Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with donations

How should I promote my anti-Westboro Baptist Church fundraiser online?

melodykramer — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:57:40 -0800

Westboro Baptist Church is coming to my area this upcoming week and I've started an economic counter protest (through Facebook) with people pledging $1/minute to the Matthew Shepard Foundation for every minute they're here. We've raised over 35,000 dollars so far -- and now I'm trying to brainstorm how to get some major blog coverage so we can up our donation amount even further. So far, I haven't really done much publicity for this movement -- it just kind of took off through word of mouth. BUT...the number of new members pledging a buck a minute seems to be slowing down some...and we still have 24 hours before they roll into town.

Any suggestions on how to get the word out on a Sunday?

I'm on the schedule to teach at an event, but can't afford to travel there!

FlyByDay — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:07:42 -0800

I'm on the board of directors of an org that's hosting an event. I'm expected to pay my way to the event, though I'm teaching and donating my time. This is a serious financial hardship for me, but not for some of my peers. How do I ask for/get assistance when they don't need it? How do I encourage the org to move to this model for everyone? I am on the board of directors of an (international) music organization. I've been on the board for about a year, but have been involved in this community for several years, and am considered "elite" and established in this genre. There are 19 people on the board, many of us new, all of us considered the cream of the crop of this genre (I tell you this by way of set up, not to brag). This org has started to partner with various festivals and events, some of which are 2-3 day events filled with concerts, competitions and workshops. We, the board members, are encouraged to teach at these workshops. Our expertise runs an impressive gamut, so we comprise a good amount of the instructors at these events.

The problem for me (and for the org, as I see it) is that the board members are not only expected to run workshops gratis, but to pay for (our) own travel expenses and donate the costs in kind. For some on the board, this is no hardship at all; for others, it very much is. I'm in the latter group, unfortunately. There's an event coming up next month at which I'm scheduled to teach. If I drove there, it would be a 15 hour drive each way, and the gas would cost close to that of a plane ticket (plus the wear and tear on my car). I would also be driving alone, so that plan seems prohibitive. I also happen to not know anyone in the area with whom I could stay, so I'd have to stay in a hotel, which is where everyone else is staying. I do not have the funds for this. I am struggling right now to pay my bills.

I have approached the org president privately, as well as the board member responsible for fundraising. I believe that our model for all such events should be that expenses should be covered, and both agree that should be what we work towards. We plan to talk about that in an upcoming board meeting. However, for this event, for ME, I'm not sure what to do, and it's coming down to the wire. The event is only a month away. I am on the schedule. There's still the chance that the org will come up with some $$ to cover me (though the policy has been that everyone covers their own expenses for these events), but my inability to pay has to be brought to a sub-committee to be approved or disapproved. That's fairly mortifying to me, but I guess it's the "price" I have to pay for not being as flush as other board members. And I'm not sure they'll approve it at all. In which case, my options are to not go, or to accrue more credit card debt, and pay. Though this would be a good event for me to attend, as both instructor and board member (it is a huge event, and a good one at which to make contacts, be visible, etc), it doesn't seem prudent to put these expenses on a credit card when I'm struggling so.

I guess my question is...what are your thoughts here? What would YOU do? How do I manage my embarrassment of being "exposed" to my peers as someone who needs financial help to get to this event, knowing that I may still be turned down? And then further, any thoughts on how to begin moving towards a model in which these expenses are paid for all board members via some fundraising program? I know that the latter might not be answerable without explicit info on this organization, so feel free to send me a private message.

Thanks!

Who in San Francisco will pick up my wheelchair donation?

mrgrimm — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:47:26 -0800

Will anyone in San Francisco pick up medical equipment donations? I have a wheelchair, bedside commode, walker, and some other significant hardware that I'd like to donate, but I don't have a car. Does anyone know any org that will pick up?

Online donations

chickaboo — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:42:43 -0800

What is the best way to accept donations for a nonprofit organization electronically? I've looked at paypal and google checkout... is there a simple way to collect donations that would allow the donators to indicate what they want their donations earmarked for? line by line if possible? Would welcome any hints or suggestions. Have you used google checkout? They dn't seem to have the ability to break down the donations in this fashion, unless I'm missing something.

Request letter help.

