FundSvcs Community

Based on the description, this sounds like an organizational activity/event designed to educate and promote the institution. As such, any donor involvement in covering costs of "your" event would normally be seen as charitable and tax-deductible by the IRS. Ideally, these events should be paid for by your organization and any payments received from individuals treated as tax-deductible to the extent they do not receive any tangible benefits. John John H. Taylor Principal, John H. Taylor Consulting 2604 Sevier St. Durham, NC 27705 johntaylorconsulting@gmail.com 919.816.5903 (cell/text) Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987 On Tue, Jul 23, 2019 at 12:59 PM Heidi L. Howard <HHoward@samhealth.org> wrote: > We have a few of our sites that are now holding Jeffersonian Dinners and > inviting their friends to learn about our foundations and the projects > we’re doing. In the beginning the events would be held at individual’s > homes and they’d arrange for the catering, etc… One of our foundations has > now started holding them in the foundation office but still hosted by a > major donor. The foundation arranges for all of the catering now but then > the donor pays the foundation back for that. I believe this to just be a > reimbursement of sorts from the donor to cover expenses but our accountant > is questioning whether it shouldn’t be a donation from the donor. Thoughts? > > > > *Heidi Howard, bCRE-Pro, bCRP* > > Annual Giving/Database Administrator > > Samaritan Foundations > > P: 541.768.5547 > > C: 503.580.0670 > > > > ------------------------------ > > Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is > for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential > and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or > distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please > contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original > message. >

We have a few of our sites that are now holding Jeffersonian Dinners and inviting their friends to learn about our foundations and the projects we're doing. In the beginning the events would be held at individual's homes and they'd arrange for the catering, etc... One of our foundations has now started holding them in the foundation office but still hosted by a major donor. The foundation arranges for all of the catering now but then the donor pays the foundation back for that. I believe this to just be a reimbursement of sorts from the donor to cover expenses but our accountant is questioning whether it shouldn't be a donation from the donor. Thoughts? Heidi Howard, bCRE-Pro, bCRP Annual Giving/Database Administrator Samaritan Foundations P: 541.768.5547 C: 503.580.0670 ________________________________ Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

Assuming the donor is an individual, their contribution towards the program should be tax-deductible, minus the amount of their personal benefit. The program itself is for the Foundation's benefit, and is part of its charitable mission, so the payment to the Foundation is simply a donation, even if the amount is determined by the caterer's invoice. On Tue, 23 Jul 2019 16:59:28 +0000, Heidi L. Howard <HHoward@SAMHEALTH.ORG> wrote: >We have a few of our sites that are now holding Jeffersonian Dinners and inviting their friends to learn about our foundations and the projects we're doing. In the beginning the events would be held at individual's homes and they'd arrange for the catering, etc... One of our foundations has now started holding them in the foundation office but still hosted by a major donor. The foundation arranges for all of the catering now but then the donor pays the foundation back for that. I believe this to just be a reimbursement of sorts from the donor to cover expenses but our accountant is questioning whether it shouldn't be a donation from the donor. Thoughts? > >Heidi Howard, bCRE-Pro, bCRP >Annual Giving/Database Administrator >Samaritan Foundations >P: 541.768.5547 >C: 503.580.0670 > > >________________________________ > >Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is >for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential >and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or >distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please >contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original >message. >

I agree that this sounds like underwriting an event that supports the mission of the charitable organization, which would qualify as a charitable contribution. Whether the donor would have to exclude the value of their own dinner would depend on whether the donor is receiving that benefit because they are making the gift. It seems reasonable to me that they are attending in an official capacity as the person gathering/hosting the dinner, for the benefit of the organization, so I wouldn’t see that they are receiving a benefit in consideration of their gift. My US$0.02 worth; the usual disclaimers apply. Good luck! Alan Alan S. Hejnal Data Quality Manager Smithsonian Institution - Office of Advancement 600 Maryland Avenue SW, Suite 600E P.O. Box 37012, MRC 527 Washington, DC 20013-7012 •: 202-633-8754 | •: HejnalA@si.edu<mailto:HejnalA@si.edu> [SNAGHTML5cbfa34]<https://www.si.edu/> [AASP_FundSvcs_LOGO-01(040pct)(mark)] From: Advancement Services Discussion List <FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> On Behalf Of Isaac Shalev Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2019 2:04 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: Re: [FUNDSVCS] Jeffersonian Dinners Assuming the donor is an individual, their contribution towards the program should be tax-deductible, minus the amount of their personal benefit. The program itself is for the Foundation's benefit, and is part of its charitable mission, so the payment to the Foundation is simply a donation, even if the amount is determined by the caterer's invoice. On Tue, 23 Jul 2019 16:59:28 +0000, Heidi L. Howard <HHoward@SAMHEALTH.ORG<mailto:HHoward@SAMHEALTH.ORG>> wrote: >We have a few of our sites that are now holding Jeffersonian Dinners and inviting their friends to learn about our foundations and the projects we're doing. In the beginning the events would be held at individual's homes and they'd arrange for the catering, etc... One of our foundations has now started holding them in the foundation office but still hosted by a major donor. The foundation arranges for all of the catering now but then the donor pays the foundation back for that. I believe this to just be a reimbursement of sorts from the donor to cover expenses but our accountant is questioning whether it shouldn't be a donation from the donor. Thoughts? > >Heidi Howard, bCRE-Pro, bCRP >Annual Giving/Database Administrator >Samaritan Foundations >P: 541.768.5547 >C: 503.580.0670 > > >________________________________ > >Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, >is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain >confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, >disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended >recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all >copies of the original message. >