Lazy Man and Money

Make the Most of Your Giving Tuesday

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Today is Giving Tuesday. It’s hard to believe, but it’s only been around since 2012. I can’t think of another unofficial holiday that has spread so fast.

Before we dig into Giving Tuesday, I have a little blog housekeeping from the last week to catch up on. You may have noticed that I haven’t been writing as much. The kids were home all week for Thanksgiving, and dog boarding has been hectic. I shuffled through seven dogs coming and going this morning. Three were leaving from the Thanksgiving stay and four more were coming to play just for the day.

When I originally wrote this article in 2020, giving was more important than ever. This year many people have moved on from COVID. I’ve gotten it once and have been boosted twice. I don’t think about it much unless I’m going to a doctor’s office and have to wear a mask. I know that there are people out there who are still at risk from COVID, and I don’t want to diminish those feelings, but we have less than half the hospitalizations of a third of the deaths from just a year ago.

In 2022, giving means something different. The “Big Bad” isn’t COVID, but it’s inflation. Food prices are high. Housing is high. Mortgages are high. There are some positives like good interest rates at banks, higher wages, and low unemployment. Everyone has to deal with inflation, but only some benefit from the positives. Those people left behind may need more help this holiday season.

That’s why Giving Tuesday seems to be especially important this year. I have a smorgasbord of thoughts that may help guide you to get the most out of your charity dollar.

1. Make the Most of Matching Funds

One of my favorite ways to multiply my giving is to look for charities that are looking to match gifts. Essentially these charities have donors looking to boost the giving for the charity overall. At the bottom of this article, I’ve got a couple of examples of how that works with two charities I give to yearly. I’ll be looking to give more in 2022, so if you have suggestions for matching funds to help with food and shelter, please don’t be shy in the comments.

Someday, I hope we can be one of those donors who are offering to match gifts. To get there, we need to have a LOT of money. We’ll have to get the kids through college before tackling something like that. For now, giving what we can and working to create an army of future millionaire kids over at KidWealth.com will have to suffice.

Make Your Dollars Go a Long Way

One of the best ideas I’ve seen regarding a charity donation comes from Dollar Revolution:

You and I probably don’t have a million hanging around, but this can do much on a smaller scale. It’s a fantastic way to impact a lot of people in a significant way. I just did a little quick research and found RIP Medical Debt. It’s rated 100% and four stars by Charity Navigator. (More later on why that’s important.) This may not be the absolute best charity, but it was the first that came back in a search, and it seems very good.

2. Giving Tuesday Ideas

There are many organizations that are looking for your charitable contributions today. I like local organizations such as food banks. However, there are many worthy charities around the world. I also like supporting the military because I see firsthand how great organizations like the USO are. (Update for 2022: The USO doesn’t allow the Public Health Service as they did in the past, so we can’t go anymore. Still, they do a lot of great work for the Armed Forces.)

If you have reward points, many charities will take those well. I don’t know exactly how the Red Cross handles many American Airline miles, but I’m sure they need to fly people around. Maybe American Airlines allows them to be converted into cash when you are a prominent charity.

3. Is This a Good Charity?

Sometimes it can be hard to know which charities are reputable. Now and again, you read stories that only a tiny percentage of the money makes it to the people it’s trying to help. The rest gets eaten up in high-salary C-level execs and other expenses. (I’m looking at you, Kars4Kids.) In some of the very worst cases, some scammers will purposely name their charity similar to a legitimate one in hopes of getting some free money from the confusion.

There are three great places to review charities:

It is always worth a look if you are unsure about a charity (as I was with RIP Medical Debt above).

4. Can I Deduct My Donation to this Charity from my Taxes?

As with any area of taxes, it is best to consult your tax advisor before doing anything that I might suggest.

A charity needs to qualify as a 501(c)(3) organization for you to be able to deduct it from your taxes. How can you figure that out? Fortunately, the IRS has an easy charity search for you.

It’s a little harder to get tax savings for giving. Generally, you can only get a tax discount if you itemize. However, the standard deduction is so large now that fewer people itemize.

5. Who I’m Giving To this Giving Tuesday

I’m looking at my local food bank for a place I can make a big difference. I’m also partial to the local animal shelter because, well… dogs. However, here are the two that I mentioned earlier who I give to every year.

This is a little difficult to write, but I will do it anyway. We’re giving to my kids’ private school. It certainly doesn’t scream out as a need, such as many food and health charities. We gave less this year than in 2020. Back then, they were decimated and had to spend on ventilation systems, video conferencing devices, etc. With all that hard work, our kids didn’t experience much, if any decline that was common everywhere else. In 2022, they’ve got a thriving student base, 25% more than a few years ago – and have raised tuition on top of that.

