How to Donate Cars to the Make-A-Wish Foundation
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a charity that serves children with life-threatening medical conditions. The charity arranges special meetings with famous people and grants other special wishes of the sick children. Some local chapters of the Make-A-Wish Foundation accept car donations to raise charity funds. Donors interested in donating a car can learn how to find a local chapter and give a car to help the charity grant wishes to children.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
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1
Visit the "Chapter Locator" web page of the national chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation (see Resources). The locator allows you to find the individual website of each local chapter. Select a state to find local chapters in your area.
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Use the website of your local Make-A-Wish Foundation chapter to see if it accepts car donations. Due to varying state laws, the national chapter does not arrange car donations. Local chapters that accept car donations work with independent companies to tow and sell your donated car.
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3
Contact the local chapter to donate a car. Local chapters that accept cars for donations have a phone number to call. The phone number is different for each local chapter, so you will have to refer to each chapter's website to get the number. Some chapters also have a link to the website of the independent company that handles the towing and selling of the donated car. For example, the Oklahoma chapter provides contact information for Charitable Auto Resources, the company that processes their car donations.
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Arrange a pickup time for your donation. The company that processes the car donation will come and tow away your vehicle. You need to have a clear title to the vehicle to donate your car. Make sure you get a receipt for your car donation.
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Wait for Make-A-Wish to sell your car. You will then receive IRS Form 1098-C from Make-A-Wish if your donated car sells for at least $500. You may deduct only the sale amount stated on your 1098-C. However, you can still get a tax deduction if your car sells for less than $500. You may deduct the lesser of $500 or the fair market value of the vehicle. The general rule for determining the fair market value of a used vehicle is to refer to a selling guide that lists values of used cars. You may use IRS Publication 561 for additional information on computing the vehicle's fair market value (see Resources).
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Tips & Warnings
The national chapter and some local chapters also accept other types of noncash donations (see Resources). For example, if your local chapter does not accept car donations, you may contribute computers and electronic equipment, frequent flier miles, building supplies and other types of special "treasure" donations.
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