Donation
Donation is a
gift to a fund or cause, typically for
charitable reasons. A donation may take various forms, including
cash,
services,
clothing,
food,
accommodation, or new or
used items.
Donations are transfers, or gifts, given without return consideration. This lack of return consideration means that an agreement to make a donation is an "imperfect contract void for want of consideration." Only when the donation is actually made does it acquire legal status as a transfer or property.
Many people often perform extraordinary or unusual challenges or feats in order to encourage people to donate to a particular cause. Such people may already receive corporate or other
sponsorship, but need donations from a wider audience in order to achieve their financial goals. Some examples of "charity challenges" include
celebrities having their heads shaved, crossing a continent or an ocean alone or with minimal support, or
hitchhiking to Morocco.
Organized charities have sometimes been criticised for the proportion of financial donations which are used for administrative or operational purposes. Donating directly to a charity (rather than through solicitation), or donating to smaller charities, often tends to reduce expenditure on "
overheads".
Sometimes people make monetary donations in memory of somebody who has died. When somebody dies, the survivors sometimes request that donations be made to a specific charity in memory of the deceased person, usually related to what the person did in his/her life or how he/she died. This is sometimes done by people if they cannot go to the ceremonies.
In politics, the law of some countries may prohibit or restrict the extent to which politicians may accept gifts or donations of large sums of money, especially from business or special
interest groups (see
campaign finance).
Usually, this money is to benefit poor people who can not afford the basic needs of life or to be spent on research to cure diseases such as
cancer and
AIDS.
*
Catholic Encyclopedia "Donation"
