Tax rebate tithing

MILWAUKEE – Budget cuts to Rod McLean’s church youth group jeopardized a summer mission trip to Washington state.

As he wondered how he could help them meet their $13,000 budget, he remembered the upcoming federal tax rebate. He decided to donate his stimulus check – and persuade others at Lake Edge United Church of Christ in Madison, Wis., to do the same.

“I thought, ‘What a natural,’ ” says McLean, a 67-year-old retiree. “If a lot of people can give 10, 15, 20 percent of that, it’s not like digging into their normal budgets.”

He told church leaders of his idea and “Share the Windfall Fund” was born. This weekend members of the church will present their checks at a potluck and help decide which missions, including soup kitchens and homeless shelters, they’ll support.

The church of about 900 members in Wisconsin’s capital city isn’t alone. From United Church of Christ members, to Lutherans and Quakers, religious groups are asking people to donate at least part of their checks to their groups or other charities.

The federal government hopes to stimulate the economy with the $110 billion it’s returning to taxpayers this spring and summer. But many see the extra money as an opportunity for charity.

“It’s an unbelievable amount of cash that people of faith or people of conscience could choose to say, ‘You know, we could get along without this. We could put this money to use,’ ” says Ken Sehested, co-pastor at the Circle of Mercy church in Asheville, N.C.

His congregation of about 50 adults, which is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Alliance of Baptists, voted to give at least 10 percent of their checks to charities.

Sehested said many parishioners are still waiting for their rebate, so he’s not sure how much they’ll donate or where it’ll go. He and his wife plan to give their entire $1,200 check to their church’s partner congregation in Cuba.

The “Tax Rebate for Peace” effort by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobby group, has received more than 30 such donations so far, averaging $100 each, spokesman Jim Cason says. The group promotes peace and diplomacy, including boosting spending for the State Department and U.N.

Sandra Enos, a sociologist at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., who specializes in nonprofits and philanthropy, says donations to food pantries and other local charities can benefit the economy just as much as spending on a new TV or vacation.

“Boy, if you’re feeding local people who are hungry, it’s like locally spurring the economy, so it’s a wise economic choice, it seems,” she says.

At McLean’s church, if all members give 10 percent of their rebates, the congregation could raise $40,000, says senior pastor Paul Shupe. The congregation’s charities include mission work for the homeless and hungry, and the youth group’s trip to the Pacific Northwest later this month.

“We’re using it as a teaching moment for us, an opportunity to think about our wealth and our resources and our responsibility,” Shupe says.

While charity is important, church leaders also must make sure that members who need the money know it’s OK to keep it, says Bishop Paul Stumme-Diers of the Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

He recently urged ELCA leaders at a national conference to ask congregants to donate – but only if people can afford to do so.

“This is not to lay a guilt trip on people, but rather it’s an invitation for those who are really able to give beyond the usual amounts because of this unexpected windfall,” Stumme-Diers says.

His family of four – with one child under 17 – expects to get $1,500 back and all of it will go to charity. The family will decide together how it will be divided.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, an umbrella group for the nation’s 125 Jewish community relations councils and national agencies, is grappling with similar concerns.

The council doesn’t want to issue a mandate on donating, especially if people are in need, but hopes that those who are financially able will consider giving, says Rabbi Steve Gutow, the council’s executive director.

McLean is still waiting for the $1,200 he and his wife are expecting from the government. They plan to donate at least 10 percent and he hopes his fellow congregants will follow suit.

“I’m just feeling there’ll be a lot of people in our church that say, ‘Geez, the tithing of 10 percent? Since it’s kind of a windfall, we can make it more,’ ” he says.