People are driven to give money to charities for a variety of reasons.

Some give because their faith or beliefs call upon them to give, while other people give because the little kid who lives down the block is so cute that sponsoring his bike-a-thon is not a problem.

But what is a reasonable amount of your money to give? How much is enough?

Recently, the tax returns of both the president and the vice president were released to the public.

The Clintons gave over $200,000 to various educational and research-based charities.

The shocking news, however, is that Al and Tipper Gore gave a measly $353.

The Gores felt that 0.2 percent of their $197,729 income was an acceptable amount to give. According to the Washington Bulletin, a conservative Internet magazine, this is “the equivalent to throwing about six bucks in the collection basket each week.”

Traditionally, within the church it is common to donate approximately 10 percent of your total earnings. However, recent statistics show that most Americans only give two or three percent of their gross total income to charity.

However, statistics also show that the amount of people who volunteer their time to charities has gone up.

Gore spends much of his time attending charity events and giving speeches at fundraisers and luncheons; he gives his time and not his money.

But this is one of the responsibilities of the position of vice president. Al Gore gets a paycheck to attend these events.

Therefore, it is not Al Gore who gives his time to these causes, but the vice president of the United States.

What does Al Gore, the American citizen, do to give back to society and his fellow man?

Only $353.

For years, Al Gore has been promoting volunteerism and the idea that Americans have to give back to America. However, his contributions over the past year have been less then acceptable.

As the highly visible and public leader of this nation, Gore is sending the wrong message to the rest of the country.