The Cars 4 Causes Blog.

Drumming and creative solutions to tight education budgets come together on April 4 at the Dean Brower Foundation Benefit Concert in Ventura, Calif. Cars for Causes is proud to be sponsoring the event.

We started this charity collaboration with Pulse Drumming, a Ventura, Calif. company, last year, sharing its vision of bringing art and music into Ventura area schools and with its specific purpose of serving at-risk youth and those with special needs.

Concert – Fun with a Purpose

And on April 4, the work comes to fruition, with a benefit concert by Konkoba, a multicultural ensemble that plays drums ranging from the familiar conga and dulcimer to the not-so-familiar Bougaraboo, Dan Mo and Tongue Drums. Also playing is Led-Zepplica.

Proceeds from the Benefit Concert go to the Dean Brower Foundation. There’s a story, both tragic and uplifting behind the concert and the Dean Brower Foundation’s work. See our Sept 18 blog for part of it; and see Pulse Drumming on YouTube for more.

If you happen to be in the Ventura area on April 4, spend a wonderful evening supporting a good cause. (Click here for concert times and details.)

Could you draw a picture of Your Favorite Way of Helping Others?

Kids can, and we’re asking elementary kids (grades one through five) to do just that for our Third Annual Kids Art Contest. You can be sure they’ll come up with some creative pictures. They always do. (Click here to see previous year’s winning pictures.)

Third grade winner of the Cars 4 Causes Kids Art Contest from last year - 2008

This being our third annual contest, we’ve learned that we can count on kids to show us the central value of donating to charities we care about, whether that contribution is time or money or a car donation.

Eligible Young Artists

Eligible for this year’s contest are selected schools in the North Oxnard School District, Oxnard, Calif. (all schools north of 5th Street). There will be five winners, one from every grade level. The prizes are generous: each will receive an art kit; their school will receive $1,000; and that student’s class will be able to designate $1,000 to any non-profit organization of their choice.

In case you’re wondering who’s going to pick the winners, our panel of judges this year comes from the City of Oxnard: Mayor Tom Holden, Fire Chief Joe Milligan, and Police Chief John Crombach.

Check back soon. We’ll announce the young winners and give you a peek at their winning art as well. Learn how to donate car today!

When the economy went into a dive last year, Brenda’s family finances hit the skids, too. She’s a feisty woman and not easily defeated. She had struggled through emotional and financial crises when serious childhood illnesses threatened both her daughter and younger son. And all survived.

Car donation recipient Brenda with Sister Mary

She lost her husband to cancer last year, though, and even while mourning her loss, still needed to get herself to the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles for treatments for her own serious medical condition – a 60-plus-mile drive. Still, she was “OK,” she said. She was managing, even as the downturn in the economy slashed the value of her late husbands’ life insurance benefits.

Then the car began to give out.

In poor condition, it couldn’t be counted on to get her to UCLA. And, frankly, it wasn’t reliable in and around town either.

Abbess Victoria of the St. Barbara Monastery in Santa Paula, Calif. asked Cars 4 Causes if we could help. We could, and we did. That’s Brenda in the photo with Sister Mary of the St. Barbara Monastery.

Their smiles are genuine. The car was donated to Brenda and her family. Make a car donation today! Your donation will support people who need your help.

As we head into our busiest season and therefore into the holidays (again?), Halloween looms at the end of this month, and you know what that means! Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the bend.

Cars 4 Causes® gears up each fall and zooms along at breathtaking speed to the all-important year-end. What makes it so important? Our donations increase in the last quarter of each year, sometimes as much as 100% as donors finally make that long put-off decision to donate before the end of the tax year 2008.

We have been busy training new vehicle donation representatives and improving the customer-care skills of our staff so that all of our donors can have a fantastic donation experience. From the donation takers in the call center, to the tow department and DMV processing staff, our employees do their best to ensure that your donation experience is a pleasant one. From the feedback that we receive from our repeat and referral donors, I believe we are able to meet and exceed their expectations. We do not plan to rest on those repeats and referrals, though. We are constantly striving through internal audit,and additional training to improve even more. We don’t want to be merely a good vehicle donation charity, we want to be the best!

