Donating To Charity

JRV · Nov 21, 2008

What do I have to do if I want to claim half of my sales will go to charity? I have a piece of jewelry I'm selling. I'd like to donate half of all the sales to the red cross. What steps do I have to take to do this legally?

Jaygray · Nov 21, 2008

If the donation is less than $250 then I believe you just make the donation via check and your canceled check serves as proof of the donation. If the donation exceeds $250, then you should receive a letter of acknowledgement from the charity which serves as your receipt.

Most likely you'll sell the jewelry on your own. Collect the proceeds, and then you'll know the final amount that you'll be donating. Also, if you call Red Cross and explain your situation, they should be more than happy to help with whatever documentation you require.

JRV · Nov 21, 2008

Jaygray said:
If the donation is less than $250 then I believe you just make the donation via check and your canceled check serves as proof of the donation. If the donation exceeds $250, then you should receive a letter of acknowledgement from the charity which serves as your receipt.

Most likely you'll sell the jewelry on your own. Collect the proceeds, and then you'll know the final amount that you'll be donating. Also, if you call Red Cross and explain your situation, they should be more than happy to help with whatever documentation you require.

Ok. I just wanted to know if I was allowed to say that some of the sales would be going to charity on the website. Am I allowed to make the claim on the page? I thought I heard a story about someone who was legitimately donating portions of their sales to charity but because they didn't take the proper steps they ended up getting in trouble.

kylen721 · Nov 21, 2008

I think that you will just want to make it clear that you personally will be making a donation after the sale. The issue your speaking of would probably have resulted from someone making it seem like a portion of the proceeds were going directly to charity which in this case they would not since your sale is not directly linked with the charity.

It really is just a case of making sure that your wording implies that you will be the donation on your behalf after the sale.

JRV · Nov 24, 2008

I was between two charities. Red Cross and Make-A-Wish. I emailed Make-A-Wish just to be on the safe side. They emailed me back and said I couldn't raise money for them unless I guaranteed a minimum of $50,000. I found this to ridiculous for a number of reasons.

1) They have some nerve demanding how much be given. That amount is way out of my league. I guess they'd rather I just not help at all?

2) On their very own website they list ideas of how to raise money. One included collecting money from work or school. Cash donations or loose change. I'm sure that would always generate less than 50K yet for some reason that is acceptable?

I have to say it turned me off to Make-A-Wish.

xj6jaguar1985 · Nov 24, 2008

JRV said:
I was between two charities. Red Cross and Make-A-Wish. I emailed Make-A-Wish just to be on the safe side. They emailed me back and said I couldn't raise money for them unless I guaranteed a minimum of $50,000. I found this to ridiculous for a number of reasons.

1) They have some nerve demanding how much be given. That amount is way out of my league. I guess they'd rather I just not help at all?

2) On their very own website they list ideas of how to raise money. One included collecting money from work or school. Cash donations or loose change. I'm sure that would always generate less than 50K yet for some reason that is acceptable?

I have to say it turned me off to Make-A-Wish.

Isn't it ridiculous?
I remember about 6 years ago I was going to donate a whole bunch of my clothes to the Salvation Army.....They wouldn't take them because they were "Faded"......
......
.....
I just stood there besides myself.

Kash · Nov 24, 2008

This is why I tend not to donate to "popular" or mega charities (that and their massive overhead costs). I prefer my money going to small, local causes or to organizations like Oxfam that put the money to effective use with things like micro loan programs.

cwa107 · Nov 24, 2008

Kash said:
This is why I tend not to donate to "popular" or mega charities (that and their massive overhead costs). I prefer my money going to small, local causes or to organizations like Oxfam that put the money to effective use with things like micro loan programs.

Agreed. About the only large charity I donate to is St. Jude's, because they have such little overhead. On the other hand, I've read that organizations like the United Way allocate something like 1/3 of their charity dollars toward administrative costs.