There are four main reasons why we’re giving to the kids’ school:

  • We Do It Every Year

    We give to the school every year. It’s enormously helpful for them to seek other donations when they can show that ALL the parents care to give. They are mostly focused on participation, so the gift doesn’t have to be big. In 2019, they got to 100% participation for the first time in the school’s 80 year history. They haven’t been able to keep it up.

  • Matching Funds
    The school has three other donors matching funds up to $10,000. Our donation on this specific day helps ensure that the school will get close to $40,000 and maybe even more.
  • Local Community

    For the most part, the money stays in the local community. The largest expense for the school is the staff. When they are paid well, they support local restaurants and other businesses.

  • I’m a Little Selfish

    This is at the bottom of the list for a reason. There’s some personal gain with the donation. It’s an investment in my kids’ education.

I also give to my alma mater, which had a similar target goal of getting a set number of donations. My wife shamed me a bit because I didn’t give much, but I wanted to help them unlock those matching funds. I’m giving them less money now than in the past. My views on college have changed and I think colleges need to start being more frugal so that students don’t end up with a lot of student loan debt.

One more thing that I’m looking into is creating an account with CharityVest. It’s a simple donor-advised fund, and I’ve heard some good things about them.

What are your plans for Giving Tuesday? Do you have some unique ideas of your own? Who will you be donating to? Share your thoughts and ideas by letting me know in the comments.

The Great Baseball Card Regifting

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The follow is an article by staff writer, Kosmo

I began collecting baseball cards when I was a kid.  One of the first cards I remember having was a 1985 Gary Gaetti card that a friend gave to me.  I have no idea what happened to this card – I assume I traded it at some point, since I’m not a Twins fan.  Another early card I had was a 1985 Ryne Sandberg card.  Sandberg is my all-time favorite player.  My cousin gave me this card.  It’s well worn, but it’s still prominently displayed in one of my albums.  I could replace it with a better copy for a few bucks, but I’ve kept this one to remember that it was a gift.

Ryne Sandberg 1983 Fleer
This is a Ryne Sandberg 1983 Fleer, not a 1985 Sandberg

I fondly remember collecting the 1993 Topps set.  There were “black gold” special cards that year.  I kept pulling cards that could be redeemed for sets of 11, 22, or 44 of the special cards.  I didn’t really care for them, and traded them (at book value) to my friend Justin for unopened packs of cards.  Many times those packs contained winners, which I would again trade to Justin.  I ended up putting together two complete sets of the 1993 Topps set for a total investment of about $5.  My godson (and nephew) was born in 1993, so I gave one set to his parents to give to him when he was older.

The inevitable market crash came – due in large part to the companies printing cards like they were the Weimar-era German mint.  The market became flooded to the point where supply exceeded demand, and the cards of this era became just pieces of cardboard with pictures of players. Editor’s Note: The Economist has a great article on the baseball card bubble.

I still collect today, but in a different way than I did 25 years ago.  I don’t try to put together complete sets.  I pick up a few cards for the current players I like, and I buy occasional cards from decades past.  I don’t buy too often, but when I do, it’s far more likely like I’ll buy a card from pre-1950 than from the current day.

Over the years, I’ve had a couple of people give me their entire collections.  At some point, many people outgrow the hobby and simply need to storage space.  Luckily, I’ve always been able to find the space.

In the cache of cards I got from a friend, I discovered that I had a complete Topps set from 1976.  In the condition it’s in, it’s probably worth a couple hundred bucks.

Instead of selling the set, I decided to go a different route – I decided to give it away.  I decided to give away a team set to a fan of each team.  There were 24 baseball teams at the time (currently, there are 30).  I switched allegiances from the Cubs to the Rockies in 1993, so I actually don’t have a team represented in the set.  I’m going to keep the Cardinals set for my seven year old, and gave the Cubs set to the 10 year old across the street.  The other 22 went (and are still going) to people I’ve gotten to know over the internet.  Some of these are people I’ve interacted with for a decade or more and some I’ve only become acquainted with more recently.  I’m going to cripple the Brewers set by taking the Hank Aaron card – because I don’t have any Aaron cards, and I want one – but all the other sets will be complete.

My out of pocket cost for this venture is about $3.60 per team.  The boxes cost about 85 cents (including the shipping costs) in bulk, and it costs $2.76 for postage.

