Its better to give than to receive, but its not impossible to do both. By donating cash or non-cash items to a  qualified non-profit, you may receive a very nice tax deduction.   75% of the $307 billion dollars donated in 2007 was from individuals motivated to give back to their communities.  Claims from charitable donations were the third largest deductions claimed, after taxes paid and mortgage interest claims. 

There are several very important things you need to know about donating both cash and non-cash items before you do so. 

l        Itemize all your donations in order to get your deduction.  Fill out form 1040 Schedule A to turn in to the IRS.  The exception to this would be people who don't own a house.  For most people, their standard deduction far exceeds any deduction they would get from claiming and itemizing charitable donations ($5,450-singles, $10,900-joint).

l        Donate to qualified non-profit organizations. Not every organization that is exempt from U.S. Income tax will qualify for tax-deductible charitable contributions (i.e. A foreign government).

■         To find a list of qualified non-profits, check the IRS database in publications 78 and 526.

l        If you donate more than 50% of your adjusted gross income, you can only claim up to 50%. However, the rest can carry over for up to five years.

l        Get a receipt.

■         If you donate non-cash items worth less than $250 make sure your receipt has the groups name, the date and place of the donation, and contains a detailed description of the donated items.

■         For non-cash donations worth more than $500, Form 8283 will be required with your 1040. 

■         Non-cash items over $5,000 in worth need a written appraisal of its value no more than 60 days before the actual donation, as well as section B of form 8283 filled out.  Both the appraiser and the non-profit must sign the appraisal.

■         Cash donations of more than $250 mus have a written acknowledgment from the non-profit. If you do not have one and you get audited, you will NOT receive your deduction, no matter how much personal info you may have obtained.

■         For all cash donations, note the amount of the donation, and for all non-cash donations, note the fair market value of the item by checking similar items at thrift stores.

l        Non-cash charitable donations much be in good condition to receive a deduction.  Don't donate junk that no-one can use. Clothes and household items such as furniture, electronics, and appliances especially must be in good condition.

l        If you receive goods or services in return for your donation, you must subtract the difference from the amount you claim on your tax return.  For instance, if you donate $200 to a non-profit but receive a $10 mug, you can only claim $190.

l        For vehicles, your deduction will depend on how the vehicle is used.  If the non-profit sells it, you may only deduct the sale price.  If they keep it, the fair market value may be deducted.

■         The non-profit you donate your vehicle to must fill out form 1098-C and give a copy both to you and to the IRS.

l        You can deduct $0.14 per mile for any volunteer driving you may do, such as delivering clothing or food.

l        You will not receive a deduction for services for which you volunteer.  There is a perfect place to discover the benefits of giving without expecting anything in return.

Timeshares are marketed as the most commonsense and practical way to vacation.  Salespeople proclaim it as an investment in all your future vacations. That may be true under certain circumstances, but for someone who doesn't know exactly what they are getting into, timeshares may become more of a financial burden than investment. Get your money out of your timeshare by using it every year. 

Timeshare salespeople will tell you that purchasing a timeshare will save you money in the long run and you will be able to vacation places that normal circumstances would deem impossible.  Realistically, most people simply break even, and pay for their vacations in advance via the timeshare. When you pay for a timeshare, you are purchasing a space of time (usually a week) in a specific location every year indefinitely. You pay an upfront fee and then an annual fee for maintenance and various other upkeep fees.  While the initial price is set for the entire time you own the timeshare, fees are mandatory and may be increased at the resorts discretion.

So, if you paid $20,000 in upfront costs for your timeshare, and you stayed there every year for the next twenty years, you would be paying $1,000 a vacation, not including fees. This is great, especially if you normally spend more than that paying for hotel rooms and such. This also works well for people who enjoy vacationing in the same area ever year.  The problem happens when timeshare owner begin missing years.  Suddenly the yearly estimate for your $20,000 piece of property jumps to $1200 or $1800 a year, again not including fees. 

In the long run, timeshares can  be a good investment.  But before you buy, consider your family's vacationing habits now.  Will you really use your timeshare enough to break even or even save money on your vacations?  Do you have a location in mind that you would like to visit frequently over the next few years of your life? If you use your plot every year, you are far more likely to get your money's worth out of your timeshare. By using your timeshare as often as you can, you can make your timeshare purchase worth your while while creating memories with your family that will last a lifetime.

