The Auto Writer

As soon as the federal government’s “Cash For Clunkers” program got started, I began to receive messages from charities who were worried sick that an important source of income for them was being challenged. Specifically, a lot of charities accept used cars and use the proceeds from these donations to help fund their operations.

I fully understood their concerns, having donated three of our old vehicles to the National Kidney Foundation whose “kidney cars” program rakes in some much needed funds for their organization. In each case we could have traded our cars in or sold them to private parties, but we decided to help a charity out instead. Yes, a tax deduction helped, but it wasn’t the overriding reason why we donated our cars.

CARS Comes To An End

The federal CARS program comes to an end today and it has, for better or for worse, removed hundreds of thousands of aged cars from our roads. Each of those cars is being scrapped, never to ply our roads or even serve as a parts bin for other aged vehicles. Most of the cars purchased in their stead get much better gas mileage and emit far fewer emissions. These are positive steps, but only a drop in the bucket when it comes to reducing pollution and our dependency on foreign oil.

Now that the program has ended, are you still holding onto a “clunker” that you don’t want? If so, the following charities would love for you to donate your car today:

Cars For A Cure — The American Cancer Society will accept your car as the money received from its sale will “… fund lifesaving cancer research, education, advocacy, and patient services programs.”

Habitat For Humanity — Funds donated to “Habitat” will help families build or rehabilitate a home for themselves. Families are required to contribute hundreds of hours of sweat equity into their project, thus your donation is a real hand up to them.

National Kidney Foundation – According to the National Kidney Foundation, your gift “…will pump dollars into public health and professional education, vital patient and community services, organ donation programs and medical research to prevent kidney disease.”

Purple Heart — Managed by the Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Foundation, Inc., your donation to this organization helps our veterans in their time of need.

Salvation Army — Donated goods has long helped the Salvation Army make a difference in the lives of millions of Americans.  Program is managed by the organization’s Northern Virginia operation.

Not Every Organization Is Worthy

So what about car donation scams? How do I know that my car will be used for legitimate means? That’s a good question – to confirm that the organization is a legitimate charity, ask for its IRS Determination Letter, verifying its tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

In addition, research websites that list tax-exempt entities: www.irs.ustreas.gov from the IRS and www.guidestar.org from GuideStar, a philanthropic research organization. FYI, the law does not require churches to register for tax-exempt status, thus your church donation could yield no tax benefit to you.