Kidney Car Donation Refused!!!

I suppose most of you folks here in the USA have heard the Radio Commercials about donating used automobiles the National Kidney Foundation. The advertisement says they will take ANY car whether it runs or not.
Weeeellll, let me tell you a little story.
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I live in New York State.
I had a 1993 Ford Escort GT, 138,000 miles, well taken care of, loaded with options, runs great, and of course it had some rust. We dont drive it much so I thought I would donate it and take the tax write-off. I could have sold the car out right and made a few dollars, but I decided to be generous.
So, I went to the Kidney Car donation website and filled out the necessary forms. They said we will get back to you in a day or so. And they did.
<snip>Thank you for your interest in the National Kidney Foundation "Kidney Cars" Program. Due to the changes in the used vehicle market, vehicles similar to yours do not generate a high enough return to pay for the processing and towing. Unfortunately we will not be able to accept your vehicle for donation.<snip>
WTF! On the phone, I told them I would deliver it to them. No good.
Blue book value of the car is about $1500-$2500. I wonder what kind of cars they do take.
I called Volunteers of America on the phone. They said that the would love to have it. I drove it down to them. They did not even look at it. I signed over the ownership to them and they were truly thankful for the donation. They even gave me a 'coupon' that says if I get somebody else to donate a car, they will give me $30!!!.
Is it possible for a charity to be so big that they can decide who/where they take the donations from?
When I croak, I will donate my kidneys as long as the National Kidney Foundation does not touch them. In the mean time I hope like crazy that I never have to go to them for a kidney. I have been rejected by them once already.
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The Saaby needs a car foundation is another one that will take cars. Only problem is they only like european ones. What's up with that? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

This doesn't surprise me. All charaties of this sort are going down hill and expecting more and more. Nothing pisses me off more than when I see a charity campaign where these people will only except NEW items. It doesn't make sense. If the folks getting these items have an issue with them not being NEW, they can kiss my *** and go work for it.

I worked for a consulting company (bent over better describes it) whose owner was always getting priase and awards for being so generous. So we had a bunch of old PC's we got through a trade up deal he wanted to donate. They were P166's. The non-profit people came buy to pick them up and told us that P166's were too slow for them so he had us swap hdd's with the P166's and the P233-300's on the employee desks and keep the P166's and gave away the P233-300's. Of course then our employees were always complaining about slow PC's but he got another award to hang on his wall.

The donation of my most recent car was refused by my selected charity (it had "too many miles").

Before I wandered off to find another charity, a local family (they live in this apartment building) had their car die on them so I sold them mine for US$6 about three months ago.

(As sold, the engine and running gear on this car were excellent, the exterior freshly painted, it had new BFG tires, new clutch, new brakes, new battery, good remote alarm system and decent sound system, but the interior was worn and "well used." Not bad for six bucks, though. It gets, in normal city use, about 26-30 MPG, and had no mechanical or body leaks - even the sunroof was tight.)

They are having a fine time with it, and it is getting a lot of good use.

Charity begins at home?

A neighbor I don't talk to much was desperate for $10.00 . I don't usually get involved with stuff like this but had a feeling and gave him the ten spot. He paid me a week later with 9 one dollar bills and some change.

Two weeks later he needed another $10.00. I gave him $20.00 and said, pay me back at your convenience. Five weeks went by and on a Sunday night I noticed he and his girl moving out. He said, "I haven't forgot about you." I said, "I know, just at your convenience."

Well, they moved out. Two thursdays later he's in the driveway with a glint in his eye and $20.00 in his hand. Turns out his girl is his wife and is expecting. The original $10.00 got him to an interview which resulted in a job offer of $16.00 per hour. The second twenty paid for gas and sandwiches his first two weeks on the job.

They had moved to a semi-furnished house in anticipation of thier new baby. All a glow he handed me the $20.00. No way would I deny him the pleasure of repaying a debt. Later a small case of formula found its' way to his home. We haven't spoken since. I think they might be kind of busy.

Instinct is powerful and should never be ignored. Charity begins at home.

Icebreak-

That's a great story. Sometimes what seems to be the smallest of things can do so much good.

GregR

I think fortunately right now charities are doing better then usual. I understand your frustration, but please think of it from their perspective. I wouldn't blame them for not accepting a car that might cost them more then they might make on its sale. Remember unlike you giving it to them they do have overhead. I would think they pay people to look over the car and then sell it, either at a car auction or a used car lot. Even if you tell them it is in good shape and nothing major is wrong, they are still obligated to check it before they sell it back to anyone else. It wouldn't surprise me if it cost them about $200 a car to sell them. And if they had 100 cars sitting on a lot exactly like yours that weren't selling wouldn't you prefer to know it went to someone who really needed it rather then just sitting?

In any case I also believe in doing things locally. I do understand the need to national charities, but if each area helps itself out, there is much less overhead and much less loss in general helping each other out. Please don't think I am knocking you in any way, you tried to do a very generous thing with them and did do a very generous thing, but I wouldn't want people to think they are a bad charity because of something like this.

Brock,
I agree with everything you said. I can understand that they do have some costs involved with 'donations'.

It just bugged me that I was being charitable and was told that my offering wasnt good enough. They never even looked at the car or asked to see it. Everything has some value, even as scrap metal. However, I suppose someone could/has abused them and donated a real POS just for the tax write off. The NKF is a fine organization that helps a lot of people. It looks to me like it is becomming more of a Business than a non-profit Charity. VOA was very happy to take my car.

Picky charities...what next? Hmmmm, a sign on the Red Kettle that says "No coins please! It costs too much to count them."

OK folks, Im done ranting on this. Im sure this was a fluke. <font color="red"> Please </font> give to your favorite charities and help those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

I would prefer to check the charity out before donating, I dislike charities with high overhead.

AlphaTea,

Same thing happened to me in Rochester a few years ago. The car I was donating was inpected and on the road and they still didn't want it! It makes no sense. I won't even bother trying them again next time. It's not worth my time and effort.