Charitable Donations - Bismarck,ND

The Lutheran Church has a quilt ministry through Lutheran World Relief which sends quilts overseas and also to places in the US that need quilts. They pay for shipping with donations that are received. You could check with some of the local churches to see if they have a quilt ministry. You could partner with them and supply quilting squares and your labor and quilting knowledge and perhaps they could help you out with the backing and thread. Perhaps they also have some fabrics that you can use with some of the quilting squares you already have. These quilts are good not only for for warmth, but for knowing that someone cared enough to make it.

Contact your local churches. I'm sure that there is a prayer shawl group that would love to help you make the quilts and they might even be able to provide you with the thread and the backing. :)
I would think that they would even have a way to get them to those in need.

Consider donating them to retirement homes/facilities and nursing homes. They might have even had a pair of pants made of some of those fabrics!

I think it might be a nice little company to form. I know some charitable businesses get a designation as non profit and they get a lot of write offs.

Check it out with an accountant and an attorney, it could be well worth it. Some companies will sell you the supplies and stuff at a retailers cost if you have a business instead of doing it as a hobby.

My sister has an Etsy business and she made/profit, over taxes and costs, $10K last year. She gets a lot of her skirts and jackets, denim items at garage sales and thrift stores. But the skirts she was having to buy from a regular store, Target I think, now they don't carry them anymore so she's trying to buy directly from the company like Target or Walmart does. She has her business license and federal tax ID so she can do this. It saves her a ton of expenses.

So I think it would be worth it to find out if doing this as a non profit business could be very good for you. You could find that you'd be providing a huge service to many many people and could do quilts you love to make too, those could go to Orphanages to kids and perhaps to children's hospitals.

You cannot deduct the supplies but you should hold on to the receipts to show your cost when you assign a value. The value you assign must be reasonable. What I mean is if a quilt at a craft show, same size and all goes for 40 you cannot value your ugly quilts at 40 because no one would pay that for an ugly quilt. Still if what someone would pay would be 10 and your materials are 15 then you can value them at say 20 because you have the receipts and take a small amount for labor. Chances are very slim that the IRS will make you prove the value but it is best to stay reasonable.

To do any of this the charity, and it must be a 401c3 charity, must give you a receipt accepting the donation and the value.
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Looking at Cheryl's answer, no you cannot back into the value by using what you think the labor cost is and materials. It goes by value of the object, like you go on a street corner and you sell it for....... The only thing that would allow you to go above that is if your materials are more than that value.

if you make something and donate it - I believe - DO NOT QUOTE M. on this...you can estimate the time it took you to make it - as well as the materials - and use that as a tax deduction.

You can check the IRS website to be sure. Or even call the IRS and ask them.

I would consider donating to the local retired/elderly/assisted living care centers....orphanages, etc.

Check with your church. Do they have a quilting group? If not - maybe you can start one. And then you can bring your neighbor with you and you can use the squares.

Also remember - what YOU find ugly - someone else believes to be beautiful....

Look into Project Linus.

I wouldn't even consider adding time and material cost to your estimate.
Jo's right, I believe in regard to that.

You need to determine FMV. As you know, it's VERY hard to get time value from sewn home goods.

My mom is an award winning quilter, and the time is rarely recouped at an accurate per hour rate.

Check with your local animal shelters to see if they could use quilts or blankets. You wouldn't need to use batting or you could J. pick up old sheets or blankets at thrift stores to use for batting and backing. You also wouldn't need to pay shipping and handling to ship them anywhere. You could also check with local nursing homes to see if they could use lap quilts.

I can't answer your question about doing tax deductions. Although I donate a lot to different organizations if it isn't cash, I never claim it for taxes. I'm probably losing out on a deduction, but helping others is more important to M. than spending time trying to squeeze out every penny I can for tax refunds. And the tax refund never comes even close to the amount that you actually donate. Especially if you want compensation for time. If you are concerned with getting any significant compensation for your work you would be better off with selling the quilts.

As a side note about donating to other countries (something that I have done numerous times), my sister-in-law is now working for a relief agency in Haiti. She recently told M. that when people donate things like quilts and pillow case dresses to countries like Haiti that it isn't necessarily doing anything to help. It is contributing to a learned helplessness. She has heard this from Haitian people themselves. (Compare it to people in America who are on welfare. People here are always complaining about the "free hand outs" that "those" people get instead of working for them "like everyone else does.") My SIL said she has never seen people work so hard to try and support themselves and their families (and she has lived in Africa as well). When missionary groups come to Haiti they are spending $1500 a piece to travel there, bringing unskilled people to do the work, and taking away jobs from skilled people who are wiling to do the work for pennies a day. (I've been guilty of this, too.) That $1500 plane ticket could feed a large family for a year. What would be better? Sending people who could teach women how to sew pillowcase dresses and maintain sewing machines. Teaching women to become small business owners who can sell those adorable little dresses. Sending people who can teach skills that will help people support themselves would be much more beneficial. Sending the money that could be spent on a plane ticket to an organization that provides small business loans or that train workers. I've heard similar things from some people that my parents know who do work in Africa. My brother who was in the Peace Corp in Africa has said the same thing.

I don't want to chastise anyone for anything. My Lutheran Church does a lot of these kinds of things and I have too. But it was interesting to hear a different perspective on what we Americans think is the "right" thing to do.

J. make one quilt at a time as you can afford it-theres plenty of homeless shelters,food shelves,donation areas you can give to much closer-as far as a tax write off..hmmmm...isnt the write off being J. enuff that you donated to someone in need? as you said yourself-youve been the one in need-use this as a way to give back,,after all is there really a price on helping those in need?...