You might want to check with a bank in your area and see if they have some experience with setting up accounts like this. On a pretty regular basis around here, it seems like if there is some personal tragedy and someone decides to start raising money for the benefit of an individual, you'll see a story in the paper where it tells you to make checks payable to "The John Doe Fund, c/o Friendly Local Bank" or something like that. It seems like there are trust funds or something that are set up in those cases. There may be certain IRS regulations that deal specifically with those kinds of things where they could be considered charitable donations, but I don't think so. I believe those are just gifts to the person, and the banks assist in setting up such funds to give some comfort level to the donors that the money will be spent on what they are told it will be spent on.

Thanks for the perspective. I was thinking of running the money through the church instead of the pack - I think churches are allowed to make charitable donations. None of the money will go directly to the boy's family anyway - we were going to give it directly to the therapy group. The most important thing is to make it so the donors can get a tax write-off. This boy's mom has set up an account with a charity that allows you to use their tax id number but they take 7% off the top and we wanted to avoid that.

BSA tax exemption is a very complicated (and controversial) subject from what I can figure out. There is the BSA umbrella organization that is tax exempt and the local councils are under that tax id number. However, packs and troops are not allowed to use that number. They sometimes get their own numbers, but more often use the number of the chartering organization if they have one. So some packs and troops are tax exempt and some aren't. It's controversial because some people believe the organization discriminates and therefore shouldn't be given a tax exemption. That's a discussion for another time and place!

Let me know if anyone else has an ideas. I do appreciate the advice.

You might need an accountant or the IRS for professional advice on this, but I'll apply common sense with a little IRS knowledge. The boy is not a charitable organization. The IRS doesn't want non-profits (501c3's) to give money to members...I think this might violate the IRS's rule that no member can benefit directly from the non-profit.

In my opinion, it would be inappropriate for you to use the church's tax id #H. The donors are not making a donation to the church. This is a very kind thing your pack wants to do, but it might not qualify as a donation. Could you set it up instead so your "donors" are actually purchasing therapy hours for the boy - like gift certificates? Have them make the checks out directly to the therapist. It's not a charitable donation, and your pack is not exploiting its 501c3 status, but you are still achieving your goal of helping the boy.

As far as the mysterious tax id number goes, you might be able to figure out the owner by calling the IRS. In my experience, they wouldnt' tell me directly who owned the number, only if it was or was not owned by the groups I listed. That way, I found out "our" tax id number was actually the school's. I don't know how Boy Scout pack finances are typically handled - maybe another scout mom out there can chime in. Would a pack typically have its own tax id?

This is only semi-PTO related, but I need help with a non-profit issue. Besides my PTO work I am treasurer of the Cub Scout pack that meets at our school. We are chartered by a local church but we almost never have any contact with them.

One of the boys in our pack is in a wheelchair and we are planning a fun run for special physical therapy for him. We need to figure out what to do with the money we collect so that we can give people a tax receipt. Our PTO can't take the money (against the bylaws). The BSA will not allow an individual pack to use their tax exemption. They suggest using the chartering church's tax id number.

We have a pack checking account (this pack is at least 20 years old) and I know there is a tax id associated with the account, but we don't know whose it is.

Here's my questions - should I figure out whose tax id is on our checking account? I know the church is tax exempt, so can we use their tax id number (with their permission, of course) so we can give out tax receipts? Does it sound plausible to run this money through the pack checking account and then make a donation directly to the physical therapy group?

Also, our cubmaster wants the pack to take 5% as an "incentive" to the boys to raise money for this. I am totally against this - can you give me some ammuntion? Thanks!