December 26, 2016

Donation Nation: Year-End Tax Write-Offs

Winnie McCroy READ TIME: 7 MIN.

The holidays are a perfect time to dig deep and donate to HIV/AIDS and women's charities that help make your community healthy and successful. Not to mention the associated tax benefits it can provide when you sit down with your CPA after the New Year to do your returns.

Here's a few ways to stretch your pink dollars.

Shop Online

Whether saving dough by shopping on Cyber Monday or just saving time by buying holiday gifts online, there's an easy way to have your cake and eat it too. Before you shop, log in via AmazonSmile first. Each time you shop on Amazon, you'll donate 0.5 percent to your favorite charity. There are almost a million charitable 501(c)(3) organizations from which to choose, it costs nothing for you or them and the shopping experience is identical to shopping on Amazon.com. To register, visit org.amazon.com.

The Personal Is Political

One of the best ways to make sure that your money works for you and those you love is to donate to a local charity whose work benefits you, where you know your donation will have an impact. Your local LGBT center or health clinic is always a winner. A good way to support them is by simply becoming a member. But most are willing to accept any donation, large or small, to help continue their work.

Here are a few good ones to get started.

  • The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center: The Center provides HIV prevention and education, women's health services and Center Families programs.
    https://gaycenter.org/support
  • The Los Angeles LGBT Center: One of the largest providers of LGBT health and mental health care, they provide HIV testing and services, prevention programs, addiction recovery and programs for women, youth and transgender people. https://lalgbtcenter.org/how-you-can-help/donations
  • The Center on Halsted: Located in Chicago, it's the Midwest's most comprehensive LGBT community center, providing services to more than 1,000 community members daily. Best of all, 77 cents of each dollar goes directly to client services.
    http://www.centeronhalsted.org/make_a_gift.html

  • William Way LGBT Community Center: Serving 60,000 people annually in the Philadelphia and New Jersey corridor, the William Way Center provides vital services like peer counseling, Trans*Way and Loft23, plus many valuable senior programs.
    http://waygay40.org/donate1/
  • The San Francisco LGBT Center: The Bay Area relies on the SF LGBT Community Center for health and wellness services, transgender employment services, youth programs, financial services, children and family programs and more. Help foster the connections people need.
    http://www.sfcenter.org/donate-today

    HIV Is Not Over!

    Those of us who lived through the brutal HIV epidemic of the 1980s remember the way it decimated our community, leaving a path of destruction and heartache for gay and bisexual men. With the advent of protease inhibitors, people began living with HIV/AIDS. But that didn't mean the work was over.

    In the U.S. and across the world, HIV continues to impact all of us. So whether you're donating in the name of someone you lost to the epidemic or to help find a cure for HIV/AIDS, here are ways to make your donation count.

  • amfAR: Since 1988, the Foundation for AIDS Research has worked to find a cure for HIV and advocate for comprehensive federal AIDS legislation. They funded early studies to develop protease inhibitors and have invested more than $450 million toward advances in HIV prevention, treatment and care both here and in Asia.
    www.kintera.org/amfAR
  • Elton John AIDS Foundation: For nearly 25 years, the EJAF has aggressively confronted the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Most recently, they announced nearly $41 million in grants to organizations addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in critical, innovative ways.
    www.ejaf.org

  • Housing Works: Since 1990, they have provided comprehensive services to more than 20,000 homeless or low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS. They provide stable housing, health care, meals, mental health and substance use treatment, job training and legal assistance. Through advocacy offices in New York City, Albany, D.C., Mississippi and abroad, they fight for funding and legislation. Housing Works accepts dropped-off donations of clothes and housewares and picks up used furniture to sell in Housing Works Thrift Shops. They also accept cash donations or support for Team Braking AIDS. You can even volunteer! http://www.housingworks.org/donate

  • San Francisco AIDS Foundation: Established in 1982, the SFAF works to end HIV in the city where it began. They seek to radically reduce new infections via increased community engagement and harm reduction with events like their December 11 Santa Skivvies Run, a festive romp through the Castro sans culottes!
    http://sfaf.org
  • Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS: Supported by the generous work of Broadway's biggest stars via events like "Broadway Bares" and the upcoming "Christmas Eve's Holiday Hunkfest," BC/EFA helps provide medication, health care, meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS. One of the nation's leading nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grantmaking organizations since its founding in 1988, BC/EFA has raised more than $250 million for AIDS and family service organizations around the country.
    https://broadwaycares.org

    Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves

    At the risk of sounding frank, ladies -- very few groups focus on the needs of lesbians and women of color. So we have to take care of ourselves! It's important to support groups that work for racial, economic, social and gender justice, as well as lesbian and human rights. We all owe women our lives, so do something mom would approve of and give a girl a hand this holiday!

  • Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice: In 1977, a group of women came together to focus on the needs of lesbians in the United States and across the world. Forty years later, Astraea is the leading philanthropic organization making life better for lesbians and women. Since its creation, they have given more than $18 million in grants to women in 81 countries, focusing on those with the least access to financial resources. They also fight for transgender and intersex communities.
    ttp://www.astraeafoundation.org/
  • The National Center for Lesbian Rights: NCLR was started by legal scholar Donna Hitchens in 1977 to help lesbians and their families through litigation, legislation, policy and public education. They litigate precedent-setting cases that make life better for LGBTs, like their recent push to get Florida to recognize same-sex spouses on children's birth certificates.
    http://www.nclrights.org

  • The Victory Fund: Founded in 1991 by LGBT activists and donors who recognized the success of Emily's List in attracting support for women candidates for public office, the Victory Fund has gone on to raise a lot of money and elect a lot of LGBT legislators. Among their success stories are Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, the first openly LGBT U.S. senator; Oregon Governor Kate Brown, the first openly LGBT U.S. governor; Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona; and Seattle's first openly lesbian African-American city councilmember, Sherry Harris.
    https://www.victoryfund.org
  • The Point Foundation: Our LGBT youth is the future of our community, and the Point Foundation helps students achieve their full academic and leadership potential. They not only provide financial support for education, but they also match scholars with mentors who are already successful LGBT professionals.
    https://www.pointfoundation.org/
  • The Transgender Law Center: This Oakland-based organization works to change law, policy and attitudes so that people can live safe, authentic lives free from discrimination. Through fundraisers like their Hollywood "Drag for a Cause" event, they're fighting to let transgender kids use appropriate school restrooms, suing over discriminatory treatment of a trans teen in a hospital and working to get California's "All-Gender" Restroom Bill passed.
    http://transgenderlawcenter.org/

    by Winnie McCroy , EDGE Editor

    Winnie McCroy is the Women on the EDGE Editor, HIV/Health Editor, and Assistant Entertainment Editor for EDGE Media Network, handling all women's news, HIV health stories and theater reviews throughout the U.S. She has contributed to other publications, including The Village Voice, Gay City News, Chelsea Now and The Advocate, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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