Donate Your Car And Help The Charity Of Your Choice
Working as a fundraising coordinator with a nonprofit agency can be one of the most rewarding experiences you’ll ever have, and it can also be one of the most frustrating. If it weren’t for automobile donation, the current recession would have made for an especially grim financial picture; even more so for the smaller charities that I represent. Corporate payroll deduction plans are great (especially for the larger organizations that tend to dominate this revenue stream), but when so many people are laid off, the donor pool is significantly reduced and the big non-profits are forced to compete against the smaller organizations over a dwindling donor pool, even as the need for their services rises. The ability to donate your car and direct proceeds to a charity of your choice, is a big win for us.
2009 was a challenging year for nonprofit organizations and it looks as though that trend will continue through 2010. I’d heard from some of my colleagues about a program that allowed people to donate a car that they might be looking to get rid of and have the charity of their choice benefit from the automobile donation. It sounded like a the right program for the times, since many people had second or third vehicles they’d like to get rid of to save on insurance, maintenance and fuel costs, or just to remove an eyesore from their driveway. By calling 800-269-6814, or going to www.donatecarusa.com/donations/no_charity, you can arrange to donate your car.
The advantages to donors are many. A transportation company will arrange to pick up the vehicle, so there is no disposal cost for a donor to worry about. When they call or fill out the online donation form, they choose from over 400 nonprofit agencies nationwide to be the beneficiary of their generosity. A tax deduction is also available to those who donate a car to charity. This is a method of giving that allows people to contribute to helping charities during a particularly difficult time, without having to impact their own stressed finances. At the same time, a wide range of charities are able to benefit from the donations, ensuring that even the smaller non-profits are not left out. From a consumer point of view, automobile donation is much faster and easier than having to deal with getting rid of a clunker on your own.
Heather Roberts is a fundraising coordinator who works with dozens of smaller nonprofit agencies in the Northeast. Her recent “Donate A Car” campaign helped to raise thousands of dollars for the charities she represents. The fundraising feat was especially impressive given that many of the donations came from communities that have been hard hit by the recession. Heather credits the win-win scenario where automobile donation enables people to get rid of cars that may have been bound for the junkyard, while directing much needed money to charities and earning the donor a tax deduction.