photo credit: turtlemom4bacon
We only have a few days left in 2008 and I have been busy collecting some items around the house that we can donate to Goodwill and the Salvation Army. Kids clothes, sports equipment, books, and some unused toys will be given to charity this year. Does your family donate unused items and take advantage of the tax write off for 2008? Some other ideas to help those less fortunate or struggling to make ends meet this holiday season can take a little more creativity. If cash is tight in your household, as it is for many this holiday season, what else can you do? If you are like me, you might have a few thousand mileage points from an airline that you are not using. Did you know that you can donate those miles to charity? Yes, many families could benefit from donating air miles as they can be used for Make a Wish Foundation or The Red Cross and hundreds of other charities. If you have unused United Airlines miles, Delta miles, or Southwest miles, you could donate and help families across the country.
Maybe you were one of the select few who had positive returns on your stocks in 2008. You can donate stock and pass the gains to a charity of your choice. You get the tax write off and the charity gets the stock.
Do you have any creative ideas for donations in 2008? Does your family, especially your children get involved in donating used toys or clothing?
Some helpful links for more info on tax write offs and donations for 2008
IRS.gov
Salvation Army
Goodwill
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
We decided to keep the annual Christmas donation local this year, and went to the local food pantry. If your company provides matching gifts, it’s a great plus.
Rather than buy gifts for each other around the holidays, my spouse’s siblings will often make various donations.
A question for you: we give a little money each month to a less fortunate sibling. Is this money tax deductible?
We actually clean up (and out) our kids toys right before the holiday. We get an influx at Xmas time each year and we find that they last about 4 or 5 months tops before they’re “old hat”. So we got on that this weekend.
Additionally we go through the clothes closet and if it hasn’t been worn in 1 year, it’s in the bucket.
Good tips, but how exactly would you go about donating miles to a charity? They aren’t a tangible thing you can just pick up, and take to Goodwill so how do you transfer them?
We, too, went the local route, donating to the local food pantry and to the local battered women’s shelter.
@Greener Pastures
I wouldn’t think that money given to a sibling would be tax deductible, unless they ran a non-profit organization. You can always check with your tax adviser. I do know that you can gift money to them, but that is a different topic. I think it is generous to help a sibling who might be struggling in these tough economic times.
@Hank
I really need to start following the 1 year rule. I have clothes and other items that I think I’ll wear again, or use again, and never use them. I should create a box or basket that I can just place in the rooms to collect donation items throughout the month. Thanks for the tip:)
@PennySeeds
Check with your mileage credit card issuer and ask how you can donate miles. Many companies offer this service and all it takes is your account number and that of the qualifying charity. In fact, you might want to check Salvation Army or Goodwill to see if they have a form on the website.
@Miranda
I really like the idea of helping a local charity as well. We do have Salvation Army that I like to use and they keep many of the items local. The telemarketers that tend to call during the holidays are tough to find out where the money goes towards.