Causecast

By Ben Chinn

With election day drawing closer and closer, people are really starting to take sides. While a lot of people have already decided who they’re going to vote for, there’s still a large number of undecided voters. It’s important that these voters make the right decision because it’s very likely that “the undecided” will decide this election.

So what’s a deciding factor for someone? Is it the candidate’s stance on the economic crisis? Foreign policy? Here at Causecast, we want to help you make an informed decision. Because we work closely with charities and causes, we’d like to show you what each candidate, both Presidential and Vice-Presidential, gave to charity over the past year. While it’s not our place to tell you who to vote for, we can help you out in the field we know most about: giving.

We’ll start with the democratic nominees first. Barack and Michelle Obama are always talking about social change and helping those in need but does their donation history reflect this? On his 2007 tax returns, Obama donated a whopping $240,370 to charities. That’s around 5.7% of his income. Obama made $4,139,965 for that year and paid $1,396,772 in taxes. Barack and Michelle donated to $22,500 to the Trinity United Church of Christ; $15,000 for CARE, $15,000 for the international relief organization,; and $5,000 to the Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago. Another interesting fact is that as the Obamas’ wealth grew, the amount they donated also increased.

Senator Joe Biden made around $320,000 last year. Out of that money he donated $995. That only accounts for 0.3% of his income. Out of all the candidates, Biden gave by far the least.

Next up is the Republican ticket. Presidential candidate John McCain made a reported $405,909. Out of that he donated $105,467, which is an impressive 26% of his income. McCain didn’t donate money to individual charities, he donated to the McCain Family Foundation, which makes direct contributions to charities. Some of the charities that received money from the foundation were Operation Smile and the Halo Trust. An interesting side note is that Cindy McCain is worth an estimated $100 million. This is important because the Obama family’s income comes solely from Barack. It’s unknown how much Mrs. McCain donated to charity, as she didn’t release her tax information.

In 2007, Sarah Palin made exactly $166,080. She proceeded to donate $2,500 to charity in cash/check donations and $825 in non-cash/check donations, for a total of $3,325. This is 1.5% of her adjusted gross income.

So what does this all mean? Simply put, both presidential candidates are serious about helping charities. It’s important to know that while both candidates donated to very different charities, both focused on the causes they care most about. For Obama, it was bettering the African-American Community and for McCain it was charities related to war veterans.

Check back in with Causecast everyday for all the latest election news that’s related to the causes you care about.

Photo: dcJohn/flickr