• Giving: a gift. "Please take this dollar. Have a nice day."
• Mercy: a gift to someone of lower social class. "Please take this dollar. But don't buy beer with it."
• Charity: a gift to someone of similar social class. "Here is 50 dollars for your cause. Have you tried the shrimp?"
• Donation: an exchange with the expectation of tax deductability. "Here is 50 dollars. Can I please have a receipt?"
• Philanthropy: a gift of social magnificence. "Here is 1,000 dollars. Do you have my name spelled correctly for the placque?"

Note: There types do loosely overlap; charitable donations probably make up the majority of transactions.

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