JREF donations as holiday gifts

[mortimer]

I would really like to give out JREF donations as gifts to family and friends this holiday season. Is there a good way to do this? Something where they get a card or something indicating what the donations made in their names are going towards?

[rjh01]

Could you make a donation, get the receipt and then give it to the person? They can then use the receipt as a tax deduction. The receipt would be in their name. Not sure what I would think if I was on the receiving end of such a gift.

I assume such donations are tax deductible.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Could you make a donation, get the receipt and then give it to the person? They can then use the receipt as a tax deduction. The receipt would be in their name. Not sure what I would think if I was on the receiving end of such a gift.

I assume such donations are tax deductible.

IANAL, but I believe the only person who can get the deduction is the one who made the actual donation.

[Ray Brady]

In my opinion, charitable contributions in someone else's name are more of an insult than a gift. You're essentially not giving the recipient anything other than an implicit admonishment about what they should be spending their money on if they were as good a person as you.

If you don't want to give your family anything, don't give them anything. If you want to give to the JREF, give to the JREF. There's no need to conflate the two.

[Brian-M]

In my opinion, charitable contributions in someone else's name are more of an insult than a gift. You're essentially not giving the recipient anything other than an implicit admonishment about what they should be spending their money on if they were as good a person as you.

If you don't want to give your family anything, don't give them anything. If you want to give to the JREF, give to the JREF. There's no need to conflate the two.

I agree.

It's sort of like a parent telling their kid: "Hey Johnny, you know that remote control car you really wanted for Christmas? Well, I bought it, and gave it to an orphaned kid in your name. That's your Christmas present from me, knowing how happy this the orphan kid will be with the gift you wanted."

I'm sure Johnny would be thrilled to hear this.

Of course, adults don't tend to get excited over Christmas presents as kids do. After all, if they really wanted it, they'd just buy it for themselves (unless it's too expensive, in which case it would be too expensive to be appropriate for a Christmas present).

But the principle is still the same.

Basically, it's a cheat. You give X a gift and Y no gift, then try to convince Y that giving a gift to X is somehow a gift for Y.

[little grey rabbit]

Well I think you are all being very cynical.

I for one have no doubt that the mortimer household will be filled with little cries of joy and happiness come Christmas day as one after another his or her family members open their parcels to find little receipts from the JREF.

[theprestige]

I would really like to give out JREF donations as gifts to family and friends this holiday season. Is there a good way to do this? Something where they get a card or something indicating what the donations made in their names are going towards?

Why not send each them a card you wrote yourself, personalized for each family member and friend you care about, explaining what you did and why?

I mean, usually, I'm giving gifts, I don't ask for some third-party tax write-off to have one of their fry clerks robo-sign a card in my name.

I mean, in addition to donating to a charity they may not know or care about (and may not even care to sponsor if they did know), nothing says "I can't be arsed to pursue a personal relationship with you" like a card from someone else.

[Soapy Sam]

In my opinion, charitable contributions in someone else's name are more of an insult than a gift. You're essentially not giving the recipient anything other than an implicit admonishment about what they should be spending their money on if they were as good a person as you.

If you don't want to give your family anything, don't give them anything. If you want to give to the JREF, give to the JREF. There's no need to conflate the two.

I feel the same way. It feels like a trick to get twice the value for the money. This is a wholly personal decision of course, but why not give your family the money and let them decide what to do with it? Even if they want to donate it to a charity, they may have one they prefer to JREF.

[DJGrothe]

mortimer,

Thank you for your interest in supporting the JREF. We would be happy to help you set up a gift membership.

While our system does not currently offer the option on the membership page we can enter them manually.

What you will need to do is become a member yourself which will give you an automated donation receipt for tax purposes. At that point you can email the JREF at development@randi.org with the name and address of the person you want to gift the membership to. We will then change the membership information over and send out a member card, pin and Season of Reason holiday ornament to that person.

Thank you again for your interest. We couldn't continue to combat unreason and harmful pseudoscience without help like yours.