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Furniture Donations

Most people want to change their furniture every few years. The only problem is that they have nowhere to take the old furniture. If you are currently buying new furniture and are wondering what to do with the old, you should try furniture donation. It is simply donating your old furniture so that it can help people who dont have enough money to buy new furniture of their own.

Most people choose to donate rather than sell because for one, they are helping another person make a home and secondly, it can be quite a job to sell your furniture when you think about how much a garage or yard sale might make so little that it might not be worth the trouble.

You can make a donation to a very specific cause that you feel close to. Some people will donate to battered womens shelters for example because they know the pain of being in that position. Other people want to donate to colleges and universities so that students can be more comfortable. There is no limit to who will accept your furniture donation so long as you pick someone who needs it.

Another reason why so many people are willing to give away old furniture is that you can deduct its value from your taxes. Each item is valued at the current market rates and this can knock off quite a big chunk of your taxes. The Salvation Army can give you a guide that will give you the value of the more general items.

Environmentalists are keen on furniture donations and they have a very good reason to encourage you to do it. The furniture would otherwise end up as rubbish and will fill landfills. If it is in useable condition, why not let someone else use it for a few more years?

The economy also benefits from furniture donations. When people get rid of old furniture, they will buy new items and this is good business for anyone in the furniture line.

When you are donating furniture, there are some requirements

  • The items that you donate must be in usable condition. Dont donate a sofa whose filling is pouring out or a bed that is broken. Give only items that are ready for use.
  • Do not donate anything that has infestations be they of bedbugs, lice or any other mites. If you have been having an infestation problem, get everything cleaned out with the right chemicals before you donate.
  • Dont clean anything that will be used by babies and toddlers using chemicals if it is infested. The baby who will use it may have a problem with the chemicals and they may get sick.
  • Dont donate items that need cleaning. The organizations that receive them usually have no means to clean the things that they receive. If you want to donate, plan to have cleaners come in and clean the items or clean them yourself. Some could need a DIY paint job which you can do by yourself.

Furniture donation is a great way of giving to those who have less than you. A family could be sitting around your donated table eating dinner and bonding tonight!

Posted by Admin - November 8, 2012 at 3:55 am

Categories: Charity, Community, Events, Society   Tags: , , , , ,

Donation Request Letter

Funding gaps

Donations

A donation request letter can be viewed as a grant request as well. There are a lot of people who would be able to benefit from a donation request letter or a grant writing proposal. The best grant writing proposals are something that needs to be properly funded, it makes a lot of sense for you to take the time and write down the key information that so many people can embrace. It makes sense for a city to work hard to find money in order to hire a proper grant writer. The best grant writers out there are extremely visible in many situations so they can potentially hired to write a donation letter request. Economic development officials are going to pay attention to how well donation request letters are written so many people out there do get the money that they need in order to fund the basic functions of government.

Grant Writers

Grant writers have to be careful and make sure that they do not put a comma in the wrong place, there are a lot of people who make money because of the quality white papers that they write. There are a lot of people who might compare white papers to the different donation letter requests out there. A donation letter request is something that can be tied to a can food drive. The can food drives out there have to be well organized in order to make sure that they can reach the largest number of people. A well written donation request letter can really help in making sure your needs are met when it comes to the canned food drive.

Software

Computer software is something that can properly help you to write that donation request letter. The best pieces of software out there can make you smile as you try to properly format a given letter. The letters out there have to make all parties involved in the process sound articulate and extremely well organized. The organization process is something that community activists are going to pay attention to. Groups like Shriners are heavily involved in different community development projects, people should applaud these different groups like Easter Seals who work so hard in order to be able to fund a large number of projects. A person who embraces the computer software may not really have to spend as much time on the development of the letter and still display the same level of quality. A businessperson can also embrace using this software when they are making a grant request from other business people.

Social Networks

There are a lot of good social networks out there that can help you get the donation requests that you really need on a regular basis. A company can plan for the future and the donation requests that they make do play a role in the future. The best social networks out there such as LinkedIn can help you plan for the future and try to create a system where grants can fill in different funding gaps.

Posted by Admin - November 8, 2012 at 3:53 am

Categories: Charity, Community, Events, Society   Tags: , ,

Charitable Gift Annuity

Why a Charitable Annuity is Great Way to Save the Future

A charitable gift annuity is a way to keep giving even when you are gone. Perhaps you have been a consistent donor to a charity for your entire life, or would like to become one once you are no longer here to enjoy the other fruits of your lifes labors. Planned giving, another term used to describe a charitable gift annuity, is a way to make your money work for you over the long term, while also supporting the philanthropic needs of the world at large.

