Donating to Charities For the Right Reasons

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Donating to charities is one way to express interest in the society or environment, handicapped people and even animal welfare. Donating a car is generous act that can help many people. This is the best time to start donating some of your clothes, money, foods and other things that are a necessity to others in need. There are many charitable institutions such as the American Cancer Society, Save the Children and many more.

Types of donations include clothing, food, and even blood depending on the organization. The proceeds of any donation will go to your selected charitable institution or let the organization do it on your behalf.

A donation can also be vehicle donation which is becoming a fast growing option. The donated vehicle will be auctioned by vehicle brokers and part of the proceeds will go to the charity. The donor receives a tax deduction, the broker get a percentage of the sale for his work and the remainder of the proceeds goes to the charitable institution. Some vehicle donation programs encourage donors by means of a trip-for-free program. For every vehicle that is donated and subsequently sold, the donor receives a free trip.

There are a thousand charitable institutions, but the IRS only recognizes less than a hundred. Check with the IRS to find out if a group you are thinking about donating to qualify for certain tax deductible contributions. The United Way, The World Wildlife Federation and Save the Children are all worthwhile organizations.Some things to consider when deciding on who to give your money or things to is to find out how much actually makes it to the people in need. Every group needs money for administration but make sure that the majority of the money is going where it is supposed to go. This is especially true if you are dealing with organization in foreign countries where bribery of certain officials is necessary to get supplies safely through. While this may be normal operating procedure when donating to charities in certain countries, find out how much is actually making it its final intended destination. The people at the receiving end will know.