How does the charitable giving tax deduction work?

You report your charitable giving on Schedule A - Itemized Deductions, and you can give both cash & non-cash, but if the non-cash is over $500, there is another form, Form 8283, that has to be filled out and included with your tax return. If your total itemized deductions (medical, state or sales taxes, real estate taxes, personal property taxes, mortgage interest, deductible points, investment interest, cash contributions, non-cash contributions, casualty/theft losses, misc itemized deductions) are more than your standard deduction, you get to deduct your itemized deductions instead of your standard deduction on your tax return. I have included a link to an irs publication about charitable contributions and what is new with them for 2007 taxes.