A charitable gift annuity is essentially a contract signed between a donor who gives either cash or land to a non-profit organization, in exchange for a cash payment to either themselves or a designated beneficiary over one or two consecutive lifetimes. It is a way to receive an annual income while still supporting benevolent causes. This is beneficial for the donor for taxes purposes, because they receive a large discount in their taxes for the property or cash, and beneficial for the charity because once the donor dies, the cash or property becomes theirs. The American Council on Gift Annuities has specific guidelines, which determine how these contracts can be set up so that they are legal, and the payout rates are within guidelines established by the council.

While the current tax rate discounts hover around 1% on a charitable gift annuity, they change annually, and vary dependent upon the contract and the date it is set up. The tax benefits are good for you and your beneficiary depending upon how the contract is set up. There are three primary types of gift annuities, so the type determines the tax deduction and pay out, almost exclusively. There are single life annuities in which a person is paid monthly during their lifetime. There is a two lifetimes annuity in which two people benefit from the charitable gift annuity because the first person assigned agrees to pay the benefit, also, to a secondary party. Finally, there is a joint and survivor charitable gift annuity in which two people agree to receive the annuity payments.

Gift annuities were set up as a means to promote charitabel giving while also providing a monthly income to donors and their benficiaries while also allowing the donor to have a legal tax shelter for their investments until they die. Sincethe world is in need of financial stability more than ever, charitable organizations have taken a big hit to their annual donations from both individuals and larger donors like governments. They can use the help of a charitable gift annuity in these times, perhaps, more than they ever could have used them in our recent past. The wonderful thing about a gift annuity is that you can protect your benficiaries, pay lower taxes and support philanthropic causes all at the same time with this investment vehicle. It is a socially reponsible act as well as a fiscally responsible one.

Posted by Admin - November 8, 2012 at 3:51 am

Categories: Charity, Community, Society   Tags: , , ,

Charities for Children

If you are thinking of volunteering or supporting charities for children, it may be worthwhile to consider just what type of charity you want. There are several different kinds and they all help children in different ways. What you should consider is what you are most passionate about, where you feel your money would most benefit a child. Lets look at the different types of charities for children.

Educational charities

There are many children world over who are brilliant but who do not have the funds to attend school or who go to schools that do not have enough teachers, facilities and equipment. Charities that work for them help them to raise money for all these things. Dont think 3rd world countries alone, although they certainly need the money more than other countries. Even in the US and in the UK, there are charities that are set up to help gifted children achieve their dreams.

Abused children charities

Many children suffer all kinds of abuse and they need your help so that they can live regular lives. Charities for abused children fall into different types children who have suffered abuse in war, children who have suffered abuse in homes, children who have been bullied and many others. Your money will be used to get them new homes, clothing, food, toys, books and most importantly an education.

Health and Medical charities

Think vaccination drives, think malaria drugs, think vitamin drops anything that will boost the health of a child. That is what these charities do. They can go on preventive drives or curative drives depending on the situation. In this case, you money is used to buy drugs and to pay the people who work to make sure that they reach as many children as possible.

There are also special charities within these that specialize in getting surgeons out to perform surgeries for poor children who would otherwise not afford them. They correct cleft lips, club foot and other congenital conditions as well as heart, spinal, and kidney operations.

Food charities

These constitute a large majority of charities for charitieshildren. There are millions of children world over who do not get enough to eat. There are others who get nothing to eat at all especially in war zones and in places where there is famine. In other cases, these children do not have older people in their lives who can make sure that they are fed, like in places where large populations of adults are wiped out by diseases like AIDS. Your money is used to make sure that these children are fed every day.

Child labor charities

Many governments all over the world do not do enough to stop child labor, and these charities step in to make sure that no children are working when they should be in school or simply just being children. They will work to eliminate the need for the child to work by providing them with food and basic necessities, they will encourage children to go to school and they work with governments to enforce better child labor laws.

There are more kinds of childrens charities that you can choose to support. Go with a cause that you feel is close to your heart.

Posted by Admin - November 2, 2012 at 6:53 pm

Categories: Charity, Community, Society   Tags: , , ,