Community Foundation Will Match Your Gift to WIN

    I have some great news. Workers Interfaith Network has been awarded a $5,500 challenge grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis! The grant will increase our ability to bring together even bigger numbers of workers and people of faith to act for justice.      

     But the grant comes with an important requirement that I need your help to meet. In order to receive the grant, WIN must raise an equal amount - $5,500 – from generous members like you. Can you make a gift of $30, $50, $100, or more to help us reach our goal? If that’s more than you can afford, a gift of any size will help.

            

    And remember, whatever amount you give, it will be doubled through the challenge grant from the Community Foundation.

            

    Through your generosity and your action, you have helped WIN accomplish so much through the years. Thank you for standing up for justice with workers here in the Mid-South.

            

    Because we’re so busy at WIN acting for a living wage, working to stop wage theft, and training workers on their rights, sometimes other things have to wait.

Important things like purchasing a computer server that will save our files in case a computer crashes. (Unfortunately a crash happened last year. It wasted a lot of time I would like to have used to take action for workers’ rights!)

Important things like developing a Spanish-language newsletter to keep our Workers’ Center members up to date on WIN’s work. We have 35 worker members now, but we aren’t doing a good enough job keeping them informed.

    But the great news is that the Community Foundation’s grant – and the gift that you give – will help us take care of some of those important things that we have always had to wait on in the past.

    The grant is for “capacity building.” The term may sound complicated, but what it means is making sure that WIN has the basics covered so that we’re strong enough to take action with workers. Because I have a computer that is so slow that I can’t always access email, sometimes it keeps me from sending out an urgent action alert to you. Then you miss out a chance to stop wage theft with a worker who is counting on your support.

    Up-to-date technology and better English and Spanish communications with all of our members will allow WIN to do more in the fight for workers’ rights. We can build a bigger movement of more Mid-Southerners who will:

• Organize with workers at the University of Memphis for a living wage. Every University worker should be paid enough to at least meet her basic needs, without having to work more than one full-time job.
• Press members of Congress from the Mid-South to co-sponsor new federal wage theft legislation. This ground-breaking legislation was introduced last week. It will help the Department of Labor stop employers who steal workers’ wages from them.
• Train workers on how to stay safe on the job. WIN’s trainings teach workers everyday safety skills. Most importantly, workers practice how to say no when the boss orders them to do something so dangerous that it could kill them.

     Please help us build a stronger, more efficient Workers Interfaith Network so we can tackle these worker rights’ struggles. Each dollar you give will be matched by the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis’s challenge grant. Thank you for helping WIN take advantage of this incredible opportunity.

Want your gift doubled by the Community Foundation? 

Give now.

Our progress in reaching the goal for the Community Foundation grant (as of 10/20/2010):

IRS Tips for Making Charitable Donations

The end of the tax year is rapidly approaching, and lots of donors are making their final charitable gifts to their favorite charities. So many of you have shown such generosity to WIN this year, and I'm so grateful to each of you.

I thought it was a good time for a few reminders:

It's not too late to make a year end gift to Workers Interfaith Network. You can donate online through Dec. 31 and it will still be counted for this tax year. If you give by check, the check must be mailed no later than Dec. 31 (send to WIN, 3035 Directors Row, B - 1207, Memphis, TN 38131.

Your generous gift of any size will enable WIN to do the following in 2010:

• partner with the growing number of workers to recover stolen wages from their employers.
• press government agencies and elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels to do more to protect workers from dangerous working conditions and wage theft.
• offer more training opportunities to low-wage workers, including safety training classes for construction workers and English as a Second Language classes.

Also, I thought folks might want to know a few things that the IRS wants you to know about making charitable contributions:

• To be deductible, charitable contributions must be made to qualified organizations. Most organizations can tell you whether they are qualified. As a 501(c)(3) organization, WIN is a qualified organization.
• In order to deduct your charitable contributions, you must itemize deductions, using Form 1040, Schedule A.
• Generally, monetary donations are deductible, as well as the fair market value of most property donated to a qualified organization. Special rules apply for several types of donated property, including clothing, household items, cars, and boats.
• If your contribution entitles you to receive merchandise, goods, or services in return - such as admission to a charity banquet or sporting event - you can only deduct the amount that is more than the fair market value of the benefit you received. Small items that have only a token value do not affect the deductibility of your contribution.
• Regardless of the amount your donate, it is important to keep good records of contributions made. Cash contributions require a receipt. Keep cancelled checks or a bank or credit card statement, a payroll deduction record, or a written record from the charity that contains the date and amount of the contribution alsong with your name. (For donations to WIN, the thank you letter we send you contains all the necessary information you'll need, so be sure to keep it.)
• Only contributions actually made during the tax year can be deducted. So if you pledged to give $500 to a charity during the year, but only gave $200 by Dec. 31, only the $200 is deductible.
• Include credit card charges and payments by check in the year they are given to the charity, even if you do not actually pay the credit card bill or have your bank account debited until the next year.
• For any contribution of $250 or more, you must have a written acknoweldgement from the organization to validate your donation. It must include the amount given or a description of property donated, and whether the organization provided any goods or services in exchnage for the gift. (Again, thank you letters from WIN provide all this information.)
• To deduct charitable contributions of noncash items that are valued at $500 or more, you must complete Form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions, and attach the form to your tax return.
• If you are donating a noncash item worth more than $5,000, generally you must obtain an appraisal.

More information is available from the IRS in Publication 526, Charitable Contributions.

Hope this helps as you finish your year-end giving!