Hospitals regularly gather much more information about us than other charities.

Hospitals have struggled with the protected [...]]]> The Wall Street Journal reports today on hospitals taking information gathered from patients and using it in hospital fundraising efforts. Certainly charities should be able to do research on potential donors, but this is going to far!

Hospitals regularly gather much more information about us than other charities.

Hospitals have struggled with the protected patient information rules of HIPAA. And all the exclaiming they’ve done about those rules has led many to believe that the information they give to a hospital will be kept private. Unless the subject hospitals are violating the law, it seems there’s a way to use the financial information you give to a hospital in pursuing you for a donation. Perhaps it’s time for Congress to tighten up the privacy rules again.

And then there’s the “golden runways” — producing special treatment for hospital donors and volunteers. That’s a story for another day.

Read the WSJ article (you may need to register).

Answer: For IRS purposes, you don’t get a charitable contribution deduction unless you made your donation to a Qualified Organization (QO). To be a QO, the organization must

Concerning category #3, if it’s not listed in IRS Publication 78 it’s not [...]]]>

Answer: For IRS purposes, you don’t get a charitable contribution deduction unless you made your donation to a Qualified Organization (QO). To be a QO, the organization must

1. Be a church or
2. Be a government or
3. Apply to the IRS

Concerning category #3, if it’s not listed in IRS Publication 78 it’s not a QO — and you don’t get a charitable contribution deduction. The latest IRS Publication 78 is available online only. Be careful: many organizations have similar names, and an organization could be listed by a  former name or “aka” name.