Charitable Gift Giving

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve probably heard about a new site called Groupon. This is a site where every day in big cities around the country they post a new deal for 50% off a restaurant, attraction, or service. A certain number of people need to accept the deal to “tip” it, and after a limited amount of coupons are gone, they’re gone forever.

I’ve personally used it several times and have eaten in some of the best restaurants in New York City as a result for fast-food prices. It’s an ingenious business model–what the small business gives up in profit for that period of time, they more than make up for with exposure and breakage. Groupon, of course, takes their cut of the profit and also benefits from a ton of traffic to their site. And they’ve benefited–in a very short time the company was valued at over $1 billion.

I’m happy to see that Groupon is sharing the wealth, so to speak. Today, they launched a deal where you can double your donation to the group DonorsChoose.org.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/donorschoose-org-online-national

This is a great organization where public school teachers post their projects, and the public can donate to make these projects possible. Given that so many of our public schools are struggling due to layers of government bureaucracy and mismanagement, it’s a great way for the public to reach out directly to the individual teachers who work directly with the kids.

It’s a great organization to  donate to ordinarily, but now, your $10 donation can be double to $20, your $25 donation can become $50, your $50 can become $100, your $100 can become $200, and your $250 can become $500. And the money you pay, of course, is tax deductible.