Giving During the Holiday Season
You have seen the videos from stores during Black Friday: mass amounts of people funneling into a store to grab anything and everything they can. People go on day-long shopping sprees to cross off everything on their list for the holiday season. Now there is Cyber Monday, where people can get the same deals that Black Friday offers, only from the comfort of their own homes. With all the focus on gifts and deals, it is easy to overlook that giving to charities can be just as rewarding as giving a good gift. Fortunately, to go along with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there is #GivingTuesday on November 28th. What is #GivingTuesday? It is an organization founded in 2012 by New York’s 92nd Street Y. Here is the ‘about’ section of its website:
#GivingTuesday harnesses the potential of social media and the generosity of people around the world to bring about real change in their communities; it provides a platform for them to encourage the donation of time, resources and talents to address local challenges. It also brings together the collective power of a unique blend of partners— nonprofits, civic organizations, businesses and corporations, as well as families and individuals—to encourage and amplify small acts of kindness.
As a global movement, #GivingTuesday unites countries around the world by sharing our capacity to care for and empower one another.
To join in, use the hashtag #GivingTuesday on your social media accounts to spread the word about what charities you are giving to this holiday season! If you’re managing a nonprofit, this would be a great way to encourage your donors to share their passion towards your organization. You can never underestimate the impact word-of-mouth has in the nonprofit sector!
Additionally, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Charitable Solicitations Registration. The majority of U.S. States have rules and regulations regarding nonprofit charitable solicitations. Be sure your nonprofit is compliant with these laws and has permission to seek donations.
This Post Has 4 Comments
Comments are closed.
hi
I would like to start a sports non profit for football teams. I would like to use some of the funds we raise to pay winning teams that win tournaments. Is this legal and who would the winning money go to? Inviduals? etc
Hi Rudy, there isn’t quite enough details given here to give you enough guidance. If you’re looking to start a fully compliant nonprofit, I would suggest speaking to one of our specialists. Feel free to call our office line at 615-361-9445 or complete the inquiry form on this page: https://www.501c3.org/501c3-services/start-a-501c3-nonprofit/. We’d be happy to discuss your idea with you!
If our 501c3, a church and Christian preschool, solicits for donations from parents in order to then pass 100% of the amount donated to the teachers as a cash gift (essentially from the parents) how is this handled from a tax standpoint? Does this need to be counted as earned income? It’s basically us taking a “love offering” at our Christmas program, then distributing the exact dollars straight back to the teachers. This is all laid out in our solicitation, and no gift is greater than $100. The total collected was $701. Thank you!
It sounds as though you are seeking to offer a gift for “Teacher Appreciation”, and not earned income for those individuals. You should be careful and not promise 100% to go to the teachers, as that could be an inappropriate benefit if thousands of dollars were to be raised. If it was clear, however, that no gift would exceed $100, and more funds were raised than $100 per teacher as you’ve indicated, the organization should be able to use those funds elsewhere as needed. The concern with indicating all funds raised would be passed through, and the potential for large amounts to be raised, could result in private benefit to those individuals from the earnings of the organization.