• iAmTheTot@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

    To preempt the inevitable: no, companies do not take your donations and then use them as a tax write off to somehow profit. That’s a myth. That’s not how taxes work. Those donations are yours and you can claim them on your taxes. Yes, really.

    • salton@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It’s not the tax write off. It’s that the companies like to white wash their image though these types of charities at the counter. They could just donate a portion of their profits instead. I don’t need my charitable donations to be impulse purchases when I’m trying to grab some milk.

      • Changetheview@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        They’ll also use the customer donations in their own marketing materials with carefully chosen wording.

        “We put $X in the hands of X charity!” Sounds cute, until you realize why they don’t say they “donated $X” instead. It’s because it’s often not their money or donation.

      • iAmTheTot@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        Yes, they get good publicity typically. Charities also get a butt load of money they would not have otherwise got.