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Donating a car to charity is not that difficult. However, you need to be aware of the tax regulations before you donate your car to a non-profit organization. The IRS provides some general rules of thumb on car donations:

Starting in 2005, if the claimed value of your donated car exceeds $500 and the item is sold by the charitable organization, your tax deduction is limited to the amount of money the charitable organization actually receives from selling the vehicle.

The charitable organization must provide you (the donor) with a written acknowledgement within thirty days of the sale, specifically stating the net amount they received for selling your donated car.

As an example, let’s say you make a car donation to a non-profit charity, and the fair market value of that car is $5,000. The charity then sells the car without “significant use” or “material improvement”, for a total sale price of $2,500. Your deduction is limited to $2,500, not the $5,000 fair market value.

This is substantially different than earlier years when you could deduct the entire estimated fair market value instead of the amount that the car donation actually raised for the charity.

Another caveat is that many non-profit organizations use a third-party administrative service to handle the pick-up and auction sale or your car donation. The resulting administrative fees are often 20% or more of what the car sells for at auction.
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Location, Location, Location!

There are few things that are more important than location. It not only
applies to real estate, but to fundraising too.  Here are some tips to
expand your horizons when trying to maximize your fundraising efforts.

Traditionally, fundraising efforts are concentrated on:
-Friends
-Neighbors
-Relatives
-Co-workers

Besides the usual suspects, there is a whole lot of money in other places right under your nose.

You have to go where the money is. The big money in fundraising is being located where people are shopping. They are out and about with cash or checkbooks in hand.

There’s no better time than that for offering a quality fundraising product at these locations:
-Drugstores
-Home Improvement Stores
-Grocery Stores
-Shopping Malls

Drugstores – Nice entry-level sales spot. Generally have good sidewalk space available.

Home Improvement Stores – Big weekend traffic spots. Lots of do it yourselfers diving in to their next project.

Grocery Stores – Prime hunting grounds for product fundraisers. A small, high-quality food item does real well here.

Shopping Malls – Hard to get approval for outside space, but a location near the food court is golden.

And don’t forget the 800-pound gorilla: Wal-Mart – The Holy Grail of fundraising locations. A day spent fundraising in front of this high-traffic retailer is like being in fundraising heaven. You’ll have more potential prospects than you can shake a stick at.

Because of the sheer volume of Wal-Mart shoppers, you’ll
need oversize signage to get your fundraising message across quickly before
your prospects hurry on in

Casing the Joint Ahead of Time
You want the best location for your weekend fundraising table. Scope out the lay of the land. Check which entrance gets the most foot traffic.
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It seems like soccer fundraising is either a season-long effort or a quick hitter that doesn’t cover all your needs.

Well, the good news is that there are some ways to make money quickly, or even all season long, that merit your consideration.

What are your fundraising goals?

Many youth sports teams and leagues want:

1 – Fundraisers that can be done with little effort
2 – Fundraisers that may be done sporadically
3 – Fundraisers that will produce significant results

Soccer fundraising programs
In this article, we’ll examine several soccer fundraisers that are quick hitting and sure to score.

The three soccer fundraising programs are:

Bottled water
Shot cage and radar gun
Fast-food discount cards

Soccer Fundraising: Bottled Water
The first soccer fundraising program is selling bottled water. Consider for a moment that each team member will bring water to every practice and to every game. That’s at least a couple dozen bottles right there and probably a whole lot more.

Add in sales to spectators and you’ve got at least 500 bottles that could easily be sold. Sure, you can buy in bulk at a warehouse club, but you can add extra value to your soccer fundraising with private branding of your bottled water, either as a team or as a league.
Read more…

It seems like soccer fundraising is either a season-long effort or a quick hitter that doesn’t cover all your needs.

Well, the good news is that there are some ways to make money quickly, or even all season long, that merit your consideration.

What are your fundraising goals?

Many youth sports teams and leagues want:

1 – Fundraisers that can be done with little effort
2 – Fundraisers that may be done sporadically
3 – Fundraisers that will produce significant results

Soccer fundraising programs
In this article, we’ll examine several soccer fundraisers that are quick hitting and sure to score.

The three soccer fundraising programs are:

1 – Bottled water

2 – Shot cage and radar gun

3 – Fast-food discount cards

Soccer Fundraising: Bottled Water
The first soccer fundraising program is selling bottled water. Consider for a moment that each team member will bring water to every practice and to every game. That’s at least a couple dozen bottles right there and probably a whole lot more.

Add in sales to spectators and you’ve got at least 500 bottles that could easily be sold. Sure, you can buy in bulk at a warehouse club, but you can add extra value to your soccer fundraising with private branding of your bottled water, either as a team or as a league.
Read more…