FundSvcs Community

It would be a good donor relations tactic to thank the donor. But you should not mention anything that would lead the donor to think they could claim a donation. You could say something like, While not a tax-deductible donation, we are truly grateful for your permitting us to use your office space.

John

John H. Taylor 

To elaborate slightly on John's answer, I find it helpful to recall that the tax code identifies charitable contributions, first and foremost, as transfers of cash or of property other than cash.  So one of the analytical questions that I would ask would be "did any entity transfer cash or property other than cash to my institution?"  In the current scenario, I can't identify any property that was transferred to the institution.

 

There are scenarios where the analysis is less transparent, such as where a donor directly pays some expense which the charitable institution has incurred and for which it would otherwise be liable, but, in general, attempting to identify whether any cash or other property was transferred to the institution is a good clarifying question.

 

My US$0.02 worth; the usual disclaimers apply.

 

Good luck!

Alan

 

Alan S. Hejnal (he/him)

Data Quality Manager

 

 

There are some opportunities, where there are direct costs to the nonprofit charged by a vendor they have chosen without undue influence from the donor, where a donor can be receipted for paying a debt on behalf of a nonprofit. However, in the case where the donor is the landlord, and costs like security are allocated rather than direct, and the vendors are chosen by the landlord, the landlord is not paying a debt, they are providing a service, and that is generally not tax deductible.