victoria.kickham@reedbusiness.com

Looking for a way to save money? It may be right under your nose—or, more specifically, right in your warehouse.

As the calendar year ends and tax time approaches, many organizations are getting the word out about a little-known way for businesses to save cash: donating excess inventory to charitable organizations.

The National Assn. for the Exchange of Industrial Resources is one such group. NAEIR takes do-nations of new, overstock or discontinued product and redistributes it to schools and 501 (c) (3) non-profit groups nationwide.

"These materials and supplies not only benefit these organizations, but the companies that contribute can earn an above-cost income tax deduction for the product donated," according to NAEIR. "Regular (C) corporations can get cost plus half the difference between cost and fair market value. (S) Corporations or sole proprietorships can earn a straight cost deduction. This is all made possible by the Internal Revenue Tax Code Section 170 (e) (3)."

NAEIR accepts do-nations of general, finished goods such as school and office supplies, educational materials, toys, games, clothing, building materials, tools and more.

Another group taking product off businesses' hands is Educational Assistance Ltd., a non-profit company that accepts a wide range of excess inventory (finished goods, piece parts and raw materials) and uses it to provide scholarships for needy students. To date, EAL has provided more than 8,000 scholarships to students, according to John Saban of EAL.

Both organizations can be reached via email—NAEIR at donor@naeir.org and EAL at info@ealworks.org.

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