this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2024
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[–] [email protected] 203 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Ah, this again.

The mega corporation did not receive any tax benefit from collecting donations. They are able to write off the amount of donations from their income, so that they aren't paying tax on the money they collected specifically to be donated.

  1. Company collects $1 donation from customer
  2. Company has $1 extra income
  3. Company donates $1 to charity
  4. Company writes that dollar off of their income.
  5. Company reports the exact same profit/loss as if they had not collected donations.
[–] [email protected] 53 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I assumed this was true also, but I also believe the company is receiving some sort of kick back from this otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it.

[–] iAmTheTot 132 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And decision-makers at that company feeling good about themselves at no cost whatsoever for the company or themselves.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

exactly

its not really charity if you don't give something up

[–] kambusha 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They really should match all donations.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

The C-level executive should match all donations. Otherwise that's money that should be going to improving conditions for the workers.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago

And, if it's a big enough portion of the charity's funding, influence over the charity. But not tax breaks.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 month ago

The kickback is also in saying that they donated the money to charity .... which was collected from other people

It's like I asked you to donate money to a charity and I said I had to be the one to collect it .... then I take your money and donate it in my name ... basically, I took your generosity and claimed it as my own.

In many cases company's also understand that they can't openly do this because it would be too obvious ... instead they just ride the generosity gravy train ... they encourage people to donate to charities through their store/company/business ... then the company may or may not give their own contributions but they get to attach their name to the donated amounts.

It's like a billionaire selling you a can a beans and then asking you to donate a penny to a charity .... I always say no because the idiot billionaire could spare 1% of their wealth and give millions of dollars to charities everywhere, why the hell are you asking me?

I never give to charities through a store/company or business ... I give directly to charities on my own.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago

It's a marketing thing. Stuff like this creates the illusion that they're good corporate citizens.

Of course, they could donate a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of their own profits and make a much bigger impact, but that would set a bad precedent! Giving away your money is only for the working class!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Also the political/social influence is real. Why bribe the government when you can outsource it to you and say it’s for a good cause. But the reality of the situation is they are giving a politician what they want and if the politician do something they don’t like they can move that “donation” to someone else.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The non-profit can hire the company executive and pay them, which if I understand correctly is exempt from income tax.

I think this can be a way for executives to avoid income tax: basically donate to a foundation through obscured means (crypto, purchase from third party, etc), then get non-profit money with exemption. They probably need to jump through many hoops and it is very likely still illegal, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is common.

But anyway the couple dime people are donating probably is neglegible for tax purposes (I am guessing, I don't have data). Yet I see no reason not to just donate to a charity you trust online...

Source about income tax: https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/nonprofit-tax.asp

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They do get a whole lot of advertising, social capital, and influnce over which causes get proped up, on the back of donating customers, while you're out a few bucks that you could have pooled for a single charity and gotten a tax receipt of your own for.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago

They do get a whole lot of advertising, social capital, and influnce over which causes get proped up, on the back of donating customers

Sure, but that's not a tax write-off as originally said. Stick to the things that are actually things.

while you're out a few bucks that you could have pooled for a single charity and gotten a tax receipt of your own for

If your donations for the year exceed the standard deduction (hint: the standard deduction is about $15k. Most people take that instead of itemizing). Doesn't have to be one single donation, and if your receipt shows the donation (it should) and it's for a legitimate charity I don't see why you couldn't use that to deduct that donation if you itemize.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Couldn't the CEO of the nonprofit be the spouse of the CEO and make a huge percentage of what they donate?

Not saying donating through a mega corporation is always bad, but I'd prefer to look into who I'm donating to rather than a split second thought at the end of a transaction.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

this! the megacorporation receives 500k donations, which they transfer to CEO's son's "charity" that spends 99% of it on the said son's salary. he buys another ferrari and the charity sends some flowers to a children cancer hospital.

[–] iAmTheTot 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They don't even report it as income, because it's not income. It's your donation, not the company's donation.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

Yeah, because corporate charity is super regulated and never ever misused.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 weeks ago

That leaves out when the company prompting you charges an administration fee to collect part of that sum donated for their own profits.

It leaves out when they, like CVS did with the diabetes association charity collecting at checkouts, take the money as an IOU to the charity while making money out to offset loans in the near term.

It leaves out structuring of collected funds to allow a 503C arm of the corporation to have tax advantaged status while also specifically being chartered to help the for profit company that you are shopping at.

There are a variety of scummy practices employed by organizations collecting those funds and it absolutely can benefit them to do so.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I hate how charities are run by rich assholes who pay themselves or their family and friends 6 to 7 figures while doing very little to actually help people