Giving to the Mission in Lieu of Christmas Gifts

The Charlotte Observer recently ran this article, telling one couple's story of how and why they started supporting Charlotte Rescue Mission:

Mindy Leonard and her family haven't exchanged Christmas presents in 10 years.

"We said, `This is getting out of hand. We'd rather just give to charity,' " said the 35-year-old Charlotte commercial real estate appraiser.

Every year at the holidays, Leonard and husband Kevin give $300-400 to the Charlotte Rescue Mission, a Christian charity that runs residential chemical dependency recovery programs for men and women.

Leonard recalls doing some research on Guidestar.org, a Web site that publishes the tax returns of charitable organizations. It's there that she thinks she read that the Charlotte Rescue Mission doesn't take government funds. That was appealing, she said, because that means the organization is free to act in the best interest of the community.

A quick check of Guidestar shows Leonard was right. The Charlotte Rescue Mission doesn't take government money. On its 990s, the field for government funds was blank.

Tim Troutman, donor services supervisor, said that while some Christian charities accept government money, they might have to change their program to get it, and Charlotte Rescue Mission doesn't want to do that. "We attribute the success of our program to the fact that we are a Christian organization," he said.