Day 36
The Gift - A Political Donation
Hmmmm....does a political donation count as a gift? I began today with a multitude of questions about my gifting opportunity - where does politics fit? What about donations in general? And, what about political donations? Where do these questions fit into my guidelines? So let’s begin with the donation vs. the gift - Can a donation be counted as a gift? I am fairly certain that I have answered this before, but need to remind myself where a donation fits the giving spectrum....and interestingly enough these questions all arose on a similar giving experience - purchasing a ticket to hear a political candidate speak (Day 15) so here are the guidelines established at that time:
- GUIDELINE #4 - Any donation can be counted over and above my regular annual giving and
- GUIDELINE #5 - The intrinsic personal value of the gift (or donation) does not disqualify the giving opportunity.
Now, I am not sure if the 5th Guideline really covers a straight-out donation to a political candidate, yet supporting a candidate that I really believe in, who truly stands for the values in which I believe and who I know will use my donation in a manner consistent with my values - that sounds to me like an intrinsically valued gift - so be it. Today I gave $100 to a political candidate of my choice to support her work on behalf of the people of the State of Minnesota.
❦ It is a gift to support people who represent you
Author's note - the parallels between 2004 and now continue - this candidate is currently running for office again (a re-election campaign) and so I have chosen to keep her name from this story to maintain propriety on campaign finance laws and not subject her to that scrutiny. Once the election is over - I will insert her name back into this story.
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