Making a tax deductible contribution to
the Zahana fund at the Tides Foundation under US$250
The Tides Foundation sends written acknowledgments for donations over $250. The
Tides Foundation of course accepts smaller donations mailed to them directly,
but their system is not set up to acknowledge the donor in writing.
Administering tax-deductible donations costs money. The IRS only requires written
documentation for donations over $250 from the organization you donated to (IRS
Publication 526 p 13.) For donations under $250 a canceled check is proof
enough. The IRS also recognizes other records that clearly indicate where the
money was donated.
Thats why we made an agreement with Tides, that people can send the checks to
us in Hawaii. We generate a letter of acknowledgement for their check on Zahana
and Tides behalf, regardless of the amount. We then pass on the checks to Tides.
The Global Support Fund at the Tides Foundation is the fiscal agent that make
this donation tax deductible; donor relations are the responsibility of Zahana.
Time will show if this procedure works.
Sending the checks to us in Hawaii is by no means necessary to get the money
to Zahana. Anybody can mail them to Tides directly, but if they are under $250
we will have no way of thanking the donors from our end.
Just as a reminder: Checks for Zahana are to be made out to: "Tides Foundation" with "Zahana
Fund" in the memo section.
How does it work with tax deduction and the Tides Foundation in the
USA?
Tax deductibility for donations is a major issue in the USA, and only USA-based
tax-exempt non-profits can give a tax-deductible receipt for USA taxes. This
means small non US-based non-profits, like Zahana in Madagascar, have a hard
time getting donations from overseas.
To address this we have been looking for a US based 501(c)3 or foundation that
would accept donations on behalf of Zahana. The Tides Foundation is ideal for
that. Their Global Support Funds are a unique opportunity for Zahana to get tax-deductible
donations from the USA. To our knowledge this is possibly the only way for a
small NGO to get access to people willing to donate in the USA.
The Tides Foundation screened Zahanas application and accepted them into their
portfolio. They only have some 15 organizations in this fund, so we are quite
fortunate to be accepted. This also gives Zahana access to other people that
might approach Tides to support projects in Madagascar.
The only drawback is that the Tides Foundation does not list the organizations
in their Global Support Funds portfolio on their web site. If you go to www.tides.org in
the hope of finding Zahana you will be disappointed, but you can download the Global
Support Fund that gives an insight in Tides activities. Since Tides takes
care of all the administrative, bookkeeping and IRS requirements this solution
is ideal for Zahana.
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