Doc, can there be a permanent thread regarding donating pts on the rent/trade board?

[lat]

I had some odd pts that I ended up borrowing some and rounded up and donated to

Give the Kids the World

www.gktw.com

It is a wonderful organization in Orlando that works with Make a Wish Foundation. They were so grateful to have the stay at OKW and some family will be there in less than 10 days.

I just told another DVC member who has expiring pts about this organization and he ended up donating 6 nights to them. The director at the organization called me today and told me that this other member ended up donating the nights also and thanked me for it.

It feels GREAT!!!!

This member told me that he used to have pts expired on him. It may be better tax wise for some people to donate and get the tax deduction vs. renting them at lower rates.

Can there be a thread on the Rent/Trade Board to tell people about this organization or other reputable ones that people can look into?

The guy who coordinates this at GKTW is

Andrew Wilkins
Director of Human Resources
407-396-1114 x237

I was chatting with MS the other day and she told me she used to work with this organization from Disney's side for a long time and told me how wonderful this place is.

 

[JimC]

I wonder if it is possible for the Charity to pool points so that individuals with a small number of left over points, but insufficient for a stay, could donate?

Can you imagine if a siginificant percentage of the DIS DVCers donated a few points each? Would/could Disney support such a concept?

 

[Lew]

I approached MS a few years ago about DVC donating all unused / expired points to Make-a-Wish Foundation or a like organization. Obviously, I didn't get very far.

I would like to see DVC handle this for all members. This way the value of all unused points from all members would go to a good cause...not back into developer inventory as is now the case.

It would be a wonderful way for all DVC members to contribute...

 

[RobDoc]

Are you talking about transferring points to GKTW or making a reservation and donating that to the program?

This board would likely be a better place for such activity as it will reach far more members.

As for DVC handling such a program, receipt of unusable points during the last 2 months of a Use Year would certainly complicate the issue since there is usually little availability during that time.

I will discuss it with Pete and see what we can do. We have been discussing a similar project recently. The DIS has also been involved with GKTW in the past as a charitable program.

 

[lat]

Doc,

I am referring to making a reservation for GTKW. The way it is done, at least for me, is that they give me a list of dates that they are interested, I call MS to find out availability and book the room under Andrew's name.

Andrew then contacts me once they find a match and have me change the name to the matched family. I will get a tax deductible receipt once the stay is completed.

Thanks

P.S. the reason why I suggested the Rent/Trade Board was because that was how I reached the member who has points expiring and told him about this option. Some people who get on that board to rent are not regular Disboard members and they just want to get rid of their pts.

Can it be at both places?

 

[Lew]

Originally posted by WebmasterDoc
As for DVC handling such a program, receipt of unusable points during the last 2 months of a Use Year would certainly complicate the issue since there is usually little availability during that time.

When points go unused or expire the room-nights those points represent are converted to cash nights. DVC is under no time constraints as to when these cash nights must be used. They can rent the nights anytime rooms are not reserved by members using points.

Even a small percentage of the expired points of 75,000 members would go a long way in providing wishes for many children and their families. I'd like to see DVC step up to the plate on this.

Absent help from DVC, any entity that can coordinate this for us would be providing a wonderful service.

 

[RobDoc]

Originally posted by Lew
When points go unused or expire the room-nights those points represent are converted to cash nights. DVC is under no time constraints as to when these cash nights must be used. They can rent the nights anytime rooms are not reserved by members using points.

Even a small percentage of the expired points of 75,000 members would go a long way in providing wishes for many children and their families. I'd like to see DVC step up to the plate on this.

Absent help from DVC, any entity that can coordinate this for us would be providing a wonderful service.

DVC does have a time constraint- the points expire and can no longer be used by anyone.

The reason we can't make non-DVC reservations and travel during the last 2 months of our Use Year is because availability is limited during that time. Points that expire are not converted to cash nights- they are lost. The Breakage Period is 60 days before any given date- that is when any unreserved DVC room are turned over to CRO for cash reservation.

I agree that an entity that could accept transferrable points for charitable use would be a great way to contribute points. Making a reservation for someone else is already available to every DVC member to donate to a charity of choice.

Some have donated DVC reservations for charitable auction, some have donated DVC reservations to organizations like GKTW and some have found other means to contribute DVC reservations for charitable purposes.

Regardless what method is chosen, I'm sure the effort is always appreciated.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I like the idea of having a permanent thread available, it would be a reminder to people that someone might be able to use that ressie that is causing lots of grief because dear so-and-so just cancelled one week out. The silver lining in a cloud!

Bobbi

 

[bobbiwoz]

Since there's the new post about food, I'm bumping this up to see if there's more interest in donating points.

Bobbi