Not my blog, and I apologize for the embedded rant in there, but the case is thoroughly presented and debunks this whole "donate must be a charity" misconception, using Paypal's own documents.
Edit: direct link to paypal policy containing the following sentence:
"Donations that are not associated with a charity or nonprofit organization are not subject to these requirements, but all donation transactions are subject to review and must comply with all of PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policies"
"If you are not a 501(c)(3), you can still accept donations with our standard pricing."
I also disagree with your position that "donate" implies that it can be written off (or that it implies anything tax-related, for that matter). I don't think many people assume that. Anyone who has written off a donation knows that they can only do so with an associated donation receipt. This is why many charities often specifically note when a donation is tax deductible - saying, for example, donations in excess of $20 will be given a donation receipt.
If a layperson is not familiar with the difference, they aren't writing this off. Additionally, there are several types of organizations for which donations cannot be written off.
https://thegreengeeks.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/why-paypal-is...
Not my blog, and I apologize for the embedded rant in there, but the case is thoroughly presented and debunks this whole "donate must be a charity" misconception, using Paypal's own documents.
Edit: direct link to paypal policy containing the following sentence:
https://www.paypal.com/helpcenter/main.jsp;?locale=en_US&...
"Donations that are not associated with a charity or nonprofit organization are not subject to these requirements, but all donation transactions are subject to review and must comply with all of PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policies"
https://merchant.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&...
"If you are not a 501(c)(3), you can still accept donations with our standard pricing."
I also disagree with your position that "donate" implies that it can be written off (or that it implies anything tax-related, for that matter). I don't think many people assume that. Anyone who has written off a donation knows that they can only do so with an associated donation receipt. This is why many charities often specifically note when a donation is tax deductible - saying, for example, donations in excess of $20 will be given a donation receipt.
If a layperson is not familiar with the difference, they aren't writing this off. Additionally, there are several types of organizations for which donations cannot be written off.