The Providence Journal (R.I.), July 7:

When it comes to charity, your inner compass should be your guide. Are you moved to help refugees? Endow university chairs? Clean up rivers? Neuter cats? You are free to do so. You may even feel obligated to do so, if you are blessed with more money than you need to live on.

You may feel bound to give privately, anonymously, hiding your philanthropy as the New Testament admonishes:

“So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be praised by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.”

Or you may choose the course of public adulation, giving money so as to attach your name to buildings, achieve tax benefits or win favor public favor.

It is to this last camp that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, seems to belong.

“All of that money goes to charity,” Mr. Trump said, in an interview about his paid appearance on “Comedy Central.”

“We’ve already raised a lot of money for the vets,” Mr. Trump said, in an interview about skipping a debate to conduct a fundraiser for veterans.

“I give to hundreds of charities and people in need of help,” Mr. Trump wrote, in an email to The Associated Press last summer.

And yet, there is less to Mr. Trump’s charitable giving than meets the eye. Examinations by The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Nonprofit Quarterly and others have shown that Mr. Trump has a pattern of over-promising and under-delivering when it comes to his philanthropy.

The press analyses showed he sometimes failed to follow through on promised contributions, gave money that was donated by others, but not himself, or engaged in land exchanges that benefited his business interests. The Post’s most recent revelation shows that Mr. Trump won a football helmet autographed by Tim Tebow at a charitable auction by bidding money contributed by other donors to his foundation. Some tax experts interviewed by the Post say this violates a law against self-dealing.

Of course, the operations of the Clinton Foundation deserve scrutiny too. Charity Navigator, the respected rating service, delisted the Clinton Foundation, saying it can’t accurately assess its work because of its “atypical business model.” Critics have accused the Clinton Foundation of spending more on overhead and fundraising than on actual charity.

As for Mr. Trump, there’s nothing illegal about saying you’ll donate money, then failing to do it, or doing it only under the pressure of public opinion, as Mr. Trump evidently did in the wake of questions about his fundraiser for military veterans.

But it says something about a person’s character if he consistently touts his generosity and consistently under-performs on his promises.

And it raises a critical question as Americans head to the polls this fall: Can Mr. Trump be trusted to do the right thing for anyone but himself?