To make matters worse, surveys by the Food Bank show that one in ever two New Yorkers have trouble being able to afford basic foodstuffs, which is double the numbers shown on last years survey.  The same surveys show that in a theoretical job loss, one in every four New Yorkers would need immediate assistance in groceries, while one in two would need help within three months.

The Food Bank has an annual budget of $61 million dollars (fiscal year ending in June 2009) and $45 million of that is simply the cost of transporting all the food to the 1,000 soup kitchens and food pantries they supply in New York.  Some non-profits are trying to take up the slack left by individual donations, such as Robin Hood, a non-profit that has promised to match all individual donations two to one, up to $2 million dollars.  But this makes only a dent in the $9 million still needed to make the budget.

Executives at the Food Bank show concern for those New Yorkers who don't even know about the Food Bank and the assistance they can provide.  Every dollar donated to the Food Bank generates five meals for those who can't afford it.  Don't let a little economic trouble get you down, don't be afraid to help out those who need it.

A survey conducted by the Conference Board in New York looked at 197 companies and their donations. The amount of donations increased only a little, from $10.2 billion in 2006 to $11 billion in 2007.  The survey was conducted between March and June of 2008, before the Wall Street collapse.  The surveyed companies did not expect an increase in their grant making in 2008.

In 2007, all types of companies noticed an increase in corporate donations. The exception was environmental charities, which dropped 4.4%.  The top charities donated to were health and human-service non-profits.  This same trend has been noted for the last 5 years. The survey also took into account overseas donations. $2.35 billion was donated both in 2006 and 2007. The companies report spending 26% more in Europe than other international locations.  The Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and Caribbean, Canada, and Africa report the next-largest donations. The biggest donors are pharmaceutical companies at $3.84 billion in cash and products.  Banks, technology companies, and energy companies come in next in line. Products and services (non-cash donations) make up 54.2% of total donations in the U.S alone, with the percentage going up to 66.2 in overseas countries.

If you and your family vacation in the same place every year, you can get better accommodations than what hotels and motels can boast by owning a timeshare.   Timeshares are a form of vacation ownership where the owner pays only for the time spent at the resort instead of having to buy another piece of real-estate that will only be used a few weeks out the year.  For decades, millions of people have enjoyed a vacation every year with their timeshares.

Timeshares usually come with free leisure facilities on site for your enjoyment.  Timeshare resorts are much higher-quality than are hotels, as well as being, in the long run, a much better financial choice. Owners can purchase a fixed week every year or work on a floating system, where they select their week every year.   Some programs allow you to exchange your week for either another week at the same location or the same week at another location.

Timeshares come in all shapes and sizes.  If it is just you and your spouse, or a small family, one or two bedroom accommodations are available.  Larger families can purchase a three bedroom or two adjoining suites. More amenities are more readily available, with lounges area's, kitchens, and patios.  Timeshares are self-catering; there will be no room service or hostess.  You will be responsible for your own meals, but since most timeshares come with a kitchen, this shouldn't be a problem. 

Timeshares are purchased up front, and some people even put down a payment towards buying the rights as well as for the use of it. After your purchase there will be yearly fees that go towards maintenance, cleaning before and after your time slot, and taxes. 

For families that vacation in the same area every year, timeshares are simply the way to go.

If you're thinking about donating your car, consider what route will get the most cash to your charity or non-profit.  While most non-profits accept non-cash donations like cars, stocks, or other durable goods, not every charity is equipped to handle the liquidation process. These charities are forced to go through a for-profit companies to handle the towing and the paperwork.  Often these vehicles are sold in the wholesale market.  These can be taken apart and sold for parts, or simply sold for a profit that goes to the partner company and not the charity. Your tax-deduction is also limited to the amount that actually went to the charity and is completely minimized in this whole process.

Make sure you and your charity get the most out of your donation and not the for-profits. When your car is donated, it will either be sold as is, refurbished and sold, or refurbished and given away. The cars sold as they are are the ones that tend to go on the wholesale market, which will sell quickly, but for nearly 5% what you might earn in the retail market.  The latter two tend to get a higher tax-deduction and will sell for something closer the the fair market value of your donation.

idonate.com is a service to non-profits that seeks to sell non-cash donations for the highest possible price in order to give the charity as much of the donation as is possible.  Let idonate save your time and effort to put your car in the markets already available to us.  Visit www.idonate.com for more information.

