Looking for a Charity in Ottawa

[jessekaa]

Try a nursing home?

[mariaaz]

I tried the food bank and the person I spoke with was very rude. I asked if they accepted non-food items and he simply referred me to their name...

I agree that the issue is the tax receipt. If I were just dropping everything off I don't think I'd have any problems. What is frustrating is that I have everything itemized and have all of the appropriate CRA paperwork for them to simply review and sign. I'm not asking them to calculate an estimated value for the donation, they simply have to sign to say that they did indeed receive those items from me. It would be my butt on the line if I tried to be dishonest.

I am still trying to get someone to speak with me on the phone about this because I can't imagine I am the only one who has been in this situation and the only people who really lose out are the people these charities are supposed to be helping. As several people have noted, the people who are giving me the run around probably have warm beds and safe houses to go to every evening.

I used to live in the US and charities would trip over themselves to issue tax receipts for donations. Heck, you could even get one for donations to Goodwill! If it were easier to do I am sure more people in Canada would readily donate items to shelters. Maybe I can raise some awareness of that with these organizations...

[mariaaz]

I got a call back from Interval House who declined my donation because they have limited storage! It would appear that Ottawa charities do indeed have more $$$ than they know what to do with! They suggested I call Harmony House, which I will do later this week.

I also tried emailing Minwaashin Lodge and offered the donation to them. They responded saying that they would normally only issue a tax receipt if the donor gave them copies of the till receipts from the original purchase. I replied stating that I had collected the items over a period of months and did not keep the receipts; however, I had tracked all of the items and their respective MSRPs in a spreadsheet that I would be more than happy to share. This is entirely consistent with Canada Revenue Agency's rules on donated items, which state that a tax receipt should be issued based on the Fair Market Value of an item http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/...mnfmv-eng.html. I explained this in my return email. I also explained that I really do enjoy donating items to charity and would likely have several similar donations over the next year, assuming they are willing to issue the tax receipt. I am waiting for their response...

[Tuktu60]

Limited storage!? What the heck kind of excuse is that?

I just can't believe none of these so called charities want your donations. Maybe if you broke it up into smaller donations? Instead of one big one? Perhaps they are leery about signing off on $500 worth of donations at once? I don't know. I can't understand their logic at all for turning down your generous donation.

[mariaaz]

Good point about the size of the donation... although one of the charities I spoke with told me they don't give receipts for small donations. All evidence now points to them not giving receipts for larger donations either!

[Tuktu60]

I saw this in another thread

Matthew House Ottawa - home for refugees - they have a needs list which inludes cleaning supplies!

http://www.matthewhouseottawa.org/fi...eds%20List.pdf

Have you had any luck yet?

[mariaaz]

No luck yet but I will look into Matthew House, thank you for the link.

I spoke with my SiL who works for a charitable organization elsewhere in ON and she confirmed that any charity that relies on public donations should be sufficiently well versed in tax law to know when and how to issue a receipt.

I am going to call the Salvation Army and thhe YMCA next week. I'd really prefer nt to donate to an organization with a religious affiliation, but I want to know if they are able to handle the issue of tax receipts. At the end of the day, I want to donate these items to help those in need and would also like to exercise my rights to a tax break as a result. If I can find a charity that will accept these items, I will continue to donate throughout the year.

I also plan to call CRA next week to confirm with them that it is the donor who is responsible for correctly identifying the MSRP of all donated items. I believe that it is, which makes it even more bizarre that charities would be so reticent to accept donations, but I would like to confirm it wit them to be sure.

I'm thinking of writing an article for the Citizen once I have resolved this issue... I can't be the only person who has been put off of donating because of this.

[Stellar11]

I can see why there would be some confusion on the part of a charity about whether or not they should issue a receipt for that kind of a donation. They would not want to risk their charitable status or run afoul of any of CRA's complex rules for issuing receipts. Taking a look at the Interpretation bulletin quoted below, your donation would not likely qualify for a receipt because the merchandise is of nominal value to you, like the example of used clothing. Even if it does qualify for a receipt, i'm sure the charity does not have people on hand who are qualified appraisers for that type of merchandise. (To be completely above board, the appraiser should probably be a third party, though that's not strictly necessary for donations of a value of less than $1000.)

So you see, it's not that the charities are not in need of donations. They are probably just taken aback by your request for a receipt, and it's likely not worth it to them to contact their lawyers to figure out whether or not your gift qualifies. I am pretty sure that in the states, different tax rules apply.

There is a charity that comes round my neighborhood every year collecting extra, unused personal care items. That's what I do with the surplus toothpaste and shaving cream that I acquire from my couponing. I wish I could remember their name though! They do not issue receipts, but that's fine by my because I usually paid very little or nothing for this stuff anyway.


6. The fair market value of a gift in kind as of the date of the donation (the date on which beneficial ownership is transferred from the donor to the donee) must be determined before an amount can be recorded on a receipt for tax purposes. ... The person who determines the fair market value of the property must be competent and qualified to evaluate the particular property being transferred by way of a gift. Property of little or only nominal value to the donor will not qualify as a gift in kind. Used clothing of little value would be an example of a non-qualifying contribution.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tp/it...it297r2-e.html

[abbasgirl]

Matthew House is a Christian organization.

