FAQ under construction
Are my charitable donations tax deductible?
The purpose of charitable tax
deductions are to reduce your taxable income and your tax bill—while improving the world.
Per the "CARES Act" of 3/27/2020, if you take the standard deduction on your 2020 tax return (the one that you'll file in 2021), you can claim a brand new "above-the-line" deduction of up to $300 for cash donations to charity you make in 2020. If you are in the 24% tax bracket, donating $300 would save you $72 in income taxes this way. If you itemize deductions on Schedule A, you get a tax break for charitable donations and can generally deduct up to 60% of your adjusted gross income coming from W-2's. This is our understanding; but you should rely on professional advice from your accountant.
What is adding value to your products and services mean?
Answer: It means we don't just transfer Donor's money to help someone only for the present. We insist on beneficiary compliance to influence long term gain in their lives and other....
Why are you obsessed with Accountability?
Why are you obsessed with Leverage and how do you use leverage?
Answer:: We get a natural high when leverage allows us to further multiply the good we do beyond and after adding our own Value.
Why are you obsessed with Transparency?
How can you say 100% of my donations go directly to beneficiaries and not overhead, salaries, wastes, etc?
At Charity Navigator, we advocate that all potential donors take the
time to ask charities questions about their programs, mission, and goals
before they decide to support them. For those people who don't have the
time or resources for this, we provide our services as a guide, so you
can give with confidence. In addition, we have developed a list of
questions that you as a donor should ask before you begin the act of
supporting a charity.
- Can your charity clearly communicate who they are and what they do?
If a charity struggles in articulating its mission and its programs,
it will probably struggle in delivering those programs. Organizations
that can explain who they are and what they're trying to accomplish have
a singularity of purpose and a commitment to focused institutional
change. The dot.com boom and bust showed that for-profit companies that
couldn't articulate exactly what purpose they served and what product
they delivered couldn't compete with bricks and mortar businesses with
clear visions of who they were, and what they did. Charities are no
different. If a charity can't explain who it is and what it does, and
why it is needed, find one that can. The stakes are too high and too
many good organizations exist who know exactly who they are, what they
do, and why they are needed.
- Can your charity define their short-term and long-term goals?
Organizations without quantifiable goals have no way to measure
success. If they have no way to know if they are successful, how can you
be sure they are working toward something? Demand that your charity
tell you what it is trying to do. Good organizations relish this
opportunity. They know what they are working toward today and tomorrow.
- Can your charity tell you the progress it has made (or is making) toward its goal?
Once again, it's not enough to merely be concerned with a problem.
Good intentions are no longer sufficient to warrant your charitable
support. The marketplace is too crowded. Ask your organization what it
has done to make the issue it confronts better. What are its results?
You wouldn't buy a brand of toothpaste if the manufacturer couldn't
prove to you that it fought cavities successfully. Why should you
support an environmental clean-up organization if it can't show you that
it is cleaning up the environment?
- Do your charity's programs make sense to you?
If you support the mission of an organization, ask yourself if its
programs also make sense. You believe in the cause, and you hope for the
end result, but is the organization working toward that result in a way
that seems rational and productive to you? If an organization's goal is
to promote kindness toward animals, does it pursue its goal in a way
that makes sense to you, or does it merely inflame the issue? Do you
want your research organizations doing advocacy? Do you want your
outreach organizations making policy, or your policy organizations doing
outreach? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. This doesn't mean that every
organization should be singular in focus. It also doesn't mean, however,
that you have to support every organization that has the same belief
system as you. Just because you support the ends, you may not support
the means. If you know you want to support the outcome the charity aims
to deliver, ask yourself if its method of arriving at that outcome makes
sense to you.
- Can you trust your charity?
Our research has shown that the overwhelming majority of charities in
this country are not only responsible and honest, but well-managed. So
we give with confidence. You should feel the same way before you give.
Don't support a charity until you feel comfortable with it. A guilty and
distrustful giver is a one-time giver. To gain this trust, use Charity
Navigator, or another unbiased source. If you have time, check with the
IRS or your state attorney general's office. Call the President of the
organization, and ask the questions you need answered before you can be
assured this is a good use of your money. Ask for an annual report. Do
whatever it takes to put your mind at ease. Use your rights to gather
data so that you will be comfortable. Good charities will encourage
this. A happy and trusting donor is a willing and supportive donor.
- Are you willing to make a long-term commitment to your organization?
We like to think of giving to charity as a long-term commitment, more
akin to marriage than dating. Intelligent giving is motivated by
altruism, knowledge, and perspective, not a knee-jerk reaction to a
television commercial. You are an adult. You have a budget. You have the
means to help others. You want to help. Ask yourself if your charity is
the type of organization to which you're willing to make a long-term
commitment. When you do this, you agree to support them through good
times and bad, and provide the funding it needs to weather economic
downturns. In return, it promises to continue working toward addressing
the issue you both think is so vital. Look hard and find an organization
you can support for many years to come. When you find that charity,
give it your dollars, tell it you'll be there through thick and thin,
and then continue to support it. Only then will long-term sustainable
change take place.
1. What is your organization’s mission?
2. Why should donors trust your organization?
3. What can your organization offer donors in exchange for a donation?
(Ex: Regular project updates, recognition in an annual report, naming opportunities)
4. What has your organization accomplished to date?
(Ex: How many individuals have you helped? In what communities? How have you helped them?)
5. Can you share one or two stories of individuals whose lives have been changed because of your organization?
(Always seek their permission before sharing their stories.)
6. What are your organization’s goals this year?
7. Why are your goals important?
8. What would happen if your organization was not able to accomplish its goals?
9. How much money do you need from donors to accomplish your goals?
10. How can donors help other than making financial contributions? |
