Sentence:  `` Sometimes we 'd have trouble persuading her to make tax-exempt charitable <WSD>contributions</WSD> , and I 've known her to quarrel with a plumber over a bill for fixing a faucet ; the next moment she 'd put another half million into the scholarship fund or thirty thousand into something as impractical as this unfortunate Johnston affair . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a voluntary gift (as of money or service or ideas) made to some worthwhile cause