[mariaaz]

I can see why there would be some confusion on the part of a charity about whether or not they should issue a receipt for that kind of a donation. They would not want to risk their charitable status or run afoul of any of CRA's complex rules for issuing receipts. Taking a look at the Interpretation bulletin quoted below, your donation would not likely qualify for a receipt because the merchandise is of nominal value to you, like the example of used clothing. Even if it does qualify for a receipt, i'm sure the charity does not have people on hand who are qualified appraisers for that type of merchandise. (To be completely above board, the appraiser should probably be a third party, though that's not strictly necessary for donations of a value of less than $1000.)

So you see, it's not that the charities are not in need of donations. They are probably just taken aback by your request for a receipt, and it's likely not worth it to them to contact their lawyers to figure out whether or not your gift qualifies. I am pretty sure that in the states, different tax rules apply.

There is a charity that comes round my neighborhood every year collecting extra, unused personal care items. That's what I do with the surplus toothpaste and shaving cream that I acquire from my couponing. I wish I could remember their name though! They do not issue receipts, but that's fine by my because I usually paid very little or nothing for this stuff anyway.


6. The fair market value of a gift in kind as of the date of the donation (the date on which beneficial ownership is transferred from the donor to the donee) must be determined before an amount can be recorded on a receipt for tax purposes. ... The person who determines the fair market value of the property must be competent and qualified to evaluate the particular property being transferred by way of a gift. Property of little or only nominal value to the donor will not qualify as a gift in kind. Used clothing of little value would be an example of a non-qualifying contribution.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tp/it...it297r2-e.html

Good points, but Fair Market Value is exactly what it purports to be; therefore, a current MSRP for that item (assuming it is in new, sealed condition) should be adequate.

[campfire]

The Odawa Native Friendship Centre would likely love the donation. Not sure about the tax receipt, but doesn't hurt to ask.

The Wild Bird Care Centre on Moodie often needs paper towels, soap etc.....

Hope one of them can issue a tax receipt - they are both fantastic organizations .

[glowworm2k]

I know this is an old thread, but the issue is probably with the tax receipt. These types of items are always in demand, especially at the shelters and drop-in centres.

Organizations, however, have very specific rules under which they can issue tax receipts; issuing them outside of the rules can get them audited, charged with fraud and, if found guilty, they will lose their charitable status. If they're unsure about whether or not they can issue a receipt, they will undoubtedly err on the side of caution as the consequences to them would be catastrophic.

The other issue may be that many of these organizations have only one person (usually an administrator) who can issue tax receipts; if you're talking to front-line staff, they won't be able to help....

good luck!

[ame555]

I know this is an old thread, but the issue is probably with the tax receipt. These types of items are always in demand, especially at the shelters and drop-in centres.

Organizations, however, have very specific rules under which they can issue tax receipts; issuing them outside of the rules can get them audited, charged with fraud and, if found guilty, they will lose their charitable status. If they're unsure about whether or not they can issue a receipt, they will undoubtedly err on the side of caution as the consequences to them would be catastrophic.

The other issue may be that many of these organizations have only one person (usually an administrator) who can issue tax receipts; if you're talking to front-line staff, they won't be able to help....

good luck!

Completely agree -- the tax system is differnt then in the US for donations - I work for a donation and we do not offer donation receipts for items donated -- we used to years ago, but the audit process is very hard on a small agency when you do this. For our funder we are only able to report cash donations now, we don't have a line to report these types of donations.

[Ciel]

There are a couple of issues at work here. OP knows her items' values and knows about the approved tax receipt form. However, at the local level, most charities' front-line staff and volunteers would not have a clue about saying yes to OP's request because they don't know about CRA donation rules for non-cash items. It is beyond their scope of knowledge for what they do. Quite a few charities now do post lists of what they will and will not accept as non-cash donations (but the lists don't necessarily mean there will be tax receipts available for such things).

When Salvation Army used to give tax receipts for donated clothing years ago, I had tags for the bags that were given at the donation trailer. I had to wait for SA to mail a tax receipt several days later-time for an SA staffer to determine the clothing value at the main sorting room and the SA person in charge of receipts would in turn generate the receipt and do the mailing.

Charities tend to have contract staff also (ever see any position become permanent unless it is for HQ or a lead position like CEO? Check out charityvillage.ca to see what I mean). So unless the headquarters or provincial or national office finance person (who could be contract or perm FT staffer) for the charity can say yes to OP's request and send that info to the local charity to "greenlight" OP's local donation, OP will not be seeing action on her request and desired outcome. Need exists at charities but the tax knowledge is not commonplace at the front line counters or on the phone lines. Another thing is that sometimes someone in a charity has to approve things like donations and recognition and receipts--someone at the top of the organizational chart is not necessarily going to give the frontline staff/volunteers tax info unless their specific duties are handling cash/credit card donations, recording donations in a database and mailing out receipts, in which case, another staffer may advise the new staffer of the routine. Donation valuation is not part of the position.

I would recommend a couple of alternate ideas:
1) Second that other SCer suggestion to do a draw basket for someone's fundraiser (the charity with a non-profit status) and submit your sheet for the tax receipt. But you may wish to do some research as to what previous kind of prizes and their values that they have given in the past to see if your donation is in the same range.
2) Do you know anyone in Soroptimist clubs or Rotary? Maybe they know a tax person in the membership that *could* suggest a charity that they know that would benefit from the donation and give a tax receipt.

The topic is a very worthy one as SCers try to help others in a tough economic time.

[mariaaz]

Thanks Ciel, that's incredibly helpful advice. I appreciate it.

I will explore the Rotary/Soroptimist idea as well as gift baskets. I agree, the charities may be more comfortable if they receive gift baskets that they could use as prizes.