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KOAA Survey: Are you going to donate to charities this year?

Charities survey
Posted at 9:07 AM, Nov 18, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-19 10:29:11-05

KOAA News5 wants to know if you plan to donate to charities this year. According to the Internal Revenue System, 2019 saw the highest charitable donations in several years, with individuals, foundations, and corporations giving $450 billion. Strong economic growth was attributed to the increase.

Are you going to donate to charities this year? Voting has closed for this poll — here are the results:

  • 66% voted yes
  • 34% voted no

Watch for another poll this Thursday afternoon that we will follow and review starting at News5 at 4 p.m.

Here we are in late 2020, with a very different economy and many Americans in need of assistance. There are big changes impacting contributions and tax deductions as a result of the CARES Act passed earlier this year.

According to the IRS:

Previously, charitable contributions could only be deducted if taxpayers itemized their deductions.

However, taxpayers who don't itemize deductions may take a charitable deduction of up to $300 for cash contributions made in 2020 to qualifying organizations. For the purposes of this deduction, qualifying organizations are those that are religious, charitable, educational, scientific or literary in purpose. The law changed in this area due to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

The CARES Act also temporarily suspends limits on charitable contributions and temporarily increases limits on contributions of food inventory. More information about these changes is available on IRS.gov.

We're following this survey throughout the day and into tomorrow. Tune in to News5 at 4 p.m. as we review the results!

Editor's note: This poll is not based on scientific, representative samples and is solely for KOAA purposes.