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I've had two people ask me about accepting donations online for different causes. Both people, I'm sure, will be actually giving the money to the people or causes they say they'll give them to, but just the act of setting up a "Donate" button sets in motion a whole bunch of things. A few I could think of:
Would it be best to go the full route of getting 501(c)(3) status, or is it possible to accept donations legally without it? If so, how? Thanks! |
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While 501(c)(3) is the most commonly recognized form charitable organization, there are many forms under the tax code. The best site I can recommend is the dreaded IRS website. There are many resources regarding charities and non-profit organizations. I recommend this portion of the site. I worked for both a 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) that were part of the same organization and reporting is absolutely required. Fortunately, I didn't have to do any of that reporting. (Yay for accounting!) All of the requirements were dictated by the IRS. Always important - political orgs, 501(c)(4)s are not tax-deductible. I believe that the IRS started coming down on 529s too after the swift boat and moveon.org ads became so controversial. (I'm not linking any of those.) |
Whoops ... changed the 401's to 501's. ;)