Thanksgiving coming; car giveaway poll

[fflo]

Well, I'm gonna be a straggler this year, for the first time. Will be spending Thanksgiving in some place call She-boy-gun. Yeah, it's a strange name, isn't it?

I've just found out that this calendar year, 2004, is the last for simple tax-deduction car donating---starting next year, cuzza something buried in the Giant Tax Breaks for Corporations bill, people will be generally be able to deduct less for their donated cars, and in many cases won't know until after the donation how much it will be worth. Charitable groups are pretty upset; asked what she thought about the new law, a spokesperson for Goodwill is quoted in this article in Motortrend as saying, "You mean how Congress is using the homeless and hungry to pay for corporate tax breaks?"

Anyway, I'm contemplating donating the Jeep instead of selling it as is or getting the steering fixed in order to sell it. Gotta do a little number-crunching first. If I do decide to donate it, to whom should the donation go?

[Poll #389853]

Whitman-Walker's a great clinic in DC (serving the GLBT community). SMYAL's a queer youth group. CORE is the long-time civil rights organization. WEAVE us "Women Escaping A Violent Environment"---cheesy acronym, but a national group of 25+ years now.

I nearly died of SIDS myself.

Comments

For What It's Worth

[groovesinorbit]

(being at work and having access to foundation databases and all)

SIDS Network
Administration $14K
Program Services $76K
Contributions $91K

Whitman Walker Clinic
Administration $2M
Program Services $23M
Contributions $9.8M

Chesapeake Wildlife
Administration $331K
Program Services $1.1M
Contributions $498K

AIDS Research Alliance
Administration $91K
Program Services $1.1M
Contributions $1.2M

WEAVE
Administration $191K
Program Services $3M
Contributions $1.6M

CORE
Administration $177K
Program Services $1.1M
Contributions $1.6M

SMYAL
Administration $38K
Program Services $823K
Contributions $527K

Re: For What It's Worth

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Ah---thanks for that!

So, here are the ranks of how much they already get in contributions:

1. Whitman-Walker
2. CORE
3. WEAVE
4. AIDS Research Alliance
5. SMYAL
6. Chesapeake Wildlife
7. SIDS Network

---so maybe Whitman-Walker doesn't really need my (slightly more than) two cents.

$ spent on Administration as a % of $ in Program Services:

Chesapeake Wildlife: 30.09
SIDS Network: 18.42
CORE: 16.09
Whitman-Walker: 8.70
AIDS Research Alliance: 8.27
WEAVE: 6.37
SMYAL: 4.62

Re: For What It's Worth

[groovesinorbit]

Yeah, Whitman-Walker looks like it's doing okay. Looking at the list ranked that way, I might go with SMYAL or WEAVE if it were me. I hate to see a lot of money go toward administration.

Re: For What It's Worth

[fflo.livejournal.com]

I'm tending more and more toward WEAVE.

Re: For What It's Worth

[groovesinorbit]

Sounds good.

Re: For What It's Worth

[vjsmom.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to see that Whitman Walker is doing better than they were the last year that I participated in AidsWalk (it's been a few years, I 'm sad to say). However, CORE does not do that well in applying contributions to programs, so I think I'd probably change my vote--perhaps to SMYAL. But then, atleastdefiant has a great point about WEAVE possibly using the vehicle itself in a positive way. I have fond memories of the Jeep, and I'd like to think of it being used to help someone in a direct way.

And thanks to pijeanf for all the info!

Re: For What It's Worth

[groovesinorbit]

Glad to do it.