Do you feel pleased when you contribute to charities? Do you feel even more pleased when those contributions are augmented by the contributions of others? If so, then today is your red-letter day.
The Seattle Foundation — that estimable organization, headed by former Mayor Norm Rice, devoted to doing good for King County and its environs — has declared May 15 to be GiveBIG 2013. If you make a contribution to one of the 1400 organizations profiled on the Foundation’s website, all of them 501(c)(3) charities, before midnight tonight, it will be “stretched” by funds from the Foundation and its partners. They have something like $850,000 waiting to be distributed to worthy causes.
I just finished donating to eight organizations that I support both financially and emotionally. They do good work in a variety of fields, from Planned Parenthood to the Seattle Shakespeare Company, from the Seattle Public Library to the Center for Wooden Boats. I didn’t give much … the amounts ranged between $10 and $35. But thanks to GiveBIG, those organizations will receive between [$10 + X*$10] and [$35 + X*$35], where X is the percentage by which today’s contributions will be stretched.
I know that all HA readers, even the trolls, share the impulse to do good. Believe me, participating in GiveBIG will brighten your day. So I hope you’ll all join me in this endeavor. And by all means, let your fellow HAers know that you’ve made some donations today. No need to say where you chose to target your donations, though I’d hope you would feel good about adding a plug for your choices here on teh internets.
GiveBIG!!
And the IRS gave this organization it’s 501(c) status in how many days?????
@1:
These organizations are all 501(c)(3), not 501(c)(4). Contributions to them are tax-deductible.
Rules for designation as a 501(c)(3) are much more stringent than the 501(c)(4) regulations. It can literally take years to achieve 501(c)(3) status.
Other than trollery, what’s your point?
My point my god is with what the IRS has been doing on their illegal witch hunt, Richard Nixon should step aside.
@3 Yeah. Right. Illegal witch hunt. Remind me, how many 501(c)4 organizations did the IRS turn down? How many should they have turned down? The first number is zero, and I guarantee the second number is larger.
I’ve been executive director of both 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 organizations. The amount of political activity permitted in the latter is quite limited. An explicitly political organization should get a hard look, and often does. The fact that the Tea Party groups passed muster is something they should be bragging about – not complaining that the IRS did its job in the first place.
As with most of the things currently in the headlines, there is no scandal there. None. Now go back under your bridge.