People donated over $400 billion to various charities in 2017. Everyone wants to see themselves as good, and making donations to those less fortunate is a way to make the world a better place and make ourselves feel better.
Unfortunately, not every charity is equally good. While many legitimately do give legitimate assistance to the cause they represent, others offer very little help to those in need.
Some aren’t even legitimate. The world of charity is mired by fake organizations run by scam artists.
This raises the question of how to tell the real from the fake. Luckily, we’re here to help. We’ll offer some advice on how to make charitable donations in this article.
1. Look Around to Find Reputable Charities
A lot of preparation goes into making donations to charity. The first part of this preparation is to do research.
We’ve already mentioned that not all charities are legitimate, and it’s important to be able to tell the difference. You’re not in this alone, though. There are plenty of tools and websites that sort and rate charities based on the money they take in and how they use it.
If you want to support a cause without having to do too much research, we recommend Vitacrate. This company sells monthly supplies of vitamins and supplements to keep you healthy. As part of this company’s business model, they will donate a certain amount of money out of every purchase to a cancer-based charity.
2. Plan and Record Donations
There’s a lot to be said for keeping written records of your donations. Not only does it help you keep track of what you’re planning on giving and what you intend to give later on will make it much easier to keep financial records.
It can also help with taxes in some cases. Though this doesn’t apply to all charities, many charities are tax-exempt and donations to them may be tax-deductible. For a donation to be tax-deductible, you must give at least $250.
When donating, make sure to get a receipt so you can prove that you donated and that your tax deduction is valid. Also, check out the charity just to make sure donations are tax-deductible.
Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of recording donations is that the pressure of figuring out what to donate and where to donate to is gone. This may make it easier to turn down phone solicitors claiming to represent various charities.
3. What to Donate and How Much
How much to give is a common question when making donations. The truth is that it’s better to focus on just a few charities because this gives your dollar more of an impact in the world.
It’s also important to note that you don’t have to donate money. Charities can also benefit from your time and useful objects.
For instance, a medical charity would likely benefit from donations of medical gloves or rubbing alcohol.
Now You Have a Guide on Making Donations
Making donations can be tricky. Between scam charities, poor record-keeping, and not knowing what or how much to donate can have consequences.
We’ve talked about how to avoid these issues in the above paragraphs. If you want more information and advice on various lifestyle topics please visit our site.