RoseyD — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:04:49 -0800

How can I go about writing a request letter to local companies asking for donations for an elementary school project? My sister has recently started volunteering at a newly created, Title I magnet school -- John Muir K-12. Her task is to approach local "outdoorsy" businesses like REI and Adventure 16 and ask for donations and sponsorships. Because writing is not her strength she asked me to help her compose the donation request letter to be presented to these businesses. I've never seen one of these request letters - I imagine it shouldn't be too needy and should state how donating will help the business? Since the school wants to emphasize hiking and nature and trails and whatever else John Muir was involved in, she is to request items that would help the children learn about or experience these things. What is the best way to go about wording the request letter?

Donating Medical Equipment and Medication in Florida?

dancinglamb — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:37:17 -0800

Can you donate unused medications and durable medical equipment (hearing aids) in Florida? A member of my immediate family passed away last week and I'm trying to help square away some loose ends. It occurred to us that there is a bunch of unused medication along with a pair of very new hearing aids (over the ear-type) that are unfortunately going to go to waste. I think there is also a walker and a nebuliser.

Is there any place that this stuff can be donated (rather than going to someplace that will sell it for profit)? My aunt is in Lee County if it makes a difference.

I know that there are a few audiologist Mefites here, so I'm hoping that they might be able to lend their advice. Maybe a couple of pharmacists, too? It's just such a shame to waste this stuff with so many people without insurance and unable to pay for the very things that are just sitting there un-used...

Thanks for your help.

Help me find a home for some great books for kids!

bookmammal — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:10:43 -0800

Where can I donate NEW books for children and teens? I'd like to donate some NEW children's and young adult books to an organization, group, nonprofit, etc. I've been googling and have found some ideas, but I'd rather have some personal input from someone who is familiar with the group that will be receiving the books. I'm willing to ship anywhere in the US and I may be able to make a book donation about four times a year. Please help me find a worthy organization that will accept and, more importantly, get a lot of use out of some great books for kids!

donation pick up in manhattan?

nanhey — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:53:14 -0800

Is there any group who does clothing donation pick ups in Manhattan other than Salvation Army, Catholic Charities or NYC Opera? i have 10ish garbage bags full of good clothing that i don't want to throw away. Both Salvation Army and Catholic Charities were booked for the month when i called and the NYC Opera gave me an unfeasible pick up situation (basically anytime they felt like it within a 6 hr window -- i asked for a 15 min warning call so i could leave work, but there was no follow through and i missed them)

so is there anyone else who does donation pickups?

Build Donations Into Cost of Charity Items or Sell at Cost And Ask for Donations?

theichibun — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:15:39 -0800

You're selling prints for charity. Do you sell them for cost + buyer determined donation or do you build a donation amount into the price? I'm looking to maximize the amount we're donating. I've been asked to shoot a benefit concert for a professor at my school who died in a car wreck Saturday night with her 2 year old daughter.

The person who asked me to shoot this is someone I've worked with before, and it was his idea to sell prints to help raise money. I've also already told him that he isn't paying me and if he tries that money is going to the family. Which I'm tell you so nobody thinks I'm trying to make some money off of a bad situation.

Anyway, I can't decide if it would be better to have set prices for the prints or if we should charge people cost and ask for donations on top of that.

I've asked on a photography forum that I visit and the only responses I've gotten were to add a dollar or two to the cost (which I think is way too low) or to see if the school has the ability print them and if they'd be willing to do it for free (something that I'm checking on). Normally I'd wait around and try to get some more responses there but the guy wants to have the show Thursday or Friday and I'd like to have as many of the loose ends tied up as possible.

Which method do you think would get us the most in donations? Do you think people would be willing to donate more if we have a donation amount built into the price of prints?

Can I donate unused contact lenses?

snickerdoodle — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:04:13 -0800

Can I donate unused contact lenses? I just got LASIK, and I find myself with half a box of unused Acuvue contact lenses. Am I allowed to donate/give them away, and if so, what's the best way to do so? Google has turned up conflicting information, so I'm looking for first-hand knowledge. I'm in NY if that matters.

Donating to a school in Afghanistan

KimikoPi — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 20:19:24 -0800

What are the banks and mail system like in Afghanistan? I would like to coordinate donations to a girls' school in Kandahar, Afghanistan. I need to know:

1) How to send money to a bank in Afghanistan. What is their banking system like?

2) How reliable is the mail system? Does UPS go to Afghanistan?

If you have any other thoughts on how to donate directly to a school in Afghanistan, please share. I appreciate it. Thanks.

Books for whom?

