Day: November 28, 2015

Categories
Charitable donations Clothing donation Organizations that help military families

Extend a Helping Hand for the Holidays How to Give Back the Right Way

Donations for non profit organizations

This holiday season, there are plenty of families and children in need of warm winter clothing and other assistance. If you’ve been thinking of cleaning out your closets or cupboards and donating, now is the time to do it! For children in need clothing can be a huge gift and you can know that you helped someone in need simply by giving away what you didn’t want. It’s a win-win for everyone — families get warm clothes that are in good condition and you create more space and less clutter in your own home. You also save that material from ending up in a landfill or dump somewhere.
Does Donating Really Help?
Believe it or not, if you donate clothing or other household items, it keeps those items in the consumer loop and prevents them from just being thrown away. About 12 million pounds of clothing or other textiles are thrown out every year in the United States — a huge waste, when it could be used by someone else. For children in need clothing like your kids’ old winter coats could be the difference between staying warm and well during the winter season or coming down with colds.
Additionally, many people enjoy shopping for secondhand clothing. Americans buy about ten pounds of gently used clothing every year, which is great, considering that 90% of the clothing or textiles tossed every year could have been reused. The lower prices on secondhand clothing and the variety to be found in secondhand stores can make it a fun shopping experience — a little like a treasure hunt!
It’s also a popular option for donations — in 2011, for example, about 2 million pounds of clothes or other textile materials were donated or recycled.
It also teaches your kids to give back to the community they live in. It’s great to establish a culture of philanthropy in the house early and promote giving back. Teaching by example is one of the best ways to foster this and will make everyone in the entire family feel good!
Where Can I Donate?
There are multiple charitable organizations in the United States — from charities that will pick up donations to places that you can drop donations off at. If you have a specific charitable interest, such as supporting military charities, veterans charities, or helping families in need more generally, there’s an organization for you to give back to. However, if you’re just starting to think about giving back, a quick online search about a cause you care about or an organization you may have heard about will yield certain results.
Some donors prefer giving material goods as opposed to money, because they feel more certain that their donations are reaching the intended parties without any third party interference. (Many have concerns that a portion of their donations go towards funding the organization itself, instead of reaching the people they’re trying to help.)
For children in need clothing can be a huge way to give back. Consider looking into a charity or a local shelter to donate to — your efforts are sure to be appreciated and you could help turn someone’s life around in a positive way.

Categories
Charity clothing pick up Charity foundations Purple heart donations

Why You Should Give to Charity

Charity foundations

When trying to find a charity to support it can be difficult to choose because there seem to be so many. So what are the best charities to donate to? Most charities can be broken down into seven groups. We will go over them in this article.

  1. Animal charities. This includes wildlife conservation organizations, pet an animal welfare organizations, hunting and fishing conservation groups, and zoos and aquariums.
  2. Environmental charities. The two main subgroups for this kind of charity is environmental conservation and protection and parks and nature centers.
  3. Community development charities. This would include things such as fundraising organizations, community foundations and housing and neighborhood development.
  4. International organizations. These charities usually are based out of one country but actually work in another. This type of charity includes international development NGOs, disaster relief and humanitarian NGOs, peace and human rights NGOs, conservation NGOs and child sponsorship organization.
  5. Health charities. These charities support and treat the sick and disabled, try to find cures for diseases, and promote public awareness. This type of charity includes diseases and disorders, medical services and treatment, medical research to charities and patient and family support charities.
  6. Education charities. These kind of charities take care of students from all age groups and focus on making education more accessible and effective. This would include private elementary, junior high and high schools, universities and colleges, scholarship and financial aid services, school reform and experimental education and support for students teachers and parents.
  7. Arts, culture and humanity charities. This last group of charities work to preserve artistic and cultural legacies and celebrate the arts and our heritage. This includes museums and art galleries, performing arts, libraries and historical societies and public broadcasting and media.

There are a few charities that do not fit within the seven types of charities but for the most part everything can be broken down between the seven categories.

Hopefully the type of charity that you want to support or donate to his class within one of these categories. If not I’m sure it would not be difficult to find out how exactly your particular charity is categorized.

Maybe you weren’t planning on donating and don’t even know why it’s a necessity or wonder what are the best charities to donate to. Let me cover a few reasons donating is beneficial.

  1. Donations are tax deductible. The money you give is tax deductible but also any travelling done for a charity, parking fees or even event fees as long as you haven’t been reimbursed for anything.
  2. You’ll become part of something bigger. It may not seem like you giving much but if everyone gave just a little time or money it would become a lot and could make a huge difference.
  3. Benefit the world’s neediest people. This pretty much says it all. Just $450 can fund an entire fistula surgery to repairs obstetric injuries that happened due to complications at birth.
  4. Feel good It might seem like a selfish reason to do something so selfless but there are medical studies that prove giving to other people can make a person happier with themselves.

These are just a few of many, many reasons to donate clothes, money or time to people in need. So what are the best charities to donate to? The one where your charitable donation could save someone’s life. More info like this.