January | 2015 | Life On M

Welcome to the 2014 Charity Roundup. You can read about 2013 and 2012 in the archives.

What This Is

I tithe. I keep track of where money goes. It’s a party.

Differences from 2013

I actually did not tithe this year. Instead, I took the amount I would normally spend on my student loans, donated that, and used the tithe on my loans. I did not do a MollyGive Matching Program this year, mostly because it was a lot of effort last year and I’ve been busy. In general, I donated to fewer charities this year (I had not realized by how much until just now), largely because I was so busy I put it off until late December and did not have time to do much research. Instead, I donated almost exclusively to local charities and things that were on my mind the day I sat down to do it.

While I would not say my values have changed over the past year (though they have, as they do every year), I became much more uncertain about where my money could do the most good. For example, I really wanted to donate to an environmental group, but could not decide which one I thought was the “best” based on my interests.

My income changed in November. I did not account for that change. I will starting in January of 2015.

This Year’s Percentages

Charity	Percentage
Bikes Not Bombs	13.5
Electronic Frontier Foundation	11
Free Software Foundation	22
Girls Rock Camp Boston	43
Public Lab	4
Wikimedia	6

Drives v. Others

BNB and GRCB both included supporting the fundraising of others. The FSF and the EFF donations were part of membership drives.

How I feel about MollyGive 2014

I actually feel pretty negative about how this year’s donations went. I did not end up giving as much as I would have liked, and while I believe in the value of the groups I donated to, I think I could have put more effort into better researching and distributing funds in the future.

Hopes for 2015

I hope to return to full tithing. I would also like to try a MollyGive Matching another try. While it was hard to drum up the initial enthusiasm among those around me, once it was there, the results were very positive.

While homicide is an issue, it is a much smaller problem (statistically speaking) than rape. I will be talking about forcible rape, as defined by the FBI.

In 2012 the FBI changed their definition of rape for UCR.

The old definition was “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.”

Many agencies interpreted this definition as excluding a long list of sex offenses that are criminal in most jurisdictions, such as offenses involving oral or anal penetration, penetration with objects, and rapes of males.

The new Summary definition of Rape is: “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” (Text from a 2014 FAQ released by the FBI)

Numbers from 2012 onward reflect a different definition of what [forcible] rape is–legally speaking.

National

CIUS and Disaster Center both use the term “forcible rape” in their reporting. Both groups showed increases in total reported cases–though by hundreds in the case of CIUS and a thousand in the case of Disaster Center.

Rapes – National 2011-2013

	year	population	total	rate
CIUS	2011	311,587,816	84,175	27.00
CIUS	2012	313,914,040	84,376	26.90
CIUS	2013	316,128,839	79,770	25.20
Disaster Center	2011	311,587,816	84,175	27.00
Disaster Center	2012	313,873,685	85,141	27.10
Disaster Center	2013	316,128,839	79,770	25.20

Massachusetts

CIUS local data only includes certain urban areas. Please note the population total for those rows.

MA – Estimates Based on National Averages

	year	population	total	rate
CIUS*	2011	4,578,146	1,236.10	27.00
CIUS*	2012	4,629,025	1,249.84	26.90
CIUS*	2013	4,679,143	1,263.37	25.20
Disaster Center	2011	6,607,003	1,783.89	27.00
Disaster Center	2012	6,645,303	1,794.23	27.10
Disaster Center	2013	6,692,824	1,807.06	25.20

*Includes Boston-Quincy, MA; Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA; and Peabody, MA and Rockingham County-Strafford County, NH

MA – Actual

	year	population	total	rate
CIUS*	2011	4,578,146	992	22.40
CIUS*	2012	4,679,143	1,286	22.40
CIUS*	2013	4,629,025	1,010	28.00
Disaster Center	2011	6,607,003	1,654	25.00
Disaster Center	2012	6,645,303	1,650	24.80
Disaster Center	2013	6,692,824	2,089	31.20

Since CIUS data is reported, there is incomplete reporting. The numbers above reflect 96.6%, 98.6%, and 95% of agencies reporting (respectively). The CIUS numbers and the DC ones are for different sized populations, with the regions of one being a subset of the other. There was a marked increase between 2012 and 2013 in the state of MA. Reporting for the newer, more liberal definition of rape was first recorded (fully) in 2013.

For city specific data, I also got numbers from City Data, which used a different term, so I included a column to specify. I could not think of a good way to organize this table. It would probably make a nicer graph.

Boston, Cambridge, Somerville – Actual

	year	population	total	rate	term used
Boston – CRU	2010	N/A	256	N/A	rape
Boston – City Data	2011	621,359	271	43.6	rape
Boston – CIUS	2011	621,359	271	43.6	forcible rape
Boston – City Data	2012	636,479	249	39.5	rape
Boston – CIUS	2012	630,648	112	17.6	forcible rape
Boston – CIUS	2013	N/A	138	N/A	forcible rape
Cambridge – CRU	2010	N/A	16	N/A	rape
Cambridge – City Data	2011	105,803	24	22.7	rape
Cambridge – CIUS	2011	105,803	24	22.7	forcible rape
Cambridge – City Data	2012	106,471	20	18.7	rape
Cambridge – CIUS	2012	106,981	10	9.3	forcible rape
Cambridge – CIUS	2013	N/A	8	N/A	forcible rape
Somerville – CRU	2010	N/A	13	N/A	rape
Somerville – City Data	2011	N/A	17	22.3	rape
Somerville – City Data	2012	77,104	23	29.8	rape

Thoughts

These are just forcible rapes (as defined above) reported to the police who then, in turn, report them to the FBI. Common practice says that this only scratches the surface of sexual assault as it exists around the nation.

I really need to figure out good ways to make graphs for these posts. I think some graphs would be nice.

If you’re still looking for a New Years resolution, I would recommend that you don’t rape anyone in 2015, and encourage people who have been raped to report it.

Sources

CIUS – National

CIUS – MA 2011, 2012, 2013

Disaster Center – National

Disaster Center – MA

City Data – Boston City Data – Cambridge

City Data – Somerville

Uniform Crime Reporting