Giving to a Charity

捐助慈善

公司開會，討論慈善捐款的問題，Michael說：

Michael: Ok, folks... It's been a tough year, but we're going to stick with our tradition and give our usual yearly amount. Any suggestions?

Frank: Perhaps we could donate to my church's missionary group. I know a couple other good Christian organizations that could use some help.

Jenny: Um....if I might interject. I don't have a problem with religious charities but I do object to any proselytizing.

雖然公司不景氣，但還是打算依慣例捐款。 Frank建議捐給基督教團體，但是Jenny反對向特定宗教色彩的團體捐助，避免支持某一宗教之嫌。 Proselytize是勸人信教的意思。

Ok, that's a good point to think about. We want the donations to reflect the entire company so we should avoid anything controversial.

Gina: I was thinking perhaps we could give to more international causes. The victims of that horrible earthquake in China still need a lot of help.

F: How about the Red Cross? They have a pretty good track record, right?

G: Yeah, let's give them 10%.

M&G&J: Agreed.

Michael同意Jenny的看法，因為捐助代表整個公司，應該避免任何爭議。 Gina提議捐給國際慈善事業，比如說中國地震災民。 Frank提出，紅十字會的記錄就不錯。大家同意把百分之十的錢捐給紅十字會。

J: I was doing some research before this meeting and I found a great website called CharityWatch.org. They have lots of tips about avoiding fraud and giving to the right organizations. Did you know that nearly 70,000 new American charity groups were founded just last year?

F: Wow....that's a lot of choices. It's kind of daunting! So should we stick with the tried and proven groups or should we branch out?

Jenny說，有個叫"charitywatch.org"的網站，上面有不少如何選擇慈善團體的建議。去年一年，美國就成立了七萬個慈善團體。

G: A group called "Water-4-Africa" sponsors water-purifying kits that can help eliminate serious diseases.

I like it. All in favor?

G&F: Yes.

J: It sounds good. But I think I should do a bit more research. The American Institute of Philanthropy suggests we check to see how much of the funds they use for direct charity work and how much goes to administration costs.

F: You know, Jenny has a point. All these groups look good on paper, but you never know.

Gina提到一個為非洲提供潔凈水的團體。大家都覺得不錯。但是Jenny表示，應該再調查一下，看看捐款有多少直接用于慈善項目，多少是給工作人員發工資的。