Donations That Give 100-percent

Here is a wonderful idea that I read about this past week. It is too late this year to take action, but keep it in mind for next year around Thanksgiving. In fact, I will try to make a note to publish this column again about the middle of November to remind you.

I read a column authored by Crista Huff that told of anonymous donors were paying off the layaway bills for customers at Kmart. She thought it was an excellent way to provide charity without all the administrative costs.

I guess we’ve all seen the stories that circulate in emails about those huge salaries that directors of the large charitable organizations draw. Whether or not they are truly that large, there certainly are a lot of expenses that eat up our donations.

So here is a neat way to provide for those in need and feel good about doing it on a personal, hometown level. The article that brought this to Miss Huff’s attention, and later to mine, Was published in the Detroit Free Press and titled, Anonymous Donors Pay Strangers’ Christmas Layaway Accounts. If you care enough to read that article, I’ve provided a link for you.

Here is some of the advice I took from both the article and the column. Don’t just blindly pay on someone’s layaway account, but try to do some investigation (perhaps with the department manager) as to what is on layaway and to whom the gifts will go. Maybe the manager will have some useful input as to the financial situation of some of the people who have gifts on layaway. In one case cited in the article the person in need was one of the store employees who had recently lost her husband and was providing for several kids.

You might be thinking that paying off a layaway account could be a big expense for you, a larger amount than you really want to give. That’s okay too, because you don’t have to completely pay off an account. Maybe you can pay off $25-50 of an account. It still helps, and your donation could change a hopeful gift to a realized one.

One thing you want to keep in mind is that you should leave a balance of a few dollars on the account so that it remains open. The Layaway Manager can call the customer to break the news that the balance is minimal. If you pay the account off and the customer is not present to take the merchandise, there is a chance that it will get put back into inventory and the customer will never get it.

Of course there are other ways that you can donate so that some little boy or girl will get a gift. The best ones I can think of are the United States Marines’ Toys for Tots program and the Angel Tree that is usually in the vestibule of Wal-Mart, Kmart or Target stores. Go investigate these programs if you want to donate but cannot afford a large amount.

Whatever the gift, If you are blessed with some spare cash and want to make a difference, I cannot think of a better way to do it than to use one of these vehicles to donate and get the biggest “bang-for-the-buck.”

And remember that charity doesn’t have to be a Christmastime activity. As the song, The Secret of Christmas says, “It’s not the things you do at Christmas time, but the Christmas things you do all year through.”