At present, it is difficult to find a sphere of activity in which there would be no place for charity. Television and radio broadcasting, the media, the Internet, culture and art, politics, economics and law, healthcare - sponsorship is present in all areas of modern human life. Such multilateral activity can be manifested in different ways: in promotions, cultural events with the aim of raising funds, in advertising, and in the additional collection of donations. This is not only charity, but also the support of various programs and projects.
Donation Definitions
The process of donating tangible assets to legal entities and individuals is called a donation. This is a specific term that differs from donation and denotes an optional payment in gratitude for any service or purchased item. Material contributions are made only from an internal motive to thank or provide support. Their value is determined by the donor himself, depending on the state of his finances. Not only money becomes voluntary donations, it can be useful household items, clothes, home-made products, food.
How did it come about
The most popular and historically oldest example of alms today is the collection of donations for creative performances. Spectators and listeners paid street performers (musicians, clowns, magicians, dancers) for their performances or watched for free. Global charitable donations were light industry products during the wars. Material assistance in the form of food, clothing and cash was provided by the rear services to the soldiers of World War II. Humanitarian support to a number of countries where hostilities take place, there are financial and social difficulties, today comes from more stable and developed states.
Types of Sponsoring
Donor organizations provide irrevocable financial and technical support to those in need after competitive selection. Patronage is the financial assistance of an individual from a personal account. Patrons patronize institutions of culture, science, art, education and health. Legal entities and individuals can donate funds through sponsorship.
Sponsors have some advantages in the form of advertising campaigns for their organization - they increase its recognition, competitiveness, and media awareness through donations made by them. Various social projects and philanthropy are directly related to fundraising - the collection of necessary funds. Private and state sponsoring organizations, donors, philanthropists, investors, grant-giving institutions act as sources of additional contributions. They can financially help companies, individuals, foundations, government bodies.
What is called a donation agreement
This document is a special case of donation, its main feature are the generally useful purposes for which donations are made. This written evidence describes the obligations of the donor and the donee. The legislation prohibits the conclusion of such agreements between business organizations. But if in the contract only one party is a commercial institution, then it can act both as a donor and as an donee. From legal entities, the contract must be signed by the general directors.
What should be in the donation agreement
The preamble shall indicate the persons who sign the document, or their principals. The subject of the contract defines the material goods that are provided by the donor. He can donate movable and immovable property, securities, property rights, money. Donation items are also described here: amount, currency, quality, condition, everything related to the contribution. The following paragraph shall indicate the conditions under which the transfer is made. It stipulates the time frame for the operation of the contract, emergency situations (risk of death of one of the parties), a list of actions taken during the verification of the donation, the need to attract experts. The following are the purposes for which the donation will be used. This must necessarily relate to the common good, otherwise the document will be considered as an act of gift. The clause indicates situations in which the donee can use the gift for other purposes, and the conditions for reporting.
The next section clarifies the circumstances of the amendment and termination of the contract. In case of non-acceptance of the gift, the donor has the right to request compensation, if specified in the contract. He can cancel the transfer if the donee does not comply with the requirements described for the purpose of the contract. In the penultimate paragraph, the parties agree on actions in the event of disputes and the timing of their resolution in the selected court. Disputes include conflicts based on the requirements of the donor, breach of agreements, misuse of donations and cancellation of the transfer of the gift. In the final part, the moment the document enters into legal force and its validity period is established. If the parties have not set deadlines, then the contract will be valid until the donor and the donee complete their obligations.
Using crowdfunding
In the era of advanced information technology, it is not necessary to put a donation box to collect finance. Crowdfunding plays an important role in the creation of various projects in the field of information. Its essence lies in the fact that a group of people or an entire community raises money to finance a startup, be it games or software. They can also support small business and private business, help victims of natural disasters, support political and social actions, take part in the creation of objects of culture, science and art. In turn, investors receive pre-emptive rights to a particular product that they sponsored: early access to the program, exclusive publication of the book, exclusive project attributes, reduced cost for the final product, etc. Comics, video games, movies, music - the whole entertainment industry is built on the donations of people interested in this. Creative, scientific, production projects are mostly implemented thanks to crowdfunding.
The benefits of crowdsourcing
The subject of a donation in the general sense can be not only material means, but also human resources: intellectual and creative. Infocommunication technologies allow people from all over the world to unite and work together on a common project, connecting individual abilities. For example, in this way you can develop open source software, the design and functionality of which will be made by specialists of various categories for free. Through the efforts of volunteers and with the help of crowdfunding, the world-famous Internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia, also functions. The main advantage of crowdsourcing is that a lot of promising and talented personnel from different countries are involved in the project, and it doesn’t matter what nationality they belong to or with what kind of professional training the volunteers begin to work.
Donations of our time
Basically, donations of our time represent free access to information products, the use of which involves arbitrary payment or free copying. Many musicians whose work has a loyal audience organize tours and release albums using funds raised from fans. Writers and directors, technicians and scientists find a response to their projects with the interested public and implement them. Developers of low-budget or unfinished games collect donations for further development also on the basis of crowdfunding. Various donation organizations post on their sites a Donat button, which allows any user to financially support their activities.
The main plus of charity
Most people have an altruistic disposition of character, by their nature they are drawn to helping those in need and to creating better living conditions. There is the economic term "the warmth of altruism", which explains the joy of a person in the process of transferring their finances in favor and for the benefit of others. Therefore, giving, the donor feels moral satisfaction with his act. Charity and donations bring joy to both the giver and receiver.