Donation Definition

A charitable donation is a gift of cash or property that is made to a charity to help it achieve its goals. The donor doesn’t receive any return. The United States allows individuals and businesses to deduct donations from federal tax returns.

Types of Donations

One-Time Donation

One-time donations are the most common type of donation. They involve a single gift, a specific amount, to an organization. Even though the person may give the same amount to different organizations throughout the year but there is no recurring plan or written expectation about when or how it will be made, all donations are considered one-time.

Recurring Gifts

A recurring gift is when someone commits to a regular, predictable schedule of donating. Recurring gifts have the advantage of giving a nonprofit a predictable, predictable cash flow. This allows them to forecast funding and schedule payments throughout the year. It might also help the donor by spreading out their donation over time, rather than making one large payment.

Donate Stock

You can give long-term appreciated securities like stock, bonds, and mutual funds. It’s much easier than you might think. Donating the stock, rather than selling it or liquidating it, not only does this remove one step from the process but also removes the long-term capital gain taxes that were paid from the total sum.

Planned Gifts

Although it can be difficult to imagine what will happen after we are gone, a planned gift is an excellent way to make sure the charities you support are included. You have many options to use planned giving to include charitable giving in your life plans.

In-Kind Donations

To make an impact, donations don’t have to be monetary. In-kind donations can be a gift of goods or services, time or expertise. In-kind donations are a way to help relieve some of the stress that nonprofits experience and allow them to better use their financial resources. By donating your expertise and time, the nonprofit can put more money towards their mission and not hire additional staff. It can also help staff to work more efficiently by sharing some of the workload and bringing experience that would otherwise be needed to be outsourced. The nonprofit can save money by giving goods such as laptops to help with homework or art supplies for the elderly. 

Donations for Church Financing

Donations are a form of financing that churches receive from members, non-members, and other religious groups. Donations can only be used for the specific purpose for which they were given. Donations can be used for many purposes including Church Financing for Renovations, Missions, Events and Operating Expenses.