Doing Taxes, Getting Tax Deductions, Donating a Car to Kidney Kars

I have known Jason T. Jones since 1999 when he showed up with his resume.  I was looking for an assistant to relieve me for a 3 week maternity leave. He was a bright, smart BYU Marriott School of Management student getting his Masters of Accountancy with an emphasis in Information Systems Technologies (at the time, the  most up and coming new branch of business studies ). I was having baby #2 and he was in his 2nd year. The week before I took off we spent days discussing the National Kidney Foundation of Utah’s need to take the Kidney Kars data base out of Word Perfect & Excel Spreadsheets (yep, I said it) to MS Access. We discussed the processes by which we accepted donations, made invoices, did accounting, sent out tax receipts etc. I had invented a system which worked very well, but coming into 1999 my archaic system was quickly antiquated and ineffective as we were reaching over 5,000 Kidney Cars donations a year. Jason was a thousand times convincing that he was not only the man for the job — but very enthusiastic that I would be pleased with the outcome up on my return.

So off I went to have my strapping man child June 1999 (you should see that 16 year old now, that kid is a serious looker and a straight A student). In the meantime, Jason called his ‘genius’ younger brother (a then 15 year old brother Chris Jones, still in high school living at home in Portland, OR) to consult regarding queries, union queries, tables, forms, macros and modules. At that time, 15 year old Chris had just finished writing a data analysis software called “Cup Find” which analyzed companies data from the S&P 500 and the NASDQ for the past 50 years.  Cup Find was to be used to find the bottom of the curve by inputting company information so as to “buy low.” As I understand it, Chris still sells 1-2 units of the software a month still to this day.

When I returned from maternity leave, I was welcomed by a bright eyed, wide smiling young man thrilled to his core to discuss the database he had built, managed, organized and created on behalf of the Kidney Kar program. I have never to this day, EVER, EVER, EVER seen anyone more excited about numbers, logistics or data management.  NEVER.  and I have worked with a ton of CPA’s, tax attorneys and database people.  No one loves order, logic and data more than Jason.  I am convinced.

After Jason graduated we went on to have many other business interns–including his younger brother Chris when he too showed up at the BYU Marriott School of Management to get his Masters of Accountancy.  It was there Chris met his wife Brittany, also an account (did I mention how much these people love numbers, math, and order?).

I love these people with all my heart.  They have been the brains behind the business since 1999.  We continue to manage the Kidney Kars program on the original database making tweaks here and there, integrating an internet donation service that interfaced www.towKars.org with the database back in 2002 (Long before anyone else was taking car donations online) and integrating Google AdWords  into our advertising strategies when Google gave us a $10,000 grant (before we realized our horrible competition serving fake charities across the nation would overtake us on AdWords by budgets exceeding $15,000 a month).  Poor us, we’ll never compete with businesses, the mafia or those mentioned in the Subpoena from the Attorney General of the State of New York.  Alas.

Today Jason has worked for almost all of the ‘Big 5’ accounting firms. When one of them sent him to India to teach the people of India how to prepare American taxes, he started his own accountancy firm.   He and his wife Rebecca have like 6 or 10 kids.  I lost count at 2. He is a patient dedicated father and still an amazing accountant mostly doing corporate, the Kidney Foundation and my entire family’s tax returns. Amazingly he still finds time to do the yearly preparing of the year end IRS 1098-C’s for the National Kidney Foundation of Utah & Idaho’s Kidney Kars program donors.  Because Jason knows that people *YEARN* for their IRS 1098-C tax deductions as much as they *yearn* for free towing.

Chris Jones (the prodigy younger brother) also went on to work for some of the ‘Big 5’ and is to this day our ongoing database/website/IT consultant. Chris and Brittany travel the globe and have 2 beautiful babies– one of whom is named after me.  Ok, almost named after me.

The BYU Marriott School of Management has given us some of the finest, most diligent, competent, professional, dedicated interns in the history of interns (Hi Michael Broeberg).

So here’s to Kidney Cars Charity Car donation in Utah & Idaho!  Free towing and tax deductions for everyone!