The act of donation is generally considered to be a very noble act and is appreciated by men of good character. Many people frequently donate the items that are no longer of use to them to charity organizations so that the less fortunate people amongst us can make use of them. Generally items like clothes, furniture and toys can be easily donated. However the concept of car donation is still relatively new which is why people require some tips on how to go about donating their car.

The first and foremost thing that you need to make sure of if you are going to donate your car is to contribute only to a charity that has been authorized by the government. The government actually issues a certification to all legitimate charity organizations and car donation agencies that have received the approval of the government. This gives them tax exempt status which guarantees that they are authentic.

With the first aspect of deciding who to donate your car to determined, you need to proceed by acquiring a blue book price for the car that you intend to donate. This process will provide you with the fair market value of your vehicle in its current condition prior to making the donation.

Following this you can make the actual donation to the organization of your choice. Irrespective of the particular agency or organization you donate car to it is important that you collect your receipt from them upon the completion of the act. This is because only the legitimate organizations will provide you with this receipt and secondly it will allow you to receive your tax deductions.

There are a number of details that should be recorded on the donation receipt. This includes the make and model of the car as well as the particular year of manufacture. It should also clearly indicate the date of the donation as well as the blue book value that it yielded for the charity organization. Most reputable agencies will make sure that the receipt has this information. In case it doesn’t you need to make them add it as your receipt has to have these details in order for it to act as evidence when you claim your tax deduction from the government.

The laws pertaining to car donation have changed in recent years. In the past cars that were sold off by the charity organizations in order to make use of the proceedings entitled the donor to receive the fair market value of the deductions for the taxes of the year. Today the amount you will be entitled to receive if the charity organization sells the car will be calculated from your average yearly taxes.

The act of car donation has benefits for both parties. For the donor it is an easy and effective way of getting rid of an old unused car and the taxes that are attached to it. For the charity organizations it is a means of funding their charitable operations.

This year, Mr. Rogers of Mr. Rogers Windows Foundation will be taking the plunge into the frigid waters off Virginia Beach with 3,000 or more brave souls. Every winter for the past 17 years a very “cool” fundraising event has been raising money for Special Olympics Virginia. The Polar Plunge Winter Festival puts the “fun” back in fundraising by daring one and all to take a dip in the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean to support  Special Olympics Virginia. To date, the event has raised a cool $4.7 million for the organization.

You don’t have time to register for this year’s bone-chilling challenge, but you can watch Mr. Rogers “suit up” for the winter swim on  Saturday, February 6. Even if you don’t want to catch a few waves yourself, you can cheer him on, make a donation, or take part in the many other festivities happening on the beach, from the lively Friday night party to ice carving and the gigantic sand sculpture.

Special Olympics Virginia is indeed a very special organization. They provide year-round programming in sports training and athletic competition specifically for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Serving almost 10,000 special athletes across seven regional offices and through 28 area programs, Special Olympics Virginia is also proudly part of a dynamic global movement, which is now in more than 180 countries and represents over three million athletes worldwide.

Using sport as a vehicle for social change, Special Olympics Virginia’s goal is to open hearts and change minds about persons with intellectual disabilities. Their mission is to provide their participants with exciting and competitive athletic opportunities that will enable them to develop and improve physical fitness and motor skills, as well as build self-confidence and promote a positive self-image. And thanks to the assistance of wonderful volunteers—20,000 in total—and the generous support of partners around the state, these special athletes do not have to pay in order to achieve their dreams.

Do You Donate For Just Monetary Reward?It is generally agreed that giving is the best form of receiving. This is true when one is giving freely to charity or to a just cause. While you will derive immense joy and satisfaction from donating your used car to charities, you stand to gain some cash reward by doing that too. The cash reward, may not just be direct cash paid to you, though this is the case in some high end property donations, but the time you will save in disposing the car, the cost of actually removing the car are some of other benefits you will get by donating your car to charity.Getting Tax Deduction via Car DonationIt is now a common knowledge that you get some tax deduction when you donate your car to charity. This will be accessed by the Internal Revenue Service and will reflect in your next annual tax fix. Calculating this tax deduction is not a uniform thing because the amount of tax deduction you get is directly dependent on the value of the car you donated. The processes for the verification are quite different too. While you will need an independent appraiser for car donation that amounts to over $5,000, you need to just fill up an appropriate form in the IRS document to have you car donation assessed if the car’s market value is less than $5,000 but is more than $500. In a situation where the value of the car you donated is less than $500, you may just go ahead and remove the sum from your tax bill. But these are all verifiable and attract some penalties if any figure you give is confirmed to be fictitious.Do Not Be Carried Away By the Cash BenefitIt is very important to remind you not to be carried away by the cash benefit you will be getting from that junk in your parking lot. It is blissful though but make sure whichever charity organization that is receiving your car donation, properly documents the car gifts. This will save you from any unforeseen future occurrence. There are several charitable organizations around so you have choices on which one to donate you car to for the best deal but care must be taken by you to ascertain the organization’s level of public and selfless service. You don’t just want to give your used car to any organization, you are giving it out so that it will aid the less privileged in the society. Having this in mind will help you properly search for the most suitable charity firm that will be the beneficiary of your car gift. Do not also forget that as you can donate a car, you can also donate articulated trucks, vans, trailers, mobile homes and even airplanes. These are just ways of helping the non profit organizations who will sale these automobile gifts to get cash with which they will use to continue their charitable works.