When you go on vacation, oftentimes you can get 50-75% discounts on almost any activity by merely attending a timeshare presentation.  However, only 1 person in 100 actually buys a timeshare through these presentations.  Someone has to pay for the discounts of the other attendees and the salesman's commission, and its usually the new timeshare owner. As a result, the price is highly inflated.  If to want a timeshare, buy it through the resale market and not at these presentations.

Many resorts will put new perspectives on buying timeshares, such as one-week timeshare you can only use every two years.  This makes the maintenance fees appear much lower.  There are also rotating timeshares, which appear convenient as they allow you to pick your week each year instead of having a fixed week.  At least, they are convenient till you have to fill out the paperwork trying to get the week you want. 

Before you buy, consider that you are buying vacation at the same place every year, unless your resort can make arrangements to exchange.  If thats what you want, then maybe a timeshare is the thing for you.  Also, do some research.  Look at the accommodations and location of your timeshare. Make sure you cannot buy something similar in the same place for less. And what about in a few years when you want to sell it?  The Internet is full of people selling timeshares, and it will be neither quick nor easy to sell yours.  It will not be for a profit and may even turn out to be a huge loss to you.  You will pay a listing fee of $300 to $1,000.  Once listed, it won't sell because timeshares depreciate over time and almost never sell for more than they were purchased for. While listed, you won't make plans to use it, expecting it to sell, but you still have to pay the maintenance fees and taxes.  If it doesn't sell, you'll be contacted to re-list it.  You may end up paying $4,000 to sell it, when in the end you'll only receive $1,000 to $4,000 for it.  Hardly a worthy investment.

Spend half an hour with an accountant or tax lawyer and discuss donating your timeshare instead.  You will be rid of it within weeks and companies such as iDonate.com will take care of all the paperwork and details of selling it.  The proceeds will go to a charity of your choice and you will receive a tax-deduction for the selling price.

If you've already donated a non-cash item, perhaps now you are wondering how all this will work out in your taxes.  Well, we have some things you need to know. First, the value of your gift determines how much you need to prove to the IRS. The problem comes when you don't know now much the sale of your non-cash donation will be.  Charts may be available but are not always that helpful.  The price your donation sells for is your deductible value.  This may not be as high as you may think.

Many non-profits use a third-party such as iDonate.com to liquidate your donation.  Consider what your donation is worth on the market, usually 20-60% of the retail market. Some people refurbish and sell the vehicles themselves and donate the cash income.  This cuts out the middle man but also takes up a lot of time that could otherwise be spared.

More valuable donations need an receipt, and the non-profit will need to be officially registered.  Any charity should be able to produce a non-profit tax ID number for you to check with the IRS database.  You may not receive a specific tax-value right away, and will later receive a receipt with the deduction.

Keep careful paperwork and make sure you can prove the worth of your donation.

Non-profits began accepting non-cash donations in order to encourage donations by the middle class, rather than depending solely on cash donations by the upper class.  Overall this much more practical tactic has been a huge success.  Used cars are the most common articles donated, but really anything that will last for more than a few years has potential to be a charitable donation. 

Electronics can be good items for donation, but rarely are given a second glance until they are either completely outdated or broken beyond repair. When donated to an educational non-profit, your donated electronics can be used to teach people to rebuild and refurbish electronics.  Old collections and antiques can be liquidated and the proceeds donated.  Virtually anything that someone else can make money off of can benefit a non-profit. Artwork of any taste or style can be valuable, as long as it is in good condition.

If your donation is worth more than $500,000, or if you donate more than that value in a year, there will be necessary paperwork for your tax-deduction.  The more you plan on deducting, the more specific documentation will be necessary for the write-off.

Skip the hassles of trying to sell your furniture, equipment, jewelry, antiques, and old collections in a garage sale that often takes more time and work than is worth the income you may get from it. Instead, donate it and take the tax deduction. Garage sales take time and effort and maneuvering large furniture or equipment can be more trouble than its worth.  Antiques, jewelry, and collectibles may not sell for their true value.

If you donate it through idonate.com, you can specify your favorite charity or non-profit  you would like the proceeds to go to.  idonate.com has resources to liquidate your item at the best price to benefit your charity.  By itemizing and donating it, you can take the Fair Market Value as a tax deduction.

There are three main things donors do wrong when they donate non-cash items.  The first is itemizing incorrectly.  If you are donating a set of collectibles or jewelry, make sure you take careful inventory of every item.  Second, make sure you note the market value of each item.  This price should be equal to what the charity will sell the item. Finally, make sure you obtain a receipt.  Don't make these mistakes when donating a non-cash item!