Most of us know the famous commentary on the beginning of Parshat Truma. The question raised is why the text uses the language of "taking" when referring to donations of a voluntary heart. The common explanation is that we receive more than we give when donating or being charitable, especially for G-d’s will.
Is there a difference between giving a donation and giving charity in Jewish thought? Truma seems to be a gift given for services, such as the mishkan or kohanim, to help the service continue. Charity is giving justified (tzedek=justice) resources for those in need. The grey area seems to lie in the famous list of ways to give tzedaka composed by the Rambam, specifically the highest form.
Lisa Katz phrases it in a particularly inciteful way:
The highest form of charity is to help sustain a person before they become impoverished … by helping them find employment or establish themselves in business so as to make it unnecessary for them to become dependent on others.
This level of charity resembles Truma in that it contributes to the continuity of a working system, instead of trying to recover someone who’s already in trouble. This is the kind of giving that gives back so much more, and is higher than putting money in a pushka.
So why are people so generous when solicited for a charity organization, but cheap when it comes to business dealings, often avoiding business with a Jew to get a better rate from a foreigner or non-Jew?
(And when we can do business with Israel, supporting Jews settling the homeland, and get great prices, we’d be foolish to do anything else!)