A friend of mine had a horrible horseback riding accident and is paralyzed from the waist down. He has no health insurance. Several of his friends are willing to raise money for his medical care and I am wondering what sort of trust, foundation or other entity should be set up so that donations could be tax deductible.
Unfortunately, a contribution given directly to your friend or earmarked for his benefit will not be deductible as a charitable contribution. Because a gift must go for the benefit of an indefinite class of people and not for a specified individual, a single purpose entity for his benefit would not obtain Section 501(c)(3) charitable status. Occasionally churches or other existing charities have funds to help victims of tragedies and may be able to help those in need while giving deductibility to contributions to the existing charity.
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