Sometimes it seems cold and heartless to think about money and tax deductions. With hundreds of thousands dead and untold masses homeless, not to mention a country destroyed, this can seem like one of those times.
On the other hand, when people choose to open their hearts and give money to help those in need, the U.S. Government thanks them in the form of the charitable tax deduction. Typically, donations to charity must be made by the end of the tax year, December 31st, in order to be deductible in that year. However, with the tragic earthquake that struck Haiti, Congress passed a law and the IRS implemented an exception to the rules for certain cash contributions for Haiti Relief.
In order to qualify, the donations must be considered “cash” donations (checks and wire transfers, and so on do count as cash). They must also be made to a qualified organization, typically a non-profit 503(c) organization in most cases. The donations must also satisfy all other normal requirements for deducting cash gifts to charities.
The deadline for making a cash donation for Haiti relief and being able to deduct it on your 2009 Federal Income Taxes is March 1, 2010 (today).
If you already made a donation, you can deduct it from your income taxes as well.
Unfortunately, one of the requirements for taking a tax deduction for a cash contribution to a charity is retaining proof of the contribution, most often, in the form of a receipt. However, in the aftermath of the Haiti tragedy, numerous new methods of making quick and easy donations to relief organization were created, including the ability to donate via text message.
A live television show broadcast nationwide ran numerous donation options across the bottom of the screen during the Haiti Relief telethon, including the option to donate $10 via text message. The $10 donation was then added to the phone bill of those who sent such a text.
Fortunately, the IRS has clarified that a phone bill from your cell phone company or other telecom provider will satisfy the record of proof requirement. This 2009 tax trick is particularly helpful for those of us who made donations upon seeing the devistation without pausing to think about the tax implications.
Be sure to hold on to your phone bill, however, for your records. If you follow smart financial advice about paying your bills automatically and opt-in for electronic statement delivery as one way to help prevent identity theft, then you need to log on to your account and print out the electronic statement to ensure that you have a printed record of your donation.
If you are wondering if getting free money from the Federal Government by getting government grants is a realistic and true way to make money and profit by knowing what other people don’t know, then read Free Government Grants For Moms Dads Business and Others. You may also be interested in other personal finance tips and advice.
If you are already convinced that you can go out there and get your share of this multimillion dollar giveaway from the Federal Government just by finding and winning grants from the government, then read on.
How To Find Government Grants
Do a Google search for government grants or US Government Grants and you’ll see that the top result is grants.gov
Notice that it is dot GOV and not dot com. If grants.gov is not your top search result, then you got a little too fancy with your search. Remember that nobody pumps up the real government grants webpage. There is no profit in that. If you want to shortcut the process, you can just trust me about the website and go to grants.gov directly.
(Do yourself a favor and open it in a new window so you can follow along here.)
While the Federal Government Grants webpage looks simple, reading a little bit of what shows up on the screen should convince you that this isn’t as easy as it looks. If it was, everyone would be doing it, right?
You’ll notice that the Grants.gov website includes not only regular government grants that they have all the time like grants to business owners, minorities, women, and for enterprises in specially designated area, but also all of the Federal Government grants from stimulus funds issued by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or Recovery Act. So, whether you are looking for normal grants or stimulus spending grants, they are all here.
Getting started finding grants can be tough. The Federal Government is very big after all, and they do offer TONS of government grants for all kinds of things from numerous government agencies.
The best way to get started finding government grants you qualify for is to take a look around at all of the different grants out there. So, click on “Find Grant Opportunities.”
Find Government Grants That I Qualify For
Now, the whole key to getting big money from the Federal Government in the form of grant money is to find which grants that you can qualify for. To find the grants that you qualify for, use the different search options in the middle of the Find Grant Opportunities webpage.
If you don’t know what government grants you qualify for, start by choosing either Browse by Category, or Browse by Agency. These choices allow you to dig through the thousands of government grant programs to find the ones that fit you. As you look through all of the many, many, available grant opportunities, make some notes about which ones you qualify for. With so much grant money available from the government, it might be hard to find the best grants again later.
