Rules on Charitable Contributions| Tax Tip of the Week | No. 135

Charitable Giving - Up Close and PersonalThis week we are going to look at a couple of fundraising efforts that are going on in our firm. A couple of weeks ago I was involved in the planning and running of a chili cook-off/silent auction/raffle that was held in a local tavern.  The event was to raise money for a 21 year old young lady named Rachel.  Rachel had just graduated from OSU and was starting her adventure in life when she was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of cancer.Fortunately the fund raiser was a success and we donated over $11,000 to Rachel and her family to help pay some of their mounting debts.I had to point out to all the participants, however, that any contributions made were NOT tax deductible.  Contributions made to a specific individual are considered non-deductible gifts.  In order to be a tax deductible contribution, the donation must be made to a qualified non-profit organization.Recently, the owners of our firm, Mark & Dawn Bradstreet, were devastated to learn that the nine year old son of their friends and neighbors was diagnosed with ALL Leukemia.  This lively young boy (his name is Caulin) is currently undergoing a three year chemotherapy treatment plan at Children’s Hospital.Motivated by the young boy’s courageous spirit in fighting this disease, Mark and Dawn are going to run in the upcoming Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati.  Both are going to run a half marathon, Dawn is running for Team in Training on his behalf.Dawn has created a web site http://pages.teamintraining.org/soh/flypig12/flypigdb to provide updates on Caulin’s progress and to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (a qualified 501(c)(3) non-profit group).We invite you visit Dawn’s web site and make a tax deductible contribution to their marathon runs if you would like to help.Helping others is the right thing to do---whether it is tax deductible or not.  But I have to say, I think it is a lot more fun eating chili and drinking beer in a tavern than it is running 13.1 miles up and down hills!Give us a call if you have any questions about your involvement in charity events. You can contact us in Dayton at 937-436-3133 and in Xenia at 937-372-3504.  Or visit our website.Rick Prewitt - the guy behind TTWTax Tip of the Week Video Series:http://youtu.be/BlhqUiVEsJo...until next week.