It’s the sixth day of my 12 Days of Charitable Giving for 2017. Readers have suggested deserving charities over the past few weeks, and I’ll be posting one a day for – well, 12 days (I’m clever that way). Today’s charity is Maggie’s Place.
Maggie’s Place provides houses of hospitality and ongoing support to help pregnant and parenting women in need reach their goals and welcomes them into a community filled with love and dignity.
The Maggie’s Place houses of hospitality were created in the spirit of the Catholic Worker tradition of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Maggie’s Place provides for the immediate physical and emotional needs of women who are parenting or placing a child with an adoptive family. That includes shelter, food, clothing, and a supportive community. In addition, Maggie’s Place connects women to the appropriate agencies and resources including prenatal care, health insurance, low-cost housing, and education programs.
Women can join the Maggie’s Place community at any point in their pregnancy and stay until the child is nine months old (and sometimes longer depending on circumstance). Women who seek help might include those who have been affected by previous drug use, rape, abusive relationships, lack of understanding of self-worth, no employment experience, limited education, strained relationships with family members, poor support networks, or mental illness.
So how can you help?
To make a one-time or recurring donation by credit card, head over to the organization’s donor page on its website. A gift of any size makes a difference. Examples include:
- $20 purchases a month’s worth of toilet paper for a home.
- $75 covers a home’s electricity bill for a week.
- $450 provides for a month of food.
As always, you want to make sure that your donation is going to a qualified charitable organization. A search using the IRS’ Exempt Organizations Select Check reveals that Maggie’s Place is on the list.
And don’t forget that tax benefits aren’t always just at the federal level. Maggie’s Place qualifies for the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit. If you pay taxes to the State of Arizona, you may be eligible for a tax credit. Unlike deductions which reduce your taxable income, credits reduce the tax due on a dollar-for-dollar basis. For more about Arizona’s Credit for Contributions, click here.
To find out more about the work of the organization, check out their website, like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
I often suggest checking out third-party sites like Charity Navigator for more information about charitable organizations, including evaluations and access to tax forms and other financials. Maggie’s Place is not yet ranked by Charity Navigator but is being considered for evaluation.
Remember: submissions to the 12 Days of Charitable Giving are made by readers, and in most cases, I can’t personally vouch for the good work that these folks do. So be generous but be smart: Do your homework.
For more on making charitable donations, check out this prior post.
