Is it legal to have a PayPal donation site that gives half of all monies received to a charity and I keep the other half for myself? Of course this would be stated on the website. Thanks!
That is a short question with a really long answer! More than I can really do here, but I'll give it a shot. Is it legal, probably, if you fully disclose where the money is going and aren't ripping anyone off. Does this make you a charity? No, not unless you file the paperwork and jump through all the hoops to become a 501(c)3 Corp. Is the income taxable? All of the income is reportable. The amount you send to charity is a deduction. Whether it is a personal or business deduction depends on how you are organized. Hope this helps!
So, let's say I want to donate half of all proceeds to MADD and keep the other half... I understand the tax implications and the need to fully disclose eveything... but, if I put on the site that I'm going to give all proceeds to let's say MADD, could MADD have a legal issues saying I'm using them to drive donations?
There could be issues. You are using their name to generate income and there is no accountability that you will send 1/2 or even anything to them. Maybe keep all for yourself. Best to ask them if you can use their name and under what conditions.
In such a case a written permission for the same is of utmost important. Consult the organisation and derive a written complaint. If you're completely in the white, Paypal has an IPN functionality where in all the donations are visible the visitors. You can set monthly goals and as soon as the donations pour in, the bar in the script goes up. This could help you keep your visitors updated. P.S - Pocketing half of the donations in the name of charity is not a good deed.
Why would anybody give you $20, of which you promise to give $10 to MADD, when they could just give $20 to MADD directly? Your whole scheme seems to be that you want to get people to donate to MADD, but though you, so you can skim 50% off the top. Aside from offering no value, you strip the donator's ability to take a tax deduction since they are paying you, not MADD. It seems the only reason someone would donate though you is they were tricked, confused, or just stupid. Not a really good business model. Yeah, you will have problems from MADD.
They could and probably would have a large problem with you skimming off the top of the donations that are meant for them.
Apparently you all don't understand.. It costs money to get traffic.. I cannot give all the money to MADD (just an example.. not going to do anything with them)
I agree with this. You MIGHT work really hard to bring in donations so you can help, so you MIGHT deserve the extra 50% if you really work hard and really do what you promise - but still, it's pointless. If you really cared about the charity, you'd promote it and drive attention to it, but then you'd ask people to donate DIRECTLY to the charity. If you really cared, you wouldn't take a whopping half of it for yourself.