For example, under Browse By Category, there are government grants for Business and Commerce, the Environment, Health, Education, and even the Arts. Also, there in the right hand column is the listing of all the new grants created by stimulus spending, and triggered by the Recovery Act.
When you have found a dozen or so grants you qualify, it is time to move on to How To Apply For Government Grants Step By Step
If you couldn’t find very many grants you qualify for (or if you did not qualify for any of the many government grants you saw) keep reading this series on Getting Government Grant Money for further tips that might help you find more grant opportunities.
Remember, these grants are given away by the Federal Government everyday, but only a select few are willing to learn how to find government grants, how to apply for government grants, and then how to win government grants.
If you are beginning to have some doubts about whether or not grants from the Federal Government are easy money that anyone can get as long as they know a few secrets, then read about Free Government Grant Money For Moms, Dads, Business Owners, Minorities, Women and More…
When I write personal finance articles for Finance Gourmet, I put on my Financial Planner hat. Just a few short years ago, I was a professional financial advisor with all of the required securities licenses. I had my Series 7 License, my Series 66 License, and my Life and Health Insurance licenses as well. In addition, I was a Certified Financial Planner, or CFP if you prefer. 
Most of my clients were upper class, high-income, people with either a high-paying job, or they owned their own business.
As a result, most of the people I worked with day in and day out as a financial consultant were well educated, either through formal education, or as graduates of the School of Hard Knocks. They also knew a little something about money. While it might be those who don’t have any money, or those who really don’t know anything about personal finance who need the most help, they also are the ones who can’t or won’t seek professional financial advice.
As a financial adviser, you find out quickly that trying to “win” discussions with clients who believe something that is incorrect is not worth the effort. No matter how many facts or how much evidence you show them, they will not accept the truth. In fact, a lot of them will stop speaking to you altogether rather than abandon what they “know” to be true, because you are one of “them” or just too dumb to know about the really great thing they learned since it is “outside of the normal system.” It’s a little bit mean, but as we used to say, “You can’t fix stupid.”
Secret Federal Government Grant Programs Give Millions of Dollars Away Every Day
I don’t know if the guy with the green question mark covered jacket on late night infomercials was the first to get people all riled up about government grants with his manic insistence that the government just gives away millions, or billions, of dollars in grants every day of the week. (Presumably just on weekdays. This is the government, after all.) Whether he was the first or not, he was one of the first ones I saw on television.
I got burned many years ago as a 15-year old by the lure of “secret financial information” or “unknown ways to make money or save money.” Using well-known (to the scammers) tricks of the trade to entice the naive, inexperienced, and just plain unintelligent, they made me salivate at the prospect of buying up fancy cars, expensive jewels, and maybe even big houses at police auctions for just pennies.
These things were all the result of busting crooks and seizing the property of drug dealers. The cops, the ad said, didn’t keep this stuff. They sold it at police auctions! But, most people didn’t know about police auctions, so the smart, savvy, insiders, were able to snatch up great deals. The ad said that there was a money back guarantee. How could I lose?
When my mother wouldn’t write a check for me (even if I gave her my own money), I rode my bike to the grocery store and bought a money order. I was “lucky.” I actually got something in the mail instead of my money just disappearing into a Post Office Box somewhere. However, that is where my luck ended. What I got was a plain paper booklet that told me where to look to find police auctions and other government agency property auctions.
As I read it, it dawned on me that I had been had. Sure, there were government auctions, but they were not a secret, not even close. In fact, the best way to find “amazing police auctions” was to LOOK FOR THE ADS IN THE NEWSPAPER advertising them! An ad in the newspaper? That doesn’t sound like much of a secret.
I soon found out the real reason few people ever went to police auctions. They don’t often have anything “good” and when they do, there are suddenly plenty of people there to bid on that.
Money Back Guarantee Is Not Worth The Paper It’s Printed On
The second lesson I learned was that “Money Back Guarantee” doesn’t necessarily mean what you think it does as an honest, upstanding person. The money-back guarantee with my purchase was probably legit. I don’t know, because to fulfill the requirements to get a refund would have taken more time, effort, and money than the original wonderful money making opportunity cost me in the first place. To redeem the guarantee, I had to register for and attend at least 3 police auctions, in at least 3 different jurisdictions, in at least 3 different months. I bet you can guess how often they were supposed to refund people’s money, even if they were honest enough to do it at all.
