Rather than giving someone a traditional gift for a birthday, holiday or anniversary, donations can be made to a worthy cause in that person’s name. There are a range of options that are available for doing so.
One of them is to donate money to a charity that will provide food for a family that has problems making ends meet. In addition to food, money can be donated for medical supplies, planting trees and gardens, providing solar energy and restoring forests. When a donation is made in someone else’s name, that person will receive a card with a description of the donation and its amount.
There are parts of the world where families need animals in order to survive. For example, an alpaca can be given to a family in Peru or Ecuador or a package of honeybees to families in the Dominican Republic. Many families will also accept donations for as little as $100 of goats, chickens or sheep.
If the recipient may not be appreciate of any one of these gifts in particular, then another option is to give a gift card with a certain dollar amount so that person can give to the charity of their choice. In this case, the giver of the gift card is the one who able to take the tax deduction.
If the person does not have a specific charity in mind but does have a cause, then a charity gift basket might be more appropriate. The contribution will be divided among four charities that specialize in the cause.
Children should also be involved in charitable donations and should be taught that toys with which they no longer play or use can be donated to a charity. This is particularly popular around the holiday season with programs like Toys for Tots that many organizations run.
Before donating to a charity, it should be checked out and verified that it meets the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service as a tax exempt organization or is part of a database that the Internal Revenue service maintains for registered charities. The search procedure can be done online and is fast, easy and free of charge.