How are donations accounted for?

[Gags]

Received an interesting question from our COR after I had made a request for our CO's EIN (employee ID #) for a grant application - if the CO "owns" the troop (I'm using that as an all encompassing term - I'm aware of the multiple threads reguarding who owns the equipment, etc.) how are donations accounted for?

 

My intial explanation to try to explain why the troop doesn't have an EIN: "While Scouting owns the program material, its the CO that really owns the troop. Thus, contributions given directly to troops are actually considered to have been given to the CO." I phrased it this way b/c my understanding is that this is how people can justify donations as tax deductible. If I'm off base in this assumption, please let me know.

 

Her response: "Also, in terms of tax reporting...[sic] does [the church] report donations given to the scout troop then? If so, I don't think we've ever asked the troop or pack for a reporting."

 

How have other troops / packs handled donations? If a donor gives $500 directly to the troop, does that money get reported somewhere? It would go into the troop bank account, but that's usually the end of the paper trail. I'm not familiar with IRS 990's or other non-profit accounting standards to understand if this should be reported, and by whom. (This would probably account for the seemingly official document I've found on council websites saying that Troops cannot solicit donations, as posted here: http://www.mac-bsa.org/Post/sections/28/Files/FundraisingFAQs-UnitTaxStatus.pdf )

 

Thanks for any input on this matter,

 

Gags

 

[jhankins]

If someone gives a donation to the troop, in goods or money, and they want to claim it, you have to give them a receipt with the EIN or tax ID number on it with the exact explanation of what was given and its retail value.

 

That's if your CO let's you do that. If not, the donation is a kind gift without a tax deduction.

 

In reality, it's not the troop soliciting the donation, it's the CO or the "parents of"

[Gags]

Thanks JH. I guess what I'm trying to determine is if anyone is aware of CO's that account for donations to their troops on their own (CO's) books or respective tax returns. Subsequently, if the CO tracks it for receipt purposes, can it still be deposited into the Troop's account?

 

YiS,

 

Gags

[jhankins]

If the CO owns the bank account (and has their tax ID on it) then the money is fine to go to their accounts, it's just moving money.

 

 

[boomerscout]

most of our donations go into an account maintained by Friends of Troop ###. Our CO is our church.

[Oak Tree]

Whenever anyone wants to make a donation to our troop, we have them write the check to the church with the notation "For Boy Scout Troop" on the memo line. That way the donor gets automatic tax reports from the church.