donating soap

[ohsoap]

Does anyone donate soap to local shelters?
This may be a horrible thing to ask but do you do it out of the kindness of your heart, or do you get a reciept and write it off on your taxes?

 

[krissy]

i do. i do it for both. i have a lot of test/practice batches or batches that the scent didn't survive and i give them to the shelter near by. i also get a receipt because it is worth market value as a donation and it is a way for me to get back some of the money i have spent on soaping so i can make more soap.

 

[ohsoap]

That's awesome, my hubby told me to do it. How do I approach them?

 

[krissy]

lol, show up with a bag or box and ask if they want it. then ask for a receipt.

 

[Deb]

I tried to but because its handmade they decided to hold a meeting to see if they can accept that...*rolls eyes* whereas if my roomie had aquired it off me i'm sure she could give it.

None the less. 'I will hear back from them'...its been a month but i'm sure i will.

 

[krissy]

try taking it to one of those ministry homeless places. they always take my soaps. i tell them up front that they are from batches that are not up to par or the scent/color didn't come out as planned. the one by my house has showers and they are always needing soap so i give them as much as i can.

 

[Hux]

i do. i do it for both. i have a lot of test/practice batches or batches that the scent didn't survive and i give them to the shelter near by. i also get a receipt because it is worth market value as a donation and it is a way for me to get back some of the money i have spent on soaping so i can make more soap.

When you've donated the soap, have they assigned a value to it, or only receipted the number of bars you donated? If they did assign a value to it - what have they said each bar is worth?

 

[Tabitha]

Any time I have made a donation (soap or otherwise) they either hand you a blank receipt for you to fill out or ask you what you feel the value is.

 

[krissy]

they give me a receipt and it has a space that says that i can write it off at fair market value. so if it is good soap that the scent is not what i like, i still would write it off at what i would sell the soap for. so if you donated 100 bars and were planning on selling then at $4 each then you would write $400 as the fair market value.

someone correct me if i am wrong. this is how it was explained to me but i am not an accountant or any thing. :wink:

 

[ohsoap]

In canada, from what I was told, if it is an item that you make. You have to mark it at cost. So that would be between 1-2$ a bar.

 

[dagmar88]

Are your own labour costs in there, ohsoap?

 

[ohsoap]

I just calculate at 1$ an ounce. I don't pay attention to how long it take to make a batch of soap. I'm bad, I know.

 

[Lindy]

Actually my business advisor told me that I have to pay the GST & PST on any soaps I donate. So I simply donate them to The Salvation Army here and they give it out to the homeless, the Woman's Shelter and include it in the Food Hampers....I actually have another batch to take in to them right away....

I give them the soaps that don't quite "make the cut" either because I don't like the colour, the fragrance didn't hold or whatever, I did have to tell them that I don't want them selling them for fund raising...