Archive for the ‘Developmental Disabilities Trust’ Category
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HOW TO ensure your donations are going to the right place?
Here are some tips to ensure that your donations are benefiting the intended recipient. These tips were taken from the CityNews Toronto article, Where Do Your Charitable Donations Really Go?
**Ask for a copy of their annual report and get some written information before sending anything.
**If you’re being solicited by phone, ask if they’re calling from a marketing organization. Many charities farm out their fundraising to companies who do the calling, and some of your money may be going to pay them for their trouble. Some legitimate places also take your money to pay for administrative costs as well as helping the needy.
**Don’t give in to high pressure tactics. Reputable charities may play on your sympathy, but they shouldn’t turn the screws to make you give.
**Never send cash or make a cheque out to the person asking for your donation.
**Check to see if physical charities, like clothing donation drop-off boxes, actually give those donations to the needy or resell them for a profit.
**Keep a record of what you’ve already given. Charities often send out multiple appeals throughout the year and you may have forgotten who you’ve already donated to.
**Beware of claims that all proceeds go to charity. Sometimes that means after expenses are covered.
**Get the organization’s registration number, which is required by law. If you want to check on a charity, call Revenue Canada at 1-800-267-2384, or you can search for them online
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10 Years and Counting
Can you believe it has already been 10 years since we started our donations bins initiative? In the past 10 years, we have expanded throughout the Lower Mainland with over 300 donation bins. For those who are unfamiliar with our white donation bins, these are our life lines. All clothing and donations collected through these bins are sold to our partner Value Village, and 100% of funds receive benefit our clients and families with the 50 programs and services we provide.
We can’t wait to commemorate our bin hosts, especially those who have been with us for the past 10 years! At DDA, we have a lot to be grateful for. Just like those MC Hammer Pants or the big permed hair, it’s always fun going down memory lane to reminisce the good old times. Take a stroll in our gallery and see how our donation bins have evolved over the years.
For a list of our donation bins across the Lower Mainland and how to donate to us, please visit our website here.
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Recycle with DDA for Earth Day
How are you celebrating Earth Day? There’s an easy way to get involved with Earth Day. You can locate a clothing donation bin and recycle your unused clothes by donating it to the Developmental Disabilities Association, or you can also locate a bottle donation bin and recycle your bottles as a donation to the Association. Over the last year, your donations have helped us not only generate necessary funds to maintain and develop programs for people with developmental disabilities, but have also helped us recycle:
- Over six million pounds of cloth items
- 1,473,017 pounds of housewares
- Over 400, 000 cans/bottles
Your donations help people with developmental disabilities and the environment. We’re a proud winner of the Recycling Council of BC’s Mobi award, and we strive to continue our sustainability initiatives in environmental stewardship.
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Lyndhurst Amazing Race
Lyndhurst Elementary School in Burnaby is doing an Amazing Race event this coming Saturday. You can follow this link for more details or you can read details from their flyer below.
Lyndhurst Elementary may be one of the smallest public schools in Greater Vancouver, but we’re known for our big ideas. In our second ‘Amazing Race For Our Earth’, we’ll be racing across our city by bike, foot, transit and hybrid in an effort to increase environmental awareness and raise funds for our school and our chosen charity. Our charity, The Developmental Disabilities Association, was presented with the Recycling Council of British Columbia’s 2009 MOBI Award for excellence in environmental stewardship and we feel they set a good example for us all.
WHAT WE’RE UP TO
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, our race will explore how our community Renews, Reuses and Recycles. In a race patterned after CBS’s The Amazing Race, students, parents and VIPs will race across the city in teams and complete course ‘challenges’ related to the ‘Three R’s’ at various businesses, parks and schools. Our VIPs are Business Leaders, School District Executive and Political figures, who will show by example what it means to ‘get involved to make a difference’ as they guide their teams on this competitive and educational quest.SHOW US YOU’RE AN ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER
If you’d like to get involved with this exciting race we’d love if you could support us by Donating Gifts In Kind. Although we prefer gifts to have an environmental slant, we’d be happy to accept any donations you feel appropriate. In donating to this charitable race you’ll be in good company! Joining our Premier Sponsor Belkorp Environmental Services in supporting this event are companies such as Safeway, Toyota, Burnaby Recycling, Grand & Toy, Fill Your Own Inc., Burnaby Parks & Recreation and even Burnaby’s Mayor, the Honorable Derek Corrigan. They all believe education is key to environmental stewardship so they are working with us to increase our children’s earth-awareness today.
We are also very excited to have Global Television slated as a ‘Pit Stop’ once again for this year’s race. Global Television is an important voice for our community and a strong believer in hands-on community involvement. If you’re up to the challenge and would like to be one of our Environmental Leaders, you can contact Lyndhurst Elementary, or the following organizers: Shauna Glas sglas@shaw.ca, Thérèse Willan therese@bcwineclub.ca or ph.# 778-686-0357, Lisa Novak l-mnovak.shaw.ca ph.# 604-868-9696, or Kelly Negrich, knegrich@telus.net. -
Fundraising for Haiti with DDA
Photo Credit: Wolfgang Rattay, Reuters
With another major aftershock of 6.1 in Haiti this morning, and an ever increasing death toll, a few friends of mine decided to start a fundraising group for Haiti. We’ll be taking advantage of the Developmental Disabilities Association, Cash 4 Clothes program, to raise funds for the Haiti victims. Cash 4 Clothes, in a nutshell, works like this:
- Collect a minimum of 75 full bags of clothes and up to 150 full bags at one time, and DDA gives you $2.00 per bag
- If you collect over 151 full bags at one time, DDA gives you $3.00 per bag
- DDA will pick up all the bags after the clothing drive has been completed
Our goal is to reach $1000 for Haiti. All the money we raise from collecting bags of clothes and donating them to DDA will go directly to helping Haiti. The benefits of Cash 4 Clothes will be helping two charitable and important causes: locally, the Developmental Disabilities Association; and internationally, with the people in Haiti.
If you would like to help out with this fundraiser, you can drop by DDA’s Head Office with your bags of clothes and/or housewares. Simply leave them with the receptionist and let her know the bags are for Victor. You can also start your own fundraising group for Haiti (or for any other cause, organization, or sports team that needs money) through our Cash 4 Clothes program.
Update: I was just informed that Savers/Value Village, where DDA sells their used goods, will be delivering trailers of used clothing, bed, bath and shoes to the areas in need at Haiti!
Links & Resources
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- HOW TO ensure your donations are going to the right place?
- SPECULATE BEFORE YOU DONATE