Donation is a gift to a fund or cause, typically for charitable reasons. A donation may take various forms, including cash, services, clothing, food, accommodation, or new or used items.

Many people often perform extraordinary or unusual challenges or feats in order to encourage people to donate to a particular cause. Such people may already receive corporate or other sponsorship, but need donations from a wider audience in order to achieve their financial goals. Some examples of "charity challenges" include celebrities having their heads shaved, crossing a continent or an ocean alone or with minimal support, or hitchhiking to Morocco.

Organized charities have sometimes been criticised for the proportion of financial donations which are used for administrative or operational purposes. Donating directly to a charity (rather than through solicitation), or donating to smaller charities, often tends to reduce expenditure on "overheads".

Sometimes people make monetary donations in memory of somebody who has passed away. When somebody passes away, the survivors sometimes request that donations be made to a specific charity in memory of the deceased person, usually related to what the person did in his/her life or how he/she passed away. This is sometimes done by people if they cannot go to the ceremonies.

In politics, the law of some countries may prohibit or restrict the extent to which politicians may accept gifts or donations of large sums of money, especially from business or special interest groups (see campaign finance).

Usually, this money is to benefit poor people who can not afford the basic needs of life or to be spent on research to cure diseases such as cancer and AIDS.

Giving

Spende Donación 寄付 Donation