired of watching your generosity turned into red tape, it’s time to cut out the middleman. Join PJ Media VIP today and get the unfiltered truth you won’t hear anywhere else.
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