Skwirl — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:24:03 -0800

Any organizations that need donations of hundreds of gently used, non-children's books. Not for resale at thrift stores. I work for a non-profit that provides books to K-12 schools. We receive a donations of thousands of books a month and we sort out all of the most relevant books for elementary, middle and high school students. We're left with thousands of college and adult-level books that we usually donate to Books for Prisoners and Books for Africa. We've been fortunate to continue to receive more books than we can handle and that our partners can handle. Are there any other organizations that can use these types of books in bulk? They range from self-help to serial novels to really miscellaneous stuff. Any ideas for other organizations that could use them, specifically in the Portland, Oregon area.

This question is relevant: http://ask.metafilter.com/45859/Where-to-donate-books, but I've got bulk. Literally 5-6 full gaylord pallets of books.

Can I get a tax deduction from donating clothing in Australia?

Eastgate — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 03:07:49 -0800

I'm living in Melbourne, Australia, and I have a whole lot of unwanted clothing (some unworn or barely worn) that I want to donate to an op shop. Am I able to get any tax deduction for this?

Take our toys, please

_Mona_ — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:28:10 -0800

My school-aged children received some money for the holidays and decided to buy toys for needy kids instead of spending it on themselves. I took them shopping yesterday and, all told, they've got about $300 in toys to donate in addition to what I'm also kicking in. Now, what are we going to do with this stuff? I know there are several Toys For Tots drop-off points in my area, but I wanted my kids to have a more meaningful hand-off than just dropping stuff into a cardboard box at the local tire shop. I know my kids would love to meet a real, live Marine so I tried arranging to drop off the donations at a local recruiting center. I talked to people at various levels within the Toys For Tots organization -- including a call to the USMC public affairs department in Quantico -- and got nowhere (apparently I can't just show up at a recruiting office and assume anyone will be there).

Now I'm looking for a new organization where we can donate a boatload of new, unwrapped toys. I want to know that what we give will actually get into the hands of local kids but I'm at a loss for who to contact. I don't want to just dump them at the door of a church, the local YMCA, or any other faceless group without at least a modicum of certainty that the toys will go where they should.

I also want my kids to come away with a sense of pride about what they've done, instead of just giving them to an overworked volunteer who mumbles "thanks" over her shoulder as she walks off with the goods.

I considered just showing up at the Salvation Army as they serve Christmas dinner and just handing out wrapped gifts but I'd be mortified if we ran out right as Little Susie got a doll while her brother left empty-handed.

Who knew giving away a bunch of new toys would be so complicated?

Help me come up with some games for my family's christmas gathering

If only I had a penguin... — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:34:41 -0800

Help me host an awesome Christmas with games where my family competes to win the right to donate to the food bank. I'm hosting my family's Christmas dinner/party/etc. this year. The person who's hosted it the past few years has run an awesome show and I don't want my Christmas to be a let down. And I want to do some good for the less fortunate. Help me come up with some ideas for achieving both goals. Ideas will generally be in the form of games.

The Players and Setting Me (30s), my mother (50s), my aunt (60s), three cousins and their two spouses (40s), cousins kids (7, 12, 16, 21), my boyfriend (30s), and a friend of the family (60s). We'll be in my one-bedroom apartment. The kitchen is not big enough for guest congregating. The other room is a the living/dining/office room which is medium-sized, and my bedroom which is an ok size.

Our Christmas Tradition/Past Christmases
We celebrate on Christmas eve and open our presents at midnight. So technically it's Christmas day. The dinner is potluck and we use paper plates so no one has to spend their Christmas cooking or fussing.

For the past several years, we've done gifts as follows: We each bring one gift of approximately $50 value. Then we randomly draw numbers. The first person to go picks a gift from the pile and opens it. The next person can take a gift from the pile or steal the first person's gift (first person chooses a new gift from the pile). The third person can take a gift from the pile or steal either of the two previous gifts, etc. It makes it hard to shop, but great fun to open the presents.

My New Spin
I'd like to incorporate some charity into Christmas this year, but I don't want to burden people given the current state of the economy. So I've asked each person to bring 3-5 items for the foodbank and will buy a bunch of food for the foodbank myself. But rather than just give the food to the foodbank, I'd like to organize some games wherein people (divided into two non-random evenly matched teams) compete to be the ones to donate the food. I'll have a box for each team. (Inspriation: baby shower where the goal of the games was to win small gifts purchased by the host to give the new parents). At the end the winning team will draw numbers first for gift opening (confers no actual advantage sine numbers are drawn randomly...it's really competition for the same of competition).

