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It’s the tenth day of my 12 Days of Charitable Giving for 2019. Readers have suggested deserving charities over the past few weeks, and I’ll be posting the results here. Today’s charity is The Sunday Love Project.
The Mission of The Sunday Love Project is to share food amongst the homeless, while simultaneously building community. The organization’s efforts aim to break bread with those who are struggling to make their way back into society as contributing members. They serve as a liaison between a hungry, struggling mind and a focused, nourished soul. Each week, The Sunday Love Project serves between 600 and 800 meals to those in need.
The organization began on Christmas morning in 2014, when Margaux Murphy overslept. She had planned to help serve breakfast at church but missed the deadline. Instead, she headed to Boston Market, bought a dozen meals, and gave them out to homeless people in her own neighborhood. She realized that more folks needed help and recruited help on Facebook. Ten days later, Murphy and friends were serving 40 meals every Sunday outside the Parkway Central Library.
So how can you help?
To make a one-time donation, click over to the website and look for the red “donate now” button.
For federal income tax purposes, if you plan to claim a deduction for a cash contribution, you’ll want to keep a record of the donation. Ideally, the organization will provide a written record with the name of the charity, date, and amount of the contribution.
The organization also has a wish list on Amazon. You can find it here. When you donate new items from the wishlist, keep receipts: the full value of the items may be tax-deductible.
If you’d like to donate in-kind goods, there is a list of needed items on the website. If you’re looking for a tax deduction, you can claim the purchase price of new items, but you must value used items at their fair market value.
Finally, you live in the Greater Philadelphia area, you can also sign up to help serve meals. Remember that you may not deduct the value of your time, but you may deduct out-of-pocket expenses like mileage and parking.
Do your homework.
As always, you want to make sure that your donation is going to a qualified charitable organization. A search using the IRS’ new Tax Exempt Organization Search (formerly Select Check) reveals that The Sunday Love Project is on the list. A heads up: The Sunday Love Project is listed as Sunday Love Project and The Sunday Love Project. Remember to check alternate spellings and capitalizations when searching if you don’t succeed at first – or check using an organization’s employer identification number (EIN) which is typically available on their website.
To find out more about the work of the organization, check out their website or like them on Facebook.
I often suggest checking out third-party sites like Charity Navigator for more information about charitable organizations, including evaluations and access to tax forms and other financials. The Sunday Love Project is not ranked on Charity Navigator because it files a Form 990-N, sometimes called an e-postcard. Organizations file a Form 990-N when they receive less than $50,000 in annual revenue. E-postcards are quite simple, and they do not provide the needed information to complete a Charity Navigator rating (you can find out how to evaluate an unrated charity here).
Remember: Readers nominate their favorite charities to the 12 Days of Charitable Giving, and in most cases, I can’t personally vouch for the organizations. So be generous but be smart: Do your homework.
For more on making charitable donations, click here.
For other charities in the series: