The church itself, located near Baton Rouge, has coordinated volunteer efforts and provided hot meals to victims and those working on the cleanup. Before Trump's visit to the state, Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) had suggested a "sizable donation" to another charity, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation's Louisiana Flood Relief Fund. Trump gave that group nothing. A spokeswoman said he'd given to the church instead.

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In a statement, Perkins said that Trump's donation would be used only for disaster relief and kept separate from the church's general operating fund.

"The funds will not be used for normal church expenses, nor will the funds be used for cash grants to individuals," Perkins said. "Any funds not used in this initial relief phase will be used for subsequent efforts to support and/or directly restore and rebuild homes and church facilities impacted by the flood."

That was at least the second time this year that Trump has given a personal check to a charity. Both of those donations were entwined with his campaign.

In May, under pressure from the media, Trump made good on a promise he'd made at a campaign event four months earlier: to give $1 million to a veterans charity. And after a high-visibility trip to Louisiana with his running mate, Trump gave from his own pocket again.

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It appears that Trump has given more of his own money to charity in the past four months than he gave in the past decade.

Since 2006, Trump has given $675,000 to the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a charity he founded in the late 1980s. The bulk of that money was given in 2006, when he donated $610,000.

Trump's donations fell off sharply in 2007 and 2008. Then they stopped completely. Tax records show no gifts from Trump to his own foundation since a $30,000 gift in 2008. The foundation's coffers have been filled, instead, by gifts from other donors.

The Washington Post has made a months-long effort to identify instances where Trump made personal donations to other charities — surveying more than 270 nonprofits with past ties to the GOP nominee. But that effort has turned up only a handful of gifts, the most recent of which was in 2009.

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In all, the total of the donations that The Post has discovered between 2006 and May — to the Trump Foundation and other charities — appears to be less than $800,000.

It is impossible to give an exact number, because in some cases, organizations disclosed only a range of dollar figures, not the exact value of Trump's gift.

Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump's campaign, did not immediately respond to an inquiry asking why Trump's generosity had apparently increased so sharply since the spring.

What changed in the spring? Trump locked up the GOP nomination, for one thing.

For another, The Post and other media outlets began looking into Trump's charitable giving, after Trump made a public promise to give $1 million to veterans — and then delayed paying it out.