Two ideas I have:
1. Jello-Box Jenga: Your team donates any jello box you successfully extract, if you topple the tower the other team donates what falls
2. Bowling by rolling cans at boxes of X. You donate what you knock over, other team donates the rest.

The Question at Long Last
I'm looking for a couple more game ideas. Some things to consider (in case the post isn't long enough):
1. I can set aside the bedroom for game set up.
2. Teams will have essentially equivalent members so that there wouldn't have to be any head-to-head situations where people were unevenly matched.
3. There will be rampant and shameless -- but good-spirited and friendly -- cheating.
4. I'd like games to incorporate the food, but not on any way that would make it unusable for the food bank.
5. I could buy any specific food required (e.g. jello), but bonus points for games that can use just about whatever food my family happens to bring.

Donor-friendly giving management web system

Milkman Dan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:40:04 -0800

Help me find, buy or build a donor-friendly online giving management system for our non-profit. Imagine: Each donor gets their own account, they can sign in securely to view their past gifts, request tax receipts, set up monthly donations, adjust their mailing preferences, update their profile, and so on.

Are there existing tools that do this, especially ones that are free or cheap? Will they integrate well with a database on Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge? Do you know anybody who would like to build such a system from scratch for us?

How can I set up a simple donation system for a grieving family?

chinese_fashion — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:41:48 -0800

How can I set up a simple, intuitive and free online donations account via PayPal or another service? A little girl was murdered in Washington, D.C. last week. Her father has been arrested and charged with the crime.

Her older brother is a good friend of mine, and I want to do all that I can to help the family right now. The parents in the family don't speak English, and between the father in jail and the mother taking considerable time off of her hourly-wage job to grieve, etc., the bills are piling up.

I'm trying to set up a one-click (or extremely intuitive) account to collect donations for the family right now. After I set that up, I'll be passing it around online to see what I can do.

My problem: I have never done this before, and have no idea how to start. I looked around Paypal, all over the place on that site, and couldn't figure out how to do it. So: I'm asking you guys. Any advice? Tips? Other services to use?

This needs to be SUPER simple, for less web-savvy folks, and to appeal to the impulse-buy/donate nature of online readers. And I have no idea where to start.

Thanks, guys ...

I need a Shopping Cart That Takes Donations.

ShawnStruck — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:53:36 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good shopping cart system that can also handle something like donations? For example, while PayPal does offer a donation system and it does offer a shopping cart, it doesn't seem to be able to intergrate the two sets of data so that someone could choose to donate whatever they like to one project via a donation button and also add a payment option for something physical, to get a shopping cart (and that flexibility of adding or deleting an amount of money) means that all items have to have a fixed price-- you can't just have areas where one or two or ANY item can be a variable price that one types in what they want.

In talking with my boss, he says we now aren't completely tied to paypal as the solution for this... so if anyone can offer any help into a possible solution, I'd really appreciate it.

Reporting a refund of a charitable donation on your taxes?

kristi — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:47:54 -0800

Say you report a charitable donation on your taxes, and then, a few years later, you get the organization to give you your money back. How do you report the refund? Every so often I hear about a Scientologist who leaves Scientology and gets some or all of their money back. (I'm a Scientology debunker, so I hear about this stuff.) With tax time coming up, I'm curious about the tax implications of a refund of a charitable donation you wrote off in the past.

Say you donate $50,000 to Scientology in 2002, and declare it on your taxes, and then you leave Scientology, and get them to give you back that $50,000 in 2006. How do you report that? How would that work with the IRS?

If it matters, there are two kinds of Scientology donations - the kind of donations you usually think of with non-profit organizations, where you just give money toward a cause like setting up a new chapter of the group or buying a new building, and a second kind which is a payment earmarked for Scientology services you plan to take. (Yes, this violates the typical interpretation of charitable donations not being attached to any benefit received by the donor; nevertheless, that's how the IRS handles Scientology fees at this point in time.) So, if there's a difference between getting back, say, money given to support starting a new Scientology org (which would be a more standard type donation) and what's called in Scientology "money on account," I'd love to hear that, too. Example: Annie Body gives $10,000 to the International Association of Scientologists just to generally support what they do, and also pays $20,000 toward the next courses she plans to take. She reports $30,000 as a charitable donation on her taxes. Three years later, she leaves and manages to get them to give it all back. How does she report the refund?

