Our Studio and Charitable Giving in the Low Country
Well, it’s that lovely time of year when the W2’s start rolling in, official envelopes marked with the acronym IRS show up in our boxes, but something else also makes its way to our homes and businesses this time of year, that maybe doesn’t get enough recognition. Those are, all of the letters from various organizations listing how much that we donated to them throughout the year before. That is something to be celebrated! The amount of taxes we owe may cause a bit of anxiety or feel depressing, but we can shift our mind over to how much we were able to give to others throughout the year and that should life our spirits. I know it has for us!
We believe giving is so important for the soul. There are so many organizations out there that are non-profit doing a good work in our community and they need our support. From schools, churches, soup kitchens, youth organizations for education and creative opportunities, clinics, legal aid, women’s centers, shelters and more. The list is endless. People need people and as humans we should be willing to go outside of our comfort zones and make plans to give back in some way. That could be donating our time, our money, resources, knowledge, gently used clothing, or whatever we have that we could give to improve the lives of others around us, either directly or supporting the organizations that do in some way so that they are able to make a difference in our communities.
I get it though. Sometimes it’s hard. You don’t know what places are legitimate or if what you donate will really make a difference. Maybe you’re worried that you may not have enough for your own family if you give any away or maybe you have just never thought about it. I’ve found myself in all of those areas at times. So, I hope that in this blog it at least prompts some people to begin thinking or re-thinking about it.
It’s important to be wise in your decision to give and to do so with intentionality. We started this business almost a year ago and I was not prepared for how many people and organizations would be calling and asking for donations of money, classes, gift certificates, etc… I am naturally a giver and so at first I said sure to everyone. But then my husband and I quickly realized we would need to set a giving budget with our studio just as we do with our personal lives. We also think it’s probably a good idea to research the organization that is requesting the donation to make sure they are who they say they are and they are doing with what you give them as they say they will. I think setting a giving budget has many benefits. It curbs the giver to be intentional and careful not to give beyond what they can handle, it ensures that it will happen, because as the saying goes if you fail to plan, you plan to fail or in other words, you just plain won’t do it if it’s not planned for. Also, having a budget for it helps you stay organized. Keep your records and make sure at the end of they year you have easy access to it so you can file it with your taxes when they are prepared. There are some tax benefits to charitable giving but they need to be documented.
I am happy and blessed to say that For the Love of Art studio had the privilege of donating in some way to: a hospice healthcare center, a youth company for performing arts, a homeschool organization, a pregnancy center, a neighborhood community, an elementary school, a few churches, a hospital, a chiropractors office, a family with autistic children, and a few more individual ones too in the Charleston lowcountry area this year (or since April since that is when we re-opened).
We love having opportunities to give back and we hope our customers know how much we appreciate their business. If it weren’t for all of our amazing customers we wouldn’t have the resources to be able to do that, so thank you for supporting us with your business and in turn allowing us to give back to our community. We are so grateful.
”We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill