Charity

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Charity also benefit (out of date: charity ), English charity , is the work of individuals or organizations for the benefit of the needy through " charitable gifts" ( alms , gifts , donations ). It has been considered a special virtue in many religions for ages . In Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam, for example, this is expected of the individual. It is also guaranteed through donations to aid organizations .

to form

Donations play an important role alongside state welfare ( welfare state ). The same purpose is served by the sale of welfare postage stamps , inheritance orders or the suspension of legal proceedings by paying an amount to the welfare organizations by the public prosecutor .

In Germany, donations are favored in terms of income tax under certain conditions. There are numerous organized associations with specific or general charitable goals. Germany's largest church organization in the field of charity is Bread for the World , which provides development aid. In a large number of associations and actions, politicians, artists, athletes and other celebrities show social commitment for German and international aid organizations such as UNICEF . Ute-Henriette Ohoven (Gala-Diners) and Johanna Haerting-Toger (Children's Aid Europe) are counted among "prominent benefactors" at charity galas in Germany .

Presidential women as role models

The wives of four federal presidents have set standards for charitable commitment. The citizen-friendly "life's work" of each of them has an effect beyond the death of the initiators to the present day. In 1950 , Elly Heuss-Knapp was the first First Lady in the Federal Republic to set up the German Mothers' Convalescence Foundation. In 1962, Wilhelmine Lübke and her husband founded the Kuratorium Deutsche Altershilfe (KDA). This became her life's work as the “Wilhelmine Lübke Foundation” . Among other things, she developed the idea of ​​introducing meals on wheels . Mildred Scheel founded the German Cancer Aid in 1974 , which is financed solely from donations and contributions from the population. In 1986 Christiane Herzog founded the Förderverein Cystic Fibrosis Help e. V. , which she converted in 1997 into the Christiane Herzog Foundation for people with cystic fibrosis .

The United States has a sophisticated system of charity.

In many societies, individual benevolence has been and is the only form of practical poverty alleviation.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Section 1, Paragraph 1 of the Statutes of the Müttergenesungswerk ( Mothers' Convalescence Association) (accessed June 17, 2012). ( Memento from July 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. Kuratorium Deutsche Altershilfe, 2012
  3. Petra Krimphove: Philanthropists on the move. A German-American comparison , Vienna 2010.
  4. ^ Frank Adloff: Philanthropic action. A historical sociology of foundations in Germany and the USA , Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2010.
  5. Thomas Adam, Simone Lässig, Gabriele Lingelbach (eds.): Founders, donors and patrons. A historical comparison of the USA and Germany , Stuttgart 2009.