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Tips for your year-end giving

Giving to fewer charities can result in more of your money going to programs you care about. Read more about this, tax-free IRA donations, avoiding scams and other year-end giving tips.

SGO calls for charities to show their EINs

Charity identities matter. Among other things, scam “charities” adopt names confusingly similar to legitimate groups — and siphon off dollars needed for good works. Using an EIN is the quickest path to successful charity research. While charity names can be similar, no two charities have the same EIN. Read the SGO call for charities [...]

Helping you choose the best charity car donation approach

Your Car?

Ever thought about donating a car? SeriousGivers has just made available a free, expanded report on charity car donations. It’s an eye-opener. Don’t donate your car until you’ve read it.

Read the “Serious about Charity Car Donations” report.

The giving pledge for the rest of us

You’ve likely heard about the “Gates – Buffett Giving Pledge” — a terrific program that invites the wealthiest in America to commit the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.  Now available: the giving pledge for the rest of us. Individuals and families donate more than $250 billion a year. If we’re serious about how [...]

Charity Car Donation Report Issued

SeriousGivers.Org (SGO) has just issued an eye-opening report on donation of cars to charity.

The SGO report spells out important questions you should consider before donating a car. It also examines the overall benefits — and shares conclusions on whether a donation will be a win, loss or draw.

Among other things, the SGO [...]

Handy IRS tips on deducting donations

The IRS just published a handy list of eight tips for deducting charitable contributions.

Why not print it out and keep it with your charitable contributions “stuff” — and take a look at it before you make a donation?

IRS Tip #1 — make sure you are giving to a charity. You can use [...]

Go slow on Japan disaster donations

Today’s New York Times reports that the Japanese Red Cross says it doesn’t need donations, few charities actually work in Japan, and that U.S. organizations that are receiving donations in response to the Japan earthquake/tsunami disaster don’t have a plan for what they’ll do with the money. Let’s go slow on this.

Read The [...]

Tips for year-end giving -- 2010 edition

It’s a terrific time to be generous. With demand for charity services up, and donations to charity down, charities need our support now. Stick with your budget. Philanthropy is wonderful, but first make sure to take care of yourself and those who depend on you. Focus your giving on causes you care about. [...]

Simplified charity conflicts of interest policy

A while back we posted a sample charity conflicts of interest policy, along with the background on the IRS request for information on such policies.

Feedback has suggested that some groups want a simpler policy — so we’ve created one and now make it available as a public service: Conflicts Policy – Simplified.

As [...]

Fascinating charity telemarketer thinking

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported last Sunday on the work of Jason Birrittier — charity telemarketing entrepreneur. Jason recently shut down his telemarketing operation (called Public Safety), after a run-in with law enforcement. He denied all allegations.

Based in St. Louis, and with contracts with Disabled Firefighters Fund, the Coalition of Police and Sheriffs, [...]