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 Change Guide 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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