Rescues and 501c3

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Spoof

Spoof

Kung Fu Chinny!
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
2,610
Location
San Antonio, TX
Would you donate to a rescue that is not 501c3? (501c3 is non-profit)

How do you feel about rescues that are for-profit?

I am curious because in the next site rebuild Ronda would like to set up a donations page for products and funds dedicated to chinchilla rescues. What I have run into is that nobody is actually 501c3 and for tax reasons this is critical. (If you are a chinchilla rescue and 501c3 please PM me!)

Opinions, thoughts?

For those of you with sites that sell things and also flush through donations to outside rescues, do you just not report the funds on your taxes? How do you work around that?
 
I won't donate to anything on the internet anymore, only a place or person I could check out in person. I used to, but after getting burned by a CnQ member who had a sick hedgehog and I donated the full vet amount and she split without so much as a thank you it all is a scam to me.
 
If I want to donate to a rescue I personally know, I'll do it because I want to help out, not because I want to get any kind of a tax break. For that I'll donate to goodwill or some other big organization I don't really care about because they're snotty and rude about what they'll take. I haven't done any donations lately because I just don't have the money while I'm in school, but I do plan on helping out a wildlife rehabilitator I know and a couple of other rescues once I graduate and get a job.
 
I'll do it because I want to help out, not because I want to get any kind of a tax break.
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I agree, I should have explained better in the first post but this is not about getting a tax break but paying taxes on the donations. All of the banks used for payment gateways report income. All money brought in is reported to the IRS and therefor taxed.

If a "donation" is not 501c3 then the seller is out the product, all costs associated AND taxed on top of that.
 
I have donated both ways. I donated 2 wrought iron bird cages to a bird rescues in great condition of course I wanted the tax break. I have donated to people on this forum and also CnQ with no thank you or not letting me know they received my check. I mostly donate to the animal shelters hay, blankets, newspapers. I also give people in my area timothy hay if they need it without charge. I have the pickiest chins so the hay I know my chins will not eat I bagged it up and give it away.
 
Where I am it's very complicated and expensive to become a charity so a lot of rescues are non profit. We don't have to register to be non profit though.

I am not sure if there is something similiar in the USA, but here I belong to a larger group called Helping Homeless Pets. They are a charity consisting of over 50 rescues. People can donate to HHP and direct the donation to my rescue or any of the rescues. Any money donations are put into a vet fund and HHP pays my vet directly.
 
I am a legal 501(c)(3) and have been since 2005. On occasion I do have some people make a donation and they tell me not to worry about sending them a thank you letter which also serves as a receipt for them (for tax purposes). Of course I always thank them either in person or by email depending on how we met.

I do have to file yearly reports with both the IRS and my own state. I do have my rescue online store in which every cent of profit goes back into the rescue's own bank account.

I have never had anyone donate supplies and want a tax break for them. I'm not saying that is wrong, but for those who have donated supplies to me, they just want to help and love the animals.
 
I've often wondered about this, myself, and do donate from time to time when I have anything left over from paying my medical expenses, but don't ask for anything in return. I just like to do a good deed here and there. Heck, even if it's wood scraps no one can use because of cosmetic reasons, the chins don't care, still tastes the same!
 
Unless I'm looking to write the donation off, I'm not really bothered. But with one caveat. If the rescue is here and reputable (posts about things, pics of chinchillas, has a good history with product and the like) then I'm more than happy to buy supplies or whatever from them.

If they don't have an established history, I'm not shelling out.

501(c)(3) is really mean to keep tax free organizations accountable and most are much larger. I work for a not for profit corporation, we're held accountable for every dime because it largely comes from federal, state, county and city grants with some private donations. We have to be accountable because it's public money we're not paying taxes on.

It's also designed to keep organizations that are 501(c)(3) and tax exempt from donating money directly to politics.

So unless it's a much larger organization like the Red Cross or Goodwill, I'm not overly concerned :)

It's much easier to remain accountable to a very small group of people when you're dealing with chins!

(As a side note, donating to a 501(c)(4) (who are also tax exempt) is not deductable. They're usually the political wing of unions or larger 501(c)(4)s like PETA. If you donate and want to write it off, make sure it's teh 501(c)(3) side.)
 
I am not a 501c3 rescue, but I do rescue several chins a year. For me and the amount of time and paperwork just didn't make sense, unless I get much larger in the future. I do however keep a seporate bank acount andvery strict records. I have negver asked for donations but I'm sure very few people would turn them down if offered. All4mygirls, I started ou advertising in classified sections. Do a search on free pet classifieds and post everywhere. The websites that don't have any current chinchilla listings in my area have turned up the most replies.
 
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