  • The Red Sox cards went to a personal finance blogger who walks dogs to make a few bucks and is a big fan of the New England Patriots. Editor’s Note: That guy sounds like a jerk ;-). What’s especially cool is that I was born in 1976..
  • The Expos set went to a prominent sports writer who is perhaps the best known Expos fan in the world.  Those of you who are baseball fans may know who I’m talking about.
  • The Reds set – absolutely loaded with stars from the Big Red Machine of the 1970s – went to a pastor in Indiana.
  • A college baseball coach in New Jersey got the Oakland A’s set.  His dad happened to be in town to help with a household move, and they spent some time reminiscing about guys like Vida Blue and Rollie Fingers.
  • A guy who advises congress on matters related to pensions was the recipient of the Phillies set.  Although I never asked for anything in return, he sent me a hat for a local minor league team.

There are plenty more stories about where the cards went, but the key point is that they went somewhere where they were appreciated, instead of cluttering up my storage room.  Sure, I could have cashed in and made a few bucks, but I was able to send gifts to a couple dozen people instead, at a fairly low out of pocket cost.

You might ask why I’m going this?  Not only am I giving up the ability to sell the set, but I’m spending money to give it away.  Well, I am getting something out of it.  I’m getting some entertainment value out of the process.  I enjoy seeing people receive their small gift and gush about how cool the cards of their favorite players are.

And you, reader, are also a part of this story.  The Great Baseball Card Giveaway eventually turned into this article.    I get paid by Lazy Man, who in turn gets paid whenever you use his links to buy things.  So, in a way, you are helping to fund my giveaway.  A couple dozen complete strangers thank you.

What Kosmo doesn’t know is that more than 5 years ago, when I lived in California, I found a small collection of around 100 cards for sale at a flea market. It was mostly hockey and football players who weren’t as heavily printed and collected as baseball cards. I probably would have skipped it, but I saw one particular card (pictured in this article) that I thought a friend would like. Like many things in my life, I put it aside and forgot about it. Maybe, he’ll get a surprise back in the mail.

Let’s Fight Autism Together!

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Last week, I wrote about donating some money to help homeless women and children. Even though it was a small amount of money, it felt good.

Today, I’d like to ask you to join me in helping me raise some money for autism.

I know, you have all your charity money planned for. I’m the same way. This is the rare exception, where I’m changing my plans and allocating some more money.

The Story Behind the Cause

tired runner
Look at Lauren. Can’t you spare a little cash for charity?

Sometime in 2016, I got sued by Le-vel for my Thrive Review. My review was harsh, but Truth in Advertising’s were worse in my opinion the first one and the follow up. Anyway, Truth in Advertising has high-powered lawyers and I’m just your average private citizen.

When I spread the news about Le-Vel’s harassment, Lauren Sprouse reached out to me to help. It was amazing because I had tried to find a first amendment lawyer in Texas and everyone wanted tens of thousands up front. With her help and the firm she worked for MZF Law Firm, we were able to beat Le-Vel. The internet can now not only read my review, but hundreds of others in the comments.

Lauren reached out to me a couple of weeks ago. She’s planning to run the London Marathon as part of the Run for Autism team. This was around the time when London terrorist attacks were still fresh in everyone’s mind. And Boston Marathon terrorist attacks will always be on my mind. Finally, I first started writing about MLM in part because salespeople were making ridiculous unsubstantiated claims such as MonaVie cures autism. I had a long back and forth with a parent in those comments and his argument amounted to, “I have to try everything.” (That parent was one of the few people to come back to the blog and say how silly his argument was.)

It’s hard to not feel for people in that position. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I’m fortunate enough to not be in that position. MonaVie did a billion in sales and when the pyramid imploded was foreclosed upon for only $15 million. If only we could have aimed that billion dollars directly at autism. Surely that would do a lot of good, right?

The past is in the past. We probably can’t raise a billion dollars anyway. However, together we can do something small that may really help fight autism in a way that MonaVie couldn’t.

Lauren has set up a donation page here.

To encourage you to give whatever you can, I’ll match the first $250 that comes in. Just leave a comment here of how much you donated and your name. Trust me, giving will feel good.

Lucy’s Hearth + Rockstar Finance + Lazy Man = Love

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Today’s going to be a quicker article. I wanted to let you know some good charity things that are going on with an online personal finance community, Rockstar Finance Forums.

I had caught a social media update (I think it was Facebook) from my friend J$ from Budgets Are Sexy who created the Rockstar website. They were looking to give away $20 to someone in every state. There was only one string attached, it had to be used to do something good. Unsurprisingly, my state, Rhode Island, was one of the few not represented. I joined the forums and asked how I can help them get to their goal.

In a few days I received a $20 Visa card in the mail with a letter about using it to do good.

Then a strange thing happened. This card became an albatross on my mind. I tried to think about the most good I could for $20. I didn’t want to do a normal charity because anyone can just type some credit card numbers into a computer. And since Adam Ruined Giving I’m more mindful about what to do with such gifts.

