Americans are generous. In 2014, charitable donations nationwide totaled $358.38 billion. This amounts to nearly 5 billion pounds of clothing. When people donate to charity foundations that are registered as 501(c)3 organizations, they can take those donations off of their taxes.
You do not have to give money to take your donation off of your taxes. If you give a coffee pot, for example, you can take up to $15 off of your taxes and nearly $60 for a men?s coat. If you donate something worth $250 or more, the Internal Revenue Service does make you send in a receipt.
Donating to charity foundations does more for the donor than give then a great tax write off. It also feels good to give back to the community and know that you are helping someone else. Americans throw away 10.5 million tons of clothing each year. Those clothes end up in landfills. When we donate used clothing, that is in decent shape, we know that those clothes are going to someone who really needs them.
Donations of clothing are very much needed by charity foundations and go towards helping families in need. There are a number of charity organizations that are set up specifically for helping military families and veterans. Many of us want to help veterans but do not have the funds to give money. We can all find clothing or find where to donate household items. These donations can make a big difference in people?s lives.
These donations do more than help the person receiving the donation and make the donor feel good. Giving to local charity foundations strengthens the community. It helps builds the ties that bind us all together and makes a locality more than just a collection of people living in close proximity, it makes it a community of people who look out for each other. Knowing that makes people take better care of it. When we do that, we make our city or town a nicer place for everyone to live.
On a very real level, this does increase the property values because people want to live in a place where they see people like to be. This all starts and in enhanced by donations to local charity foundations who help people in the community.
Then there are the environmental benefits of donating to charity foundations. Local clothing donations go to people who needs the clothes and not to a landfill. Those 10.5 million tons of clothing we throw away end up filling our landfills. Seventy pounds of clothing, linens and other fabrics move from each of our closets to landfills every year. Nearly 5% of municipal waste comes from textiles.
It is easier than ever to make donations for non profit organizations. There are clothing drop off locations all over most localities in the form of drop off boxes. Additionally, charity foundations often have donation pick up services that will come to your house (or business) to get your donations, which means all you need to do is call them and arrange it. One thing some people do is organize an office donation drive where staff bring their items to work and the charity foundations will come pick the items up.
Charitable donations are not about pity but show how connected we all are to each other and prove we care what happens to the people in our community.
