Donating Cards to Hospitals

Piman58

The time has come for me to clean my storage closet that holds my out-of-hand collection. Some of the items I plan on putting onto eBay. For many others I would like to donate them to a hospital for use with their young patients. Basically I am looking for information on all aspects of donating.

Who do I contact at the hospital? Do I need to package the cards into 25 yo 50 card lots? Is the donation a tax deduction? If so, how much can I claim?

Anyone that has information that can help me out, either respond here or send me a PM.

Thanks everyone!

SlangNRox

I would claim what exquisite costs per box. Just figure out how many cards come ina $500 exquisite box and do the math. You should be donating millions to the hospital.

Actually I have no idea how you go about accounting for donating cards.

Ladder7

They likely won't take opened material. It's a germy thing

this is a write off;

I've sold stuff on ebay for Katrina/red cross using missionfish

baseballfanatic

I just give mine wanting nothing in return.

If it brings a smile to a childs face rather than gather dust in my closet, thats good enough.

People (NOT directed at the original poster) wanting big tax write offs for monster boxes of worthless commons just shows you what has become of the "hobby"......

Mrcardsniper

I team bag stacks of cards and give them out as Holloween gift's to the kids. I've had some kids showing up more than once.

colebear

One man's garbage is a little boys treasure.

If you live in this country and do not take advantage of whatever tax breaks you can get, you are paying more than your share in taxes and that is just plain foolish.

FavreFan1971

I donated a load of cards to the Leukemia Lymphoma society for their Christmas party for the kids for 2006. I made 50 card lots with only recent players (2002-present) Every lot had a jersey card or an Autograph on top. Every lot had Packer cards (from Wisconsin) and of course Favre. The star cards were all there (Manning, Tomlinson, Brady etc) in each lot. I bet I could have sold the entire lot on Ebay for only $200 to $250 or separately for a lot more. But the kids were so happy to get the cards. It was fun to watch.

As for the tax side of things I did file the cards at the individual value for the best break for my taxes. As for the cards to include, you can't just throw in crap commons because that is just wrong. If the kids get a 100 count lot of offensive linemen and kickers that would be sad. They love to see the big names and seriously, how much can you sell a Peyton Manning 2006 SP card for? 50 cents?

Good luck with the donation.

ROCKETMAN

I'm usually directed to the Administrator. I contact him/her and get an appointment to meet. I tell them how many cards I am donating and give a little background as to what I have collected and what are in the boxes. It is always a pleasant meeting. The administrator explains how,when and to whom the cards are distributed. Knowing how this affects and helps the kids is the best part! I will get a letter from the Hospital thanking me for the donation and the amount of cards I have donated. This letter will also be used for tax purposes. I simply deduct $.10 per card. The cards I donate value up to $5 ea. Rich

Piman58

Thanks for the great ideas so far. I see several that I like and my wife will definitely appreciate the extra space, until I fill it up again.

Keep those ideas coming!

CDsNuts

Anybody know of any good places in the Maryland area to donate cards? I'd like to get them to a place that will actually do something with them. Thanks.

Lee

rjd

I work in a large Children's Hospital. I asked our Child Life and they would be greatful for unopened material, only.

jmbkb4

<< <i>I work in a large Children's Hospital. I asked our Child Life and they would be greatful for unopened material, only. >>



Who wouldn't.

It is ridiculous to not allow raw cards in a hospital. All the nasty magazines and flower pots that others have in there. Cards would be great.

5Rooster

I am a CPA and what you can deduct is the Fair Market Value of the cards (thrift shop value). As long as you are reasonable in what you estimate the cards to be worth (using 50% of book value for example) - I have done some of this and it can be effective for commons / minor stars that hold little / no value.

Good luck.

5rooster

Knopfler

<< <i>I work in a large Children's Hospital. I asked our Child Life and they would be greatful for unopened material, only. >>



RJD,

Where do you work? I work at Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

jfkheat

A few years ago I donated about 450,000 cards to the Shriner's Hospital in Greenville SC. They were very happy to accept raw cards.
James