Why Donate?

Your generous support will allows us to continue as the local advocate for reproductive health and justice.  An entirely volunteer staffed organization in partnership with the Women’s Health Specialists professionals have been able to fill the need of the ONLY unbiased sex education and healthcare in Nevada County.

• We continue to operate The Clinic! in Grass Valley, offering compassionate reproductive healthcare services to uninsured or under insured residents of Nevada County.

• The Clinic! is open two days a week.
• During 2018 our operating costs were over $37,600. Now that we are in a more spacious suite, our rent has increased. Our source of free condoms has lost its funding which means we must cover all the costs of our outreach program.
• In November 2018 a medical abortion option was added and client visits were changed to an appointments only system. Since the Clinic! opened in 2006, and through 2018, WHS has conducted 25,594 types of services with positive client experiences.

• We provide baskets in accessible locations around the community with free condoms and educational information.

• Citizens for Choice is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization. Your donations are tax-deductible.

There are myriad avenues for donors to support Citizens for Choice, described below.  Citizens for Choice is a 501(c)(3) California Public Benefit Corporation which assures that donor’s gifts are tax deductible.  Citizens for Choice subscribes to the policies of the “Donor Bill of Rights” that state that all donor information is confidential and not shared.

Cash Donations
In the past, cash donations have been made primarily at events where Citizens for Choice participates with an information table.  The COVID-19 pandemic substantially curtailed these activities. Other cash donations have historically been made at events the organization has sponsored, such as the “popsicle day” or the 30^th-Anniversary party in 2019.  Again, the pandemic negatively affected these activities. Look for announcements of events in the Newsletter. Of course, cash can be mailed to the PO box, though sending cash through the postal service is discouraged.

Donations via Check
The most common method donors use is by sending a check to PO box 3525, Grass Valley CA 95945.  The checks come in two forms: handwritten or issued through a bank’s bill-pay service.

One advantage to working with a bill-pay service is that periodic donations can be set up to be sent automatically, greatly reducing the effort required by the donor and ensuring continuing support to Citizens for Choice.

Charge or Debit Donations
Citizens for Choice can use a Square app to process charge or debit transactions at their events.

Donations through eScrip
The organization participates in the eScrip program at SPD and SaveMart markets.

PayPal Donations
Every page on the Citizens for Choice website contains two “Donate” buttons, at the top and the bottom of each page.  Clicking on any of the buttons transfers the donor to a PayPal page designed specifically for Citizens for Choice.  The image below is the first thing a donor sees:

You, the donor can select one of the displayed amounts or change it.  You can set up a monthly donation simply by checking the appropriate box.  Clicking on “Donate with PayPal” takes the donor through a process to identify the bank account to be debited.  Clicking on “Donate with a Debit or Credit Card” adds fields for the donor to enter their debit or credit card information.  Donations with a credit or debit card requires donations of $100 or more. PayPal charges Citizens for Choice a fee for each donation.  The fee charged depends on the amount donated, but averages about 5%.  The percentage is smaller the greater the donation. For example, if donations to Citizens for Choice are $5 or $10 our cost is $0.45 or $0.59 respectively.

Stock Donations
Stock donations to Citizens for Choice are handled by Baird Private Wealth Management, 360 Sierra College Dr, Suite 200, Grass Valley, 888-792-9244.  The contact at Baird is Janice Dunn; her assistants are Wendy Clemmons or Liz Chapel.  The donor must transfer the stock to Baird, best done through the donor’s broker but the donor can do it themselves if they handle their own investments.  The broker needs the following information:

• DTC Broker Name Baird Private Wealth Management
• DTC Broker Account Number 0547
• Delivering Account Name Nevada County Citizens for Choice
• Delivering Account Number 4724-7057

After the transfer is completed, Baird sends a letter describing the transaction with dates and amounts to Citizens for Choice.

Required Minimum Distributions
United States citizens older than 70-½ are required to take annual “Required Minimum Distributions” from their retirement accounts.  (This rule was changed temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic.)  Up to $100,000 from a Required Minimum Distribution may be made tax-free to a qualified 501(c)(3).

To avoid having the Minimum Required Distribution added to their taxable annual income, the donor must transfer the stock rather than withdrawing the funds first, then making a separate donation.  This process is known as a Qualified Charitable Distribution. Funds donated as a Qualified Charitable Distribution cannot also be deducted as a charitable contribution on the donor’s tax return.