Giving An Anonymous Gift

[movingforward]

A good friend has a daughter who is starting college in January.  She was supposed to start in the fall; however, she didn't have all the money she needed and decided to delay her start date.  The daughter is currently working two jobs to save some money.  I would really like to give her some money (not a lot but maybe $250 depending on the amount of my end of the year bonus) but I want to give it anonymously.  How in the world should I go about doing this.  A check has my name on it so that is out.  I don't want to leave cash in the mail box.  I thought about maybe sending a visa gift card with a little note expressing that the card is to help with books or something.  I wouldn't want to put my return address on it so I would just have to rely on it getting there safely I suppose.  Any ideas here? 

[Deleted]

If she is in college you can arrange with financial aid office and be anonymous.

[Sharon]

Do they attend church.  Perhaps the clergyperson would pass along an envelope with some cash.

[billisonboard]

US Postal money order

[cronewitch]

Mail a money order or gift card to college bookstore. If you had information you could pay some tuition directly to the school. I did that for great nephew but he had to set me up a friend account so he knows where it came from. His dad's girl friend gave him a bookstore gift card, which he misplaced before starting college.
If you could get her student number you might be able to put money in her college account without her knowing.

[Pants]

Question: why donate anonymously? I think it would be powerful to say: I see how hard you're working, and I'm proud of you. I wanted to help out a little.

Not that I'm against anonymous giving, but just wondering why you're choosing to do that in this case.

[movingforward]

Nov 21, 2014 15:09:12 GMT -5 Pants said:

Question: why donate anonymously? I think it would be powerful to say: I see how hard you're working, and I'm proud of you. I wanted to help out a little.

Not that I'm against anonymous giving, but just wondering why you're choosing to do that in this case.

My friend is fairly prideful and I just think it would be better to do it anonymously.  Also, I don't really like being recognized for giving money.  That may sound a little weird but it is just my nature to remain anonymous when it comes to that kind of thing. 

[dannylion]

Does the school bookstore offer gift cards?

[movingforward]

Nov 21, 2014 15:28:30 GMT -5 dannylion said:

Does the school bookstore offer gift cards?

I really don't know.  She is going to attend an out-of-state college. 

[toomuchreality]

Some years ago, a few years in a row, I received cash anonymously at Christmas. It was placed in a card, with a typed message. Someone I didn't know knocked on my door, asked for me, then handed it to me. I never did find out who the donor was. But I sure was grateful, as I was a single parent with 2 kids and unemployed at the time.
I always wished I knew who gave it, so I could tell them thank you. (It still makes me a little crazy, not to know.)



It is very nice of you to do this.    You're a !

[billisonboard]

Nov 21, 2014 16:02:18 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

... (It still makes me a little crazy, not to know.)

...

That is part of the fun of giving in that way.

[Tiny]

While I like the Gift Card idea - I'm alittle leary of the Visa gift cards - the one's I looked at were expensive (for me) and had all sorts of conditions and fees if the recipient wasn't careful how/when they used it. It sure would suck if much of the gift cards value went to Visa and not to who you intended it to go to.

(FWIW: out of work friend sat on a Visa Gift card - and it started loosing value by the time she got around to using it. She also got charged when she called Visa to determine how much value the card still had. It was 'sucky' all around - I think she lost more than 1/2 the value of the card by the time she used it. Agreed she held it for a year - thinking it worked like other gift cards. I'm positive the person who gave her the gift card did NOT intend this to happen.).


Do you know the school/area she will be going to? If she's going to a local school while staying at home what about a Gas gift Card - OR check with your local public transportation - maybe they have 'gift deals' on passes. If she's going away to school - see if you can find out the local stores - WalMart? Target? CVS? A couple of kids I know went away to school and they were very appreciative of WalMart gift cards - as WalMart was easily accessible by bus from their dorms and they could get anything they might need in one stop.

A Gas gift card might be good even if she's going away to school - if she's 'car pooling' to get home for the holidays OR back to school  for example.    

Just some additional ideas...

[cktc]

I've done this with an intermediary. The recipient and I were in the same group so I asked the group leader to send it anonymously. I debated what form to send and finally just sent cash because gift cards are just as likely to get lost in the mail, and paying fees for a donation seemed a bit odd.

You could also look into sending something via Amazon. They sell gift cards and you could probably set up a dummy email/account.

[movingforward]

Nov 21, 2014 16:50:03 GMT -5 cktc said:

I've done this with an intermediary. The recipient and I were in the same group so I asked the group leader to send it anonymously. I debated what form to send and finally just sent cash because gift cards are just as likely to get lost in the mail, and paying fees for a donation seemed a bit odd.

You could also look into sending something via Amazon. They sell gift cards and you could probably set up a dummy email/account.

Oh, that's a good idea!

[tractor]

If you know where she works you could drop off some cash in an envelope with a little note for her, however I like the idea of finding someone she wouldn't know to drop it off for you. Random gifts are the best.

[Deleted]

And Amazon sells/rents text books!

[billisonboard]

Nov 21, 2014 19:57:29 GMT -5 @tbird said:

anonymous gifts are creepy!

[zibazinski]

DD and I snuck over late at night and dropped off a Publix gift card to someone she said in her class at school was going hungry because her mom lost her job.  We had the best time being "secret." She still remembers doing it.