My son’s school was raising money to buy some Hippo Rollers, which are fortunately not about rolling hippos… though it’s fun to imagine they are. That would have been a perfect place to put the money to use. The only problem was that I wanted to give this money selflessly. I didn’t want it to be perceived that I’m trying to buy some kind of favor. Perhaps I was greatly over-thinking it, but it was also typing numbers into a computer. Between the two, I delayed just long enough for the campaign to finish, so it was no longer an option.

Finally, I decided on a local charity, Lucy’s Hearth. Here’s their stated mission:

“Lucy’s Hearth is a 24-hour emergency and transitional shelter for mothers and their children who are homeless due to economic hardship, family crisis, divorce, eviction, and severe shortage of safe, affordable housing. The primary goal is to foster independence and help the residents gain the life skills necessary to prevent future chronic homelessness.”

Does that sound like a good enough charity to you? It did to me. Rather than typing credit card numbers into a keyboard, I went down to Lucy’s Hearth.

[Click image for larger version]

If that picture is a little confusing, it’s because I added $20 of my own cash from my wallet to match Rockstar Finance’s contribution. They forced me to take a donation receipt, but it’s small enough that I don’t think I’ll claim it.

I offered to go pick up some supplies for them. They said that they were already going out later that day and it would be just as easy for them to add it their shopping and get some extra things. I figured that they are better better experts at buying what they need than I am, so I handed the money over and thanked them for what they do. They thanked me for the donation and everyone got warm “fuzzies” for a bit.

I wonder if I technically failed in doing what the letter asked. It asked that I use it to bring “unexpected” joy. The people at Lucy’s Hearth receiving donations don’t consider it unexpected. However, the women and children they help probably find it unexpected. And I’m hoping that a place to stay with some warm clean sheets brings them joy.

Your Turn

How and where would you have used the gift card? Let me know in the comments.

The Season of Giving

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The last few years, we’ve added another tradition to our holiday season.  A local agency that provides services to the poor has an “adopt a family” program during the Christmas season.  You sign up, are assigned a specific family (anonymous) and buy Christmas gifts and other supplies (canned foods, toiletries, etc) for them.  The family provides some ideas on possible gifts.

My wife and I both grew up in working class families, with parents who struggled to get by financially.  We both became the first in our families to attend and graduate college and are both well-established in white-collar careers.  We’ve jumped a couple rungs on the socioeconomic ladder and consider ourselves to be very fortunate.  The downside is that our kids don’t have the same appreciation for the struggles many families face.  We can try to tell them, but it doesn’t have the same impact as actually experiencing the struggles.  When we’re at Target explaining that we’re buying paper towels and toilet paper for another family, I think it makes more of an impact that we are fortunate.  We worry about things that funding retirement plans and 529s at a high enough level; other families struggle to cover the cost of basic household goods.

We took the kids to Target for the shopping spree.  They are 9 and 6 are quite high-spirited (especially at stores), so it’s quite a challenge to keep them corralled.  In addition to the paper goods mentioned above, we also bought several nice, fluffy towels.  Then onto the fun stuff – toys.

My son and I were given the task of picking out about a dozen Hot Wheels cars for the family’s boy.  My son tired of the activity after a bit, but I continued to methodically search through the cars.  My wife asked me if there was a method to what I was doing.  Definitely – I was looking for cars that I would have enjoyed as a kid – I had tons of Hot Wheels when I was younger.

As with most things, the dollars have a way of adding up.  A couple of times, my wife asked if it was OK to spent a bit extra on a few items.  My response is always the same – sure.  Six months from now, we won’t remember that we spent twenty dollars more than we intended to – but the recipient family will remember the gift it bought.

We hit the toy aisle hard, purchasing several toys and a few board games for the family.  We pushed two carts of goodies up to the register and checked out.  We asked for gift receipts for everything, resulting in a cascade of paper flying out of the cash register (there’s no option to receive one all-encompassing gift receipt – we asked).  The kids were a bit cranky by this point, but the mission was accomplished.  Well, mostly accomplished.  Everything still needed to be wrapped – and I’m the designated wrapper in the household.

Is it worth it?  Absolutely.  This year, the family we “adopted” gave us a thank you card (via the organization’s employee).  The woman had become emotional when she saw all the gifts.  Some of the presents would be going under their tree, while others would be delivered by Santa on Christmas.  We helped keep the Santa magic alive for those kids this year.  That’s priceless.

[Editor’s Thoughts: We gave a few toys through a campaign that at my son’s day care. They didn’t ask for something as extensive as this. The requested toys didn’t include Hot Wheels though. If it did, I may have been in a pickle if I used Kosmo’s methodology. I’m not sure if the General Lee is available nowadays. Also, I wouldn’t want to get something with a Confederate flag on it.]