Frequently asked questions

Christmas Magic is run by volunteers, so essentially every dollar goes to the children: the gifts themselves and the trucks that get them to shelters and schools before Christmas. Our tax filings are on our Financials page.

Yes. Choose Long Island or our NYC chapter when you give, and your gift stays with that chapter's children.

Yes. Choose Monthly when you give. To give by check, including for the NYC chapter, email info@christmasmagic.org first and we'll tell you where to send it. If your employer matches gifts, our EIN is 11-3420933.

Yes. After you give, email info@christmasmagic.org with the name of the person it honors.

Order between November 15 and December 1, so your gift arrives while our warehouse is receiving and before the trucks leave. After that, volunteers keep shopping locally with donations right up to Christmas Eve.

No. For their protection and privacy, we don't share children's names. At our warehouse, your gift is matched to a child who wrote it on their wish list, then packed into their bag.

No, and please don't. Volunteers sort every gift at the warehouse, so they need to see what's inside.

Yes. Email info@christmasmagic.org and we'll work out the details. The easiest way, though, is our Amazon wish list: every item on it comes from wishes kids wrote down, and it ships straight to our warehouse.

Yes. Tell us how many children you'd like to sponsor, and we'll send their wish lists with names removed. You shop for what they asked for, ship it to our warehouse, and we handle the rest. Start with our sponsorship form.

Yes. Pick a number, and we'll send their real wish lists with names removed. Your team shops together, ships the gifts to our warehouse, and we handle the rest. Start on the For Companies page.

No. For their protection and privacy, we don't share children's names or anything that identifies them. You'll see each child's wishes in their own handwriting, plus what you need to shop well, like age and clothing sizes.

We budget about $75 per child, and many sponsors choose to spend more. Each child's list has up to three wishes.

Your lists come with a ship-by date, so everything reaches our warehouse before the trucks leave. The earlier you reach out, the more time you'll have to shop.

Christmas Magic is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 11-3420933. We'll send you a written acknowledgment of the gifts for your records. How you deduct them depends on your situation, so check with your tax advisor.

Sign up on our Volunteer page, and someone from our team will email you as dates get closer. You can shop, wrap, pack bags, drive deliveries, or work a holiday party, all on Long Island.

Our volunteer crew is Long Island only, and the NYC chapter runs on its own small team. The best way to help in the city is to give through our NYC chapter or shop the NYC wish list.

We've run since 1985 as an all-volunteer toy drive, and we're a registered 501(c)(3), EIN 11-3420933. Our tax filings are public on our Financials page, and ABC7 Eyewitness News has covered our work.

Yes. Our NYC chapter is led by founder Charlie Russo's children and family, and serves kids across the city with partners like Art Start. It's the smaller of our two chapters, and every gift to it stays with NYC kids.

Our summer program. One day each summer, kids from our partner agencies come for a camp-style day of fun and leave with a backpack full of school supplies.

We can't take sign-ups from families directly. Every child comes to us through one of our partner agencies: shelters, schools, churches, and social-service programs. If your family needs help this Christmas, a caseworker or school counselor can point you to programs in your area.