Once you make your decision to donate car, we want you to have an experience that you will want to recommend to your friends, family and business associates. If you have questions or comments, we would love to hear from you. Help us to improve our service to you, our most important person in any season! Remember to make your vehicle donation by December 31st to receive your tax deductible receipt for 2008. Thank you for choosing Cars 4 Causes®.

There are so many “cars for this” and “cars for that” companies out there, it can be extremely confusing. Once you decide that it is time to donate your car, you then have to decide where to donate it.

You may have heard a radio advertisement saying you can win a free vacation, or get cash and a tax break from donating your vehicle. So many billboards, TV and radio ads citing help blind children, donate car to fight cancer, fight poverty, give to the kidney foundation, or alzheimer’s research, to find a cure for breast cancer; the list is seemingly endless.

Wow ! So many worthy causes, how do you choose? How do you pick a car donation charity that will make the most of your donation, and won’t leave you holding the bag for liability and hidden costs?

We have heard many stories about how in previous experiences, donors have received parking tickets, towing and impound fees, DMV costs etc. after they have donated their car and assumed they would never hear anything about it again. Except of course when they will receive their tax receipt only to find that once tax time rolls around, the donation program turns out to be unreachable, or simply vanishes.

These negative experiences color the potential donor’s decision about what vehicle donation program to use.

There are some people, however, that let their philanthropic hearts lead them, and we commend them for being brave enough to try it a second time. Here are some suggestions to assist you in making an informed choice.

How do you know which companies you can trust and which ones to steer clear of?

1. Do your homework!

Research. Go online. Check with your local charity registries. Talk to friends and family members about experiences they may have had donating their vehicles. Call the program you are interested in and go to their website, if they have one.

Find out all you can about how the process works, and if there are any hidden fees or costs. Make sure you understand all of the steps involved in making a vehicle donation.

2. Find out how much of the value of your car will actually go towards the cause that you want to support.

Make sure you understand the difference between gross and net payments. Ask how much of your charity dollar actually goes to the charity itself, and how much of your dollar will go to administrative costs and overhead.

Be wary if the administrative cost is too high. If the charity cites more than 20% to administrative costs, your donation might be better utilized elsewhere. Also, find out what they do with your car. Will it be salvaged? Given to a needy family? Will they auction your car “as is” or repair and sell it wholesale or retail?

The dispensation of the vehicle will determine the amount of potential tax benefit to the donor.

3. Contact your State Dept.of Motor Vehicles.

Find out how to assign your title to the vehicle, and what your responsibility is and how to release liability for your vehicle. It is important that you take responsibility and don’t simply assume that the donation program will take care of everything for you. Many organizations do not have staffing reserves in place to handle DMV paperwork and transfers of title.

4. Find out about how towing and paperwork is handled, and by whom.

Who will be making the arrangements to pick up the car? Will you need to be present to release the car? How will the DMV forms be handled? Will you be receiving a receipt for the donation? Is the tow driver an employee or a contractor of the donation program? This may be important if there is an accident or the vehicle is damaged in the towing process(many donated vehicles are uninsured). How would the donation program handle such an issue?

5. Tax Receipt
The organization you donate to must be a non-profit in order for you to get tax deduction for a charitable donation, and that company must provide you a receipt for that purpose. If they are not willing to prove their tax exempt status, or give you their Federal Tax ID number, that should be a red flag warning that they may not be a true non-profit and beware.

Make sure you are clear on the follow up to your donation regarding how much of a write off you will be able to claim for donating your car. IRS guidelines have changed within the past few years, and you should be informed as to how that works. Obviously, you want to maximize the potential tax benefit available, so finding out how the sale of your vehicle is handled is very important. Keep the organization updated with current contact information so that a tax receipt can be sent to you in a timely fashion.

It is very important that you make an educated and informed decision about where your donation will do the most good because after all, isn’t that why we give?