How can I donate more money to Barack Obama?

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:57:15 -0800

How can I donate more money to Barack Obama? I would be willing to donate more of my money to Barack Obama's cause, but I have already donated the maximum legal amount of $2300 for the primary.

I have read that you can donate not just $2300 for the primary, but also another $2300 for the general. In fact, this is encouraged on every politician's website that I've seen. However, it's not clear to me whether the candidate can use general election donations for the primary; if not, I'd rather hold on until it's clear that he's actually going to run in the general.

Another alternative: You can give additional money to... uh... PACs and stuff?

So, my questions are: If I donate now towards the general election, would he be able to use those funds in the primary?

If not, what PAC (or whatever) would most help Obama win the primary?

Submitting anonymously because I'm not interested in having people know that I'm giving thousands of dollars away.

Good items for an auction?

Shohn — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:39:36 -0800

I'm looking for ideas for items I can solicit as donations to an auction at a professional conference. I'll be attending a conference for Parks and Recreation professionals in February. I've been asked to help come up with items for the annual auction which supports several scholarship funds that the organization maintains. I've really been striking out with the vendors I use, because most of the stuff they sell is not really appropriate (i.e. playground equipment or bulk chain link fencing).

In the past, there have been various power tools and just miscellaneous stuff. Just to be clear, the attendees purchase these items from their personal funds, and for their personal use.

One thing I'm absolutely committed to bring is the "Tulsa Basket." Every participating city or town traditionally brings a basket of goods representing that city for the auction. I'm thinking about a BBQ theme for mine, but any ideas for different stuff for the basket would be appreciated as well.

Thanks a million!

Getting Help to the People of Bangladesh

watercarrier — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:43:27 -0800

Where Can People Send Help to Bangladesh? Is there a grass-roots organization that ensures that all donations are received and given directly to the people of disasters such as that in Bangladesh right now?

Is there a place where people can volunteer? And is there any way to pinpoint specifically what is needed so that people can provide those things - again directly to the people?

I need to start an e-business.

fogster — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 09:53:07 -0800

I'd like to design a small-scale e-commerce site that also accepts donations. I have no experience. Help! First, I do have a lot of web experience, ranging from UNIX systems administration to development on a LAMP platform. I've just never done e-commerce, and development isn't my official field.

I'm a student at a business school, and I've recently come back from helping out a small school + AIDS orphanage in Africa. The children do some handicraft (and are learning artisan skills!), but there isn't a big market. I think it would be a huge help to them if they could sell their work online. I'd like something with a web presence as opposed to trying to sell via, say, eBay.

How do I go about this, from a technical perspective? I have Linux machines available, and the school would surely permit me use of a Windows server if it's preferable.

I am not concerned with logistics (such as how to get the products from Africa to buyers), which we're dealing with separately. I'm solely interested in how I should go about setting up an online shop. Are there pre-made applications for this that are good? Should I host it myself or are there places that do that? How do I ensure security of credit card information? How do I spot fraud?

Quick way to dispose of lots of stuff?

Zonker — Sun, 27 May 2007 09:52:49 -0800

What's a good, simple way to donate or dispose of a lot of household items? I'm trying to declutter my life a bit, and I've got a fair amount of old household goods (furniture, electronics, etc.) that I'd like to get rid of in the quickest, simplest way possible. Ideally, I'd give it all to some place like Goodwill that would put it to good use, but it seems that the Goodwill in my area (northeast NJ) doesn't want furniture. The other obvious ideas (as suggested by this question and others) would be Craigslist and/or a yard sale, but I'm hoping there's some simpler option than either of them, as time is fairly scarce these days. I'd even consider paying to have it all hauled away if it comes to that, but I'm hoping there's some sort of charity or public interest-oriented organization that would want this sort of stuff.

Any ideas or suggestions would be very welcome.

Accepting online donations?

gomichild — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 06:50:25 -0800

Alternatives to PayPal for accepting donations online? A NPO I've been helping out are unsatisfied with using PayPal to accept online cash donations. They aren't ready to handle processing credit cards themselves.

Unfortunately there are some requirements that they have which make finding an alternative a bit tricky.

They need to be able to accept donations in a variety of currencies - but the main one is Japanese yen.

The donation site (if you are required to go off the NPO site to donate) must be in English and Japanese.

They must be able to easily transfer any donations into their own bank account (Japanese bank).

Any suggestions?