At sometime throughout their lives, most people have donated to charity. They may have placed a few dollars into a collection tin on a grocery store counter or they might have signed up to pay a regular amount on a monthly basis to a charity that they are fond of. Of the many different ways to donate, the majority of people have utilized at least one of them. However, it is one of the less common donation options that can bring with it substantial benefits for both the donator and the charity.
One organization that accepts car donations is Goodwill. Most of you will have at least heard of Goodwill as it’s one of the largest charitable organization in the United States and possibly the world. A Goodwill car donation will help the group in their ongoing efforts in a variety of ways. Goodwill began with working with disbled and mentally challenged individuals in order to help them live more independently. Now Goodwill Industries supports a number of other causes in our communities.
Goodwill Industries International now boasts of 166 independent community-based centers across the United States and Canada. The bulk of their work involves the commitment to helping people and families get the training and support needed to find gainful employment to support themselves. Not only do they offer services such as job training, educational opportunities and mentoring, the organization also assists with things like daycare and transportation issues.
As you can imagine, a Goodwill car donation can go far in furthering the goals of this worthy group. Some of the donations are used to train would-be mechanics and body shop technicians. Another Goodwill car donation may be fixed up and given to a client in order to provide them needed transportation to get back and forth to their job. Still other donations are sold at auction and the funds raised this way go to support all of the other activities.
Your Goodwill car donation will still offer you the benefit of a charitable tax deduction along with the good feelings you receive from helping someone else. For anything up to $500, you receive full market value as a tax deduction. If the car is worth more than $500, your tax deduction will be based on the actual amount that the vehicle is sold for or capped at $500 if the organization does not sell it.
Not only will a Goodwill car donation benefit you at tax time, it could benefit you in other ways, as well. If you have a non-running junker in the yard, it will cost you money to have it hauled away. However, if the local Goodwill has need of a parts car or practice car for their automotive training programs, they will often haul it away for you for free. You still get a tax deduction if the vehicle has any market value at all and if it doesn’t, then you saved money by not having to pay someone to remove the car from your yard.
