It’s the sixth day of my 12 Days of Charitable Giving for 2019. Readers have suggested deserving charities over the past few weeks, and I’ll be posting the results here. Today’s charity is Literacy For Incarcerated Teens.
Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, Inc. (LIT) works to end illiteracy among New York’s incarcerated young people by inspiring them to read.
The New York City Department of Juvenile Justice reports that 96% of young people taken into its custody read two or more years below grade level. DJJ LIT believes that reading, including access to a library and library services, is a direct way in which young people can begin to focus their identities and outlooks more positively. LIT strives to create excellent school libraries in New York City’s juvenile detention centers and non-secure facilities for young people adjudicated as delinquents, the State’s residential facilities operated by the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), and also in schools that serve young people living in group homes.
LIT was founded in 2002 by a New York City teacher named Rebecca Howlett. Howlett saw the need to promote literacy but also recognized that we cannot address illiteracy and provide the motivation to read without also providing physical libraries. Today, LIT works with city and state agencies to order and maintain curriculum-approved books and reading materials for young adult readers from the ages of 8 to 17; coordinate author visits and accompanying peer-directed book discussions; and provide literacy programming relevant to young people’s reading level, with the aim of improving literacy and encouraging enthusiasm for reading in young people.
Earlier this year, the Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program honored LIT for their implementation of best practices in literacy promotion.
So how can you help? To make a one-time donation, click over to the website. Look for the green “donate now” button at the bottom to be taken to the PayPal site.
For federal income tax purposes, if you plan to claim a deduction for a cash contribution, you’ll want to keep a record of the donation. Ideally, the organization will provide a written record with the name of the charity, date, and amount of the contribution.
Some tax-exempt organizations welcome in-kind donations. Those donations may be deductible, but remember that the value of your in-kind donation is limited to the fair market value (generally, the cost you pay for new items). Keep good receipts from the store and get a receipt if you intend to claim a charitable deduction. However, LIT doesn’t accept book donations. Rather, the organization endeavors to contribute quality books to the facility libraries that have been carefully selected by our team of librarians, in collaboration with facility staff.
Do your homework. As always, you want to make sure that your donation is going to a qualified charitable organization. A search using the IRS’ new Tax Exempt Organization Search (formerly Select Check) reveals that Literacy For Incarcerated Teens is on the list.
To find out more about the work of the organization, check out their website, or like them on Facebook.
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. Literacy For Incarcerated Teens is not ranked on Charity Navigator because it has less than $1 million in annual revenue (you can find out how to evaluate an unrated charity here).
Remember: Readers nominate their favorite charities to the 12 Days of Charitable Giving, and in most cases, I can’t personally vouch for the organizations. So be generous but be smart: Do your homework.
For more on making charitable donations, click here.
