COBYS Family Services relies on generous support from individuals, churches, businesses, foundations, and others to fund our ministries. We welcome your help through financial contributions, in kind donations, volunteering, our innovative cell phone and inkjet printer cartridge recycling plan, and Internet searches through goodsearch.com. While we receive funding from a mix of public and private sources, support from people like you is essential for the health of our ministries. Donations to COBYS are tax-deductible.

Cash donations are the easiest and most common way that donors support COBYS Family Services. Remember, each cash donation is fully tax deductible (up to 50% of your adjusted gross income). You can make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!

          

Financial Support

Bequests: If you include a gift to COBYS in your will, it not only will benefit the children and families that we serve but also reduce estate tax dollars for your loved ones.

Life Income Gifts (Annuities and Trusts): A life income gift allows you to transfer assets (cash, stocks, or other property) to COBYS now and still receive income from those gifts during your lifetime. Often these gifts have immediate and ongoing tax benefits.

Stock: Giving stocks that have appreciated affords you savings in two ways: You can avoid paying capital gains tax on the increased value of your stock and also receive an income tax deduction for the full fair market value of the donated stock.

Real Estate: By donating property outright, you can avoid significant capital gains tax if the property has increased in value since you first purchased it. You also can realize a charitable deduction for the full market value of the real estate.

Life Insurance: If you have a life insurance policy that no longer is needed, it could be given to COBYS as a gift. Name COBYS Family Services as the owner and beneficiary of the policy and receive a charitable deduction. If the policy has cash value, you may take a deduction approximately equal to the cash value of the policy. If you continue to make premium payments after the gift to COBYS, those premium payments are tax deductible each year.

Employer Matching Gifts: Many corporate employers match charitable contributions by their employees. Have you checked whether your employer has a matching gift program? Why not double your gift?

To discuss supporting COBYS with your accumulated assets, contact Associate Administrator Mark Cunningham or call 717-656-6580. The information on this page is meant as a guide. Please contact your financial planner or attorney for information about your specific situation.

Needs List

Individuals or groups may wish to purchase or designate cash donations for specific items to benefit COBYS ministries. Contact Don Fitzkee or call 717-656-6580 for more information about the current needs listed below:

New or late-model used 7-passenger minivan for transporting children

Adoption/Foster Care
Each foster child coming into care with COBYS receives a backpack of toys, games, personal care items, a Bible, and more. In addition, donated items are used as gifts for special occasions. We do not have a need for used toys, used clothes, or used stuffed animals.

Current needs include:
Solid color canvas backpacks (no plastic or black, please)
Age-appropriate, culturally relevant Bibles for children and teens (with pictures representing various races and cultures)
Disposable cameras
Pre-paid phone cards
Kids toothbrushes and toothpaste
Toys: sensory toys (balls, tangle toys), blocks, shape sorters, cars, Etch a Sketch, Magna Doodle, Magnetix, K'nex, Legos
New stuffed animals with tags (no used ones, please, even if they have tags)
Hairbrushes for kids
Craft kits
Play Doh
Coloring/activity books
Baby shampoo/body wash, diaper rash cream
Craft supplies for therapeutic art activities to help prepare children for adoption:
    Gift cards to A.C. Moore or Michaels
    Colored sand, sand art bottles
    Double-sided tape
    Small wooden shaker boxes, various shapes
    Stickers for scrapbooks/life books
Plain journals and small photo albums for Birth Parent Counseling program
Gift cards to K-mart and Wal-Mart to purchase above items
Gift cards to Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble to purchase books for adoption gifts

Counseling
Construction paper
Markers
Play Doh
Femo clay
Magic 1, 2, 3 DVD

Family Life Education
Exersaucer
Family games (Guess Who, Hi-Ho Cherry-O, Candyland, Connect Four, Uno, Trouble)
Puzzles for toddlers
Baby toys
Gift certificates for Education Station
Gift certificates for office supply store
Infant bouncy seat
Marker sets

Permanency Unit
Art supplies for older kids
Outdoor toys for variety of ages (footballs, basketballs, Frisbees, etc.)
Gift cards to purchase emergency children's clothing and for birth parents to use to purchase gifts for their children
Pre-paid gas cards for birth parents to get to visits
$10 and $20 prepaid phone cards
Plastic doll house w/ multi-ethnic families
Roll of butcher paper/newsprint
Construction paper and drawing paper
Bubbles
Cones to mark boundaries for outside play
Booster seats for use with visits (two are needed)
Small children's table
Board books and plasticized books for young children
Puzzles for young children

Volunteer Opportunities

COBYS offers a variety of volunteer opportunities for groups or individuals, including:

Bulk Mailings: COBYS uses volunteers several times a year to assemble bulk mailings at the main office, located north of Lancaster near Oregon Dairy. We maintain a list and call volunteers on an as needed basis to serve 4-8 hours at a time as their schedules allow. Lunch is provided.

Fundraising Events: Volunteers are needed to help staff the annual Bike & Hike, our largest fundraising event, held the Sunday after Labor Day. Tasks include set-up, registration, serving refreshments, laying out bicycle and motorcycle routes, manning drink stops, and more.

Work Groups: COBYS utilizes occasional youth or adult work groups for projects such as painting, cleaning, yard work and mulching, and more at our various properties.

Contact: Don Fitzkee or call 717-656-6580 to explore any of these volunteer opportunities.

Recycle Cell Phones and Inkjet Printer Cartridges

COBYS earns money by recycling cell phones and inkjet printer cartridges through Planet Green. COBYS not only receives cash for recycling eligible phones and ink cartridges, but also earns 15% on purchases of inkjet cartridges that you make through Planet Green. Cartridges and phones can be dropped off at any COBYS office location for recycling.

Planetgreenrecycle.com/cobys provides complete information including current recycling values for various phones and cartridges and a secure site for purchasing remanufactured cartridges. Questions? Contact COBYS Director of Development Don Fitzkee at 800-452-6517 or Don Fitzkee.

Internet Searches Through GoodSearch.com

You can support COBYS by doing your Internet searches through goodsearch.com. GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine. GoodShop.com is an online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to COBYS. Hundreds of stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's, and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop, and every time you place an order you'll be supporting COBYS. Click on the GoodSearch logo to add GoodSearch to your toolbar and designate COBYS as the beneficiary.