Charitable donation only shows up in Schedule A. So you have to use itemized deduction to claim it.

What SPRING100 said was pretty accurate except that, starting from 2005, you will need to keep a statement from the donee for every donation that is equal or above $250. But remember, that's a requirement for book keeping. You don't need to file the statement with the tax return. You just need to keep it.

a quick question for ggzh:

if I made several donations this year, but each is below $250, then what kind of paperwork is needed? I got a blank receipt for each donation from the donee (e.g., goodwill), how do I value my donation?

thanks!

In Column 1, Page A-7 of the Schedule A Instruction, the IRS explicitly says that:

In figuring whether a gift is $250 or more, do not combine separate donations.

So you don't need any paperwork at all. But of course, it is always a good practice to write down some notes on the nature of the donation, and keep the receipt. :)

ggzh, thanks for the clarification! I do actually keep a list of the items donated with the blank receipt.

I guess this is again somewhat of a honor system -- if you have, for instance, three skirts that you want to donate, you can donate one each time and get three receipts and then claim $250*3 (and you have receipts to prove that you donated three times), which is actually cheating but nobody would be able to tell.