Tax credits and matching donations

Hope it's not too late for a reminder to claim your chairtable donations for a tax deduction! Remember tax day is April 18th this year. I meant to post this at the 1st of the month, but it escaped me. Better late than never. Likewise with taxes, we've procrastinated and are just now entering them. But all those donations come to the rescue! Albeit not dollar for dollar, but at 25%, at least it takes a bite out of the amount due! However each donation has to be itemized separately, so all those little $20 and $30 donations require separate entry. Next year I'll try to do more big lump sums. But the difficulty is always in the decision making; I like to spread the love! And no matter how minimal the amount, sometimes employer matching can double your contribution! There again it may not be dollar for dollar, but every little bit helps. It seems to be at the company's discretion, and I'm finding that big corporations like Boeing shy away from any controversial topics like medical research, but education is generally a safe bet! Also within the organization an individual philanthropist organization may match your contribution. I'm certainly getting all the solicitations in the mail! It never hurts to make sure your donation is going to a legitimate organization that will use the funds responsibly. Try http://www.charitywatch.org/ to research by organization name, or select top rated charities by category. Especially in high profile causes, such as the earthquake in Japan, not all charities are created equal. On the topic of Japan, aftershocks continue to disrupt recovery. While Japan has the benefit of an extraordinary infrastructure to respond to disaster, the international response has not been as generous as the response to Haiti. Contrast that to the oil spill in the Gulf, for which corporate entities and insurance interests were responsible for the recovery, instead of the donations of individuals and organizations. The implications of various natural disasters are very intriguing from the perspective of philanthropy. Next month on May Day, my favorite topic: benefit athletic events (like fun runs)! I'm always looking for running buddies!