I won free flights for a year

[AlexTina]

I won 24 Southwest airlines green must fly passes from Subway recently.

It is an amazing prize and while I did use 5 of them to book our upcoming Disneyworld trip and gave 2 to my aunt so she can go visit my cousin who is coming home from Afghanistan soon I still have a few that I won't be able to use. It's wonderful to have free flights but as you all know you still have to pay for food, attractions, and possibly hotel where ever you go.

Anyhow, I was thinking of donating some of them (I can't sell them but I can give them away as I please) to help out with the tax bill I'll be hit with due to the win (almost $10,000 prize) southwest values the vouchers at $400 a piece ARV so I thought if I donated some of them it might help knock down the tax bill. Just wondering if anyone here may know how I would go about doing that? Charity suggestions? Not sure if you can donate flight vouchers or not but being this is the travel section thought someone may know. I'm going to post this in the budget board as well. Thanks.

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

You could always dontate some of them to the military members. For example, when my husband was just beginning his career his father died unexpectedly. Because he was so young, he didn't have enough money to buy a last minute ticket, etc. Thank goodness the Red Cross was able to give him a loan to be able to attend the funeral. Well, now it's 26 years later and my husband is retired, but he says this happens quite often. Military members having some type of emergency, and needing last minute air travel, but not the funds available. Congratulations to you on your win!!

 

[FoundMyPrince]

I won 24 Southwest airlines green must fly passes from Subway recently.

It is an amazing prize and while I did use 5 of them to book our upcoming Disneyworld trip and gave 2 to my aunt so she can go visit my cousin who is coming home from Afghanistan soon I still have a few that I won't be able to use. It's wonderful to have free flights but as you all know you still have to pay for food, attractions, and possibly hotel where ever you go.

Anyhow, I was thinking of donating some of them (I can't sell them but I can give them away as I please) to help out with the tax bill I'll be hit with due to the win (almost $10,000 prize) southwest values the vouchers at $400 a piece ARV so I thought if I donated some of them it might help knock down the tax bill. Just wondering if anyone here may know how I would go about doing that? Charity suggestions? Not sure if you can donate flight vouchers or not but being this is the travel section thought someone may know. I'm going to post this in the budget board as well. Thanks.

Congratulations on your win!!!
I'm sure Make-A-Wish or Give Kids the World would be more than excited to accept the donation!

 

[JollyHoliday]

Congratulations!! I love that you are going to donate some!! I know some children and families have a hard time flying to different states to get the medical procedures. I am not sure who you could contact but a google search may help. Maybe a Ronald Mcdonald House or St Judes childrens hospital.

 

[AlexTina]

Thanks for the ideas. I'm going to do some searching, just though someone here may have info for me.

 

[RitaE]

That's an awesome prize. Congrats!

I was going to say Make A Wish also. I know that they accept Frequent Flyer Miles and Gift Cards so I'm sure they could make use of the Plane Tickets too.

 

[mrsklamc]

SO cool!

 

[Lorien728]

Congrats! That's a wonderful prize!

 

[Ima Disnewby]

Congratulations!!!

I'm so glad someone as thoughtful and giving won this prize There have been such excellent suggestions already, wherever you decide to donate them to is very deserving

 

[amberlynnhawkins]

Maybe the American Cancer Society for patients to be flown to see family members or to fly to a place to get treatments?

 

[kkandaj]

How wonderful for you!

There is an organization called "Honor Flight" that pays (through donations) for veterans to visit the Washington DC war memorials/monuments of the particular war they fought in. I know they take donations of airline miles/vouchers. The .org is the correct one that provides free flights for our veterans. The .com organization charges fees.

Btw--Southwest is the official carrier for this organization.

Hopefully you find an organization that is dear to your heart. What a great thing for you to do!

 

[ssawka]

Congratulations on your win!!!
I'm sure Make-A-Wish or Give Kids the World would be more than excited to accept the donation!

Definitely contact GKTW! Smaller charities such as this one will appreciate the donation more than the "big" organizations.

 

[CupcakeKelly]

I just took a quick look on the Make a Wish website, and they have a page for donating miles/vouchers. They instruct people to contact their national office to make the donation

http://www.wish.org/help/donate_airline_miles

Just a quick question, do you currently itemize deductions your taxes? A lot of times people that don't itemize will make charitable donations not realizing that they won't get to deduct them.

 

[wiigirl]

Congrats!!

 

[wuzzles]

That is very generous of you.

Just be careful. If you are donating them primarily to lessen your tax bill it might not quite work the way you would expect. Just because Subway and Southwest valued the vouchers at $400 each doesn't mean that the IRS would. You might want to try to figure that out before committing.

Also there is the question of itemizing.

Even if you don't get the full write off you should definitely get some good karma!

 

[loveshak22]

Awesome prize and awesome of you to donate what you won't be able to use!

 

[DisneyFansInLINY]

What about an auction on ebay where 100% of the proceeds go to the charity of your choice? Ebay has these options set up when you create the auction so there really isn't much work for you to do.

 

[a1tinkfans]

How wonderful for you!

There is an organization called "Honor Flight" that pays (through donations) for veterans to visit the Washington DC war memorials/monuments of the particular war they fought in. I know they take donations of airline miles/vouchers. The .org is the correct one that provides free flights for our veterans. The .com organization charges fees.

Btw--Southwest is the official carrier for this organization.

Hopefully you find an organization that is dear to your heart. What a great thing for you to do!

LOVE this idea!!!
.
OP: Congrats to You
and What a VERY thoughtful thing to do.

Did you consider supporting your schools PTA or Local Library.....
who can perhaps use 2 tickets to RAFFLE as a prize to raise FUNDS?

Best of Luck and Enjoy your adventures!

 

[AlexTina]

What about an auction on ebay where 100% of the proceeds go to the charity of your choice? Ebay has these options set up when you create the auction so there really isn't much work for you to do.

That would be great. But I don't think ebay allow you to sell airline vouchers any longer.

 

[chris1gill]

Also to lessen the tax bill, if you can prove the flights you took were less than 400.00 you can claim that number, not the random 400.00 assigned to them.