The e-mail came into Ventura County's regional food bank with an offer from a woman giving a pair of holiday parties for 200. Not only would she entertain, but she would also drum up food donations from her guests to help the hungry.

"Why not give to somebody that needs it?" said Camarillo resident Valeri Mervyn.

It's the kind of giving that's typical from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day as local charities enter their most lucrative fundraising period, raising as much as half of their annual donations.

"This is our most hectic time," said Jeanne Benitez, manager of annual giving at FOOD Share, the food bank based in Oxnard.

The season means stacks of checks coming in with the mail, staff working through the weekend, and accountants fielding calls from clients looking for last-minute ways to cut their taxes.

Gifts to charity are one of the few ways to limit taxes late in the year, said Gary Wolfe, a certified public accountant in Ventura.

"Typically, I will get a call from a client when they realize they have a big tax liability, and they want to know what they can do," Wolfe said. "There's not a lot you can do in the last few months."

Holidays bring half of money

Nationwide, charities draw half their donations during the holiday period, according to Charity Navigator, an online service that evaluates nonprofits. The finding is based on the organization's survey of more than 5,000 charities.

"It's extremely critical," said Sandra Miniutti, vice president of marketing. "We expect $100 billion will be donated to charity between Thanksgiving and New Year's."

Locally, the proceeds are plentiful, too.

Both FOOD Share and the agency running the Ventura County Rescue Mission get about 40 percent of their donations during November and December, managers said. The Salvation Army in Oxnard estimates that more than half of its donations come in from Thanksgiving to New Year's.

Agencies with missions that are less tied to the hungry and homeless also benefit: The Boys & Girls Club of Ventura figures 35 percent of its total revenues comes in during the last three months of the year, thanks to a holiday appeal letter, renewals of gifts that come in at year-end and a November auction.

United Way seeking money

Ventura County's United Way, known for its workplace campaigns, banks on year-end giving as well. CEO David Smith expects that 35 percent of gifts from individuals come in from mid-November to Jan. 1.

This year, United Way is raising the stakes by sending letters to more prospects than normal.

"We sent out 4,700 letters," Smith said Wednesday. "That's three times what we sent out last year."

It's such a natural time to give that some contributors don't need a reminder. Executive Director Mark Bacin said that if the Ventura County Maritime Museum's letter of appeal is a bit tardy, the checks start coming in anyway.

"The end of the year is a traditional time when people are looking forward to taxes next year and figuring out how they did on their investments," he said. "There is a certain amount of financial planning that goes into people's decisions for philanthropic giving."

But Congress made it tougher to claim those deductions in the nation's Pension Protection Act, passed last year.

To deduct any charitable donation of money for 2007, taxpayers must have a bank record or a written communication from the recipient showing the name of the organization and the date and amount of the contribution. The rule means taxpayers cannot guess how much petty cash they tossed into collection plates and holiday kettles and claim it.

Managers say giving is going up in Ventura County overall but that it could be better, with many of the county's 3,000 nonprofits struggling to cover day-to-day operations.

Internal Revenue Service documents provide a glimpse of giving in Ventura County.

Based on returns filed by 1,200 nonprofit organizations with revenues exceeding $25,000, total revenues grew from $1 billion in 2000 to $1.5 billion in 2006. That yielded a per-capita figure of a little more than $1,900, just half the average for Southern California, according to a report by the Ventura County Civic Alliance.

The figures exclude churches, which are exempt from reporting requirements. Revenues include not only donations, but also other sources of funds, such as fees and contracts.

But if people are going to open their wallets any time of year, it's now.

Benitez said people will be sending in donations to the food bank until Dec. 31.

"We will be digging out by the end of January," she said.