How To Find Government Grants You Qualify For and Get Your Share of Free Money From the Feds
Why did I tell that story in an article about how to get millions of dollars in Government Grants just by learning about some secret, insider, information about a way to get a too good to be true deal from the government just because nobody knows about applying for these grants, which makes them so easy to get that you would be dumb not to find out about it right away?
Oh, and by the way, there is a money back guarantee.
Hopefully, this helps those of you willing to be helped.
How To Avoid Being Scammed and Conned Out of Money By Promises of Free Government Money For Moms, Dads, Entrepreneurs, Education, Veterans, Women, Minorities, and so on…
For those of you who KNOW that free government grant money is out there waiting for you if you are just smart enough to know what to look for and smart enough to know how to apply, then I offer you this chance to prove to yourself what the reality is before you send anyone any money.
Remember how it turned out that police auctions aren’t secret? Government grants aren’t either.
Here are the Step By Step Instructions To Get Government Grant Money For Free
United Dining Rewards Earn Airline Miles for Dining Out
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In order to make it worthwhile to get airline miles without being a frequent traveler, it is important to take advantage of every mileage program bonus, special offer, deal, or coupon. For United Airlines Miles, one of the great ways to earn miles free and easy is to join the United Dining Rewards Program, which offers miles for every dollar spent eating out at restaurants.
Signing up for Mileage Plus Dining is free and easy for Mileage Plus Rewards Members. Just go to the United Airlines Miles Plus website and login with your Mileage Plus Member Number. Find the link to dining rewards and click the button to sign up.
The program works by allowing members to register credit card numbers with the Dining Rewards Program. Then, whenever you dine at one of the participating restaurants, you earn points on United Airlines for free just buy paying for your tab with one of the credit cards you registered.
To really make this offer pay off big, use the best rewards credit cards in your wallet. Since United Dining miles are not related to your credit card account issuer or bank, you still earn your regular credit card points and credit card miles. It is a double-dip earnings situation.
Redeem credit card points for hotel stays and use your United Miles for free airfare, and you have a two-for-one free trip, all by just registering your credit card numbers and eating at restaurants you would probably eat at anyway. Of course, you can always select something from the Mileage Plus Reward Catalog instead.
Current United Dining Rewards Special Offer
Right now, and through the end of March, earn double Mileage Plus miles eating out with the United Mileage Dining Miles offer. It works just like it always does. Eat at any dining establishment listed in the Dining Rewards restaurant list and instead of regular number of miles earned, you earn double miles. It’s a great way to rack up United points fast and free.
You have to register for the special double miles dining deal, even if you are already signed up for United Mileage Plus Dining. It is a separate add-on registration, probably to help determine how many people just float along in the program and accidentally earn miles when their credit card just happens to get used at a restaurant, and how many people actually read the United rewards emails about dining that they send out with special offers.
To register, you have to answer a few really simple, basic questions about how many kids you have, your age range, and so on.
United Dining Rewards Restaurant List Participating Locations
Sure, all of those personal finance books or retire rich books tell you to stay at home to eat and brown bag your lunch to work, but taking advantage of offers like this will allow you to have fun and live a little while still practicing smart personal finance advice strategy.
The list of restaurants that participate in the United Airlines Dining Rewards Mileage Plus program is updated frequently online. In the Denver area, for example, new restaurants often are added within just a week or two of opening. There are both high-end fine dining restaurants and fast food restaurants, and everything from local Mom-and-Pop places to national chains like IHOP.
Just search the dining miles rewards restaurant list online by entering your zip code to get all the food places near a location that offer miles to diners. Match them up with a special credit card offer earning extra points at restaurants, for example, and you can earn enough free stuff to pay for annual fees or even earn cash back in your own pocket, all courtesy of UAL Dining Rewards.
