Collecting q. | Imamother

amother

cornflower

Thu, Mar 21 2019, 11:23 pm

We fell on hard times...anyway my husband went around collecting on purim. He got a hold of a list of houses to go to. Alot of people gave out these papers that look like checks but are not checks. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? What are they? How do you access the money? Why were these checks given out as opposed to regular checks? Any info to shed light in this would be appreciated.

justmarried

Thu, Mar 21 2019, 11:41 pm

I'm not sure exactly how it works. But there are companies/organization that are registered charities. The donor gives them money and they get a "checkbook" from them from which they can write out charity checks. This makes it very easy for the donor to file the charity when doing taxes, and more organized.

If you got such a check it should have instructions on the check or on the back of it. I believe you need to be a registere 501c3 (charity) and mail them your info and they will forward the money to you. You can always call the name on the check to see what their rules are

watergirl

Fri, Mar 22 2019, 11:59 am

My community has this. People can buy the "dollars" from their shuls or kids schools. For every dollar purchased, the school or shul keeps 25 cents or something like that. Then the collector goes to the central org who sells them, turns them in and gets the money. The person also gets a tax deduction because the central org is a 501(c)(3). When you give to a random meshulach, you dont get the tax deduction.

In order to be able to "cash it in", you have to have first gone to the org in the first place to get the approval to collect. They do this because we get so many meshulachim who tend to knock loudly, late at night, and are really rude. This cuts down on that drastically because there are rules that you have to follow. The org vets you and then gives you a green laminated sheet to show the people that you are collecting from. It shows that you are legit and have been approved by the central org.

People like this because if their "dollars" or checks or whatever are handed in and not "cashed", the money is not deducted from their account. It limits fraud as well so people know that their moneys are going to legit people or orgs. I'm not saying that you are Chas V'shalom illegitimate. Just explaining.

In communities that do this, you dont need to be an official tzedakka org to be approved. You just need to meet with the central org and be approved by them first.

Your husband needs to find out where to go to cash this in and see if they will honor it even though he didn't go through them in the first place.

IYH this time next year, you will be on the giving side and not the receiving side.

amother

Gold

Fri, Mar 22 2019, 12:50 pm

amother wrote:

if Im not a registered charity then you dont get the money? You mean all those "checks" my husband got were for nothing? Sad

We've received those kind of checks. The organization who issues these checks gives you the money. Its just easier for the money to get a tax receipt and he doesnt need to walk around with cash

amother

Chocolate

Fri, Mar 22 2019, 1:27 pm

watergirl wrote:

Which community is this?