• MobileSuitBagera@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Remember kids, they also get to use the money they guilted off of you to reduce their tax liability because they get credit for donating your money!

      • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        does not get any benefit

        I’d say free PR is still a benefit. A bullshitter’s benefit

      • Piramic@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I used to work for a retail chain many years ago and I do not think this is true for everywhere.

        When we were asking for donations it was tracked and if our location didn’t get enough donations our store manager would get talked to by his district manager. I don’t know exactly what happened to the money once it was donated, but I don’t think they would have been so adamant about getting the donations if they didn’t make anything from it.

        This was like 20 years ago though, maybe its different now.

      • axtualdave@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It depends on exactly what the store is doing.

        If the store is representing the extra charge as a donation to a specific charity, generally, the customer can deduct that.

        If it’s far more vague, like, “Give $10 to help poor kids in Africa” the ultimate destination for the funds could be the company’s own ledgers, which it would then use for its own charitable activities and collect the tax deduction, as long as they “help poor kids in Africa.”

        And some stores are just lying. CVS, for instance, was sued as part of a class action suit when, after the company pledges $10 million to the American Diabetes Association, then collected money from customers to fund that pledge.

  • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My favorite one is when our utility company asks me to donate to help pay for people’s utilities like they aren’t raking in record amount of cash.

    • LukeMedia@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Why don’t you help by lowering the prices and being more reasonable? How do I even now you’re actually using the money I donate for people’s bills? That’s a crazy donation request.

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Come on now, be reasonable. Lowering the prices would mean they can’t buy their 5th mansion. Just stop being selfish and give them a little more money.

    • drmugg@lemmynsfw.com
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      1 year ago

      And redirecting you attention on to the “offsets” scam too.

      Ever wonder why climate change is such a problem if 1.5 pence per liter petroleum burnt can undo the damage? Spoiler: it can’t. You can’t sequester CO² for that cheap, and CO² isn’t the only issue. “Offsets” are not certified by any trustworthy third party, and companies intentionally don’t pry too much, so they can say “Oh sorry, didn’t know” if anyone investigates and discovers they did squat-all.

  • fsk@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Those charities have huge overhead. Very little money goes to the actual cause.

    • neanderthal@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Here me out before accusing me of being a billionaire toady.

      Not really, at least not in the US. Charitable contributions are a deduction from taxable income, not a credit, so it is still a net financial loss to donate.

      Where the benefit comes is the PR and power over the organization they donate to and its sphere of influence.

      • git@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It is a net loss if you donate your own money, in this situation Company isn’t donating from its own revenue. It is donating customers money.

        If I donated 1000$ and claimed tax deductible it would be a net loss. But if I asked everyone for donations, raised 1000$, donated that and claimed tax deductible that wouldn’t be a net loss.

      • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah if it is a person asking me to donate on behalf of a company I’m like “why would I let this company take all the credit?” That usually ends the conversation as they impersonate an NPC immediately having to go into ‘think mode’.

    • Janus67@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I think that’s a myth as it isn’t income it goes into a separate fund to transfer 1:1.

      • neanderthal@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Even if it is revenue, it is still a net loss. All it does is reduce taxable income, which is still makes the donation a net loss. For anyone not aware, the current federal US corporate income tax rate is 21%. So if a company gives 100 dollars to charity, they only save 21 dollars in taxes, so they are still down roughly 79 dollars, depending on the state taxes of where they are incorporated.

  • this
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    1 year ago

    Or just…donate the perfectly good food they constantly throw out into the cadged dumpsters designed to keep homeless people out… Litteraly would cost them nothing…

    • Jim@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      “But if we feed them then those broke homeless people won’t come in and spend their (nonexistent) money on our food!” -upper management

      • this
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        1 year ago

        And there in lies the real problem, they are more scared of their quarterly growth reports and some imaginary ‘lawsuit’ from homeless people (which I believe in most places you can’t sue over donated food) than they care about keeping people alive.

    • HRDS_654@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      As much as I hate Kroger, Fred Meyer’s donates a LOT of food. Not sure about other stores but I remember a story saying they were one of the top contributors for perishables.

  • terwn43lp@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    PSA: most Americans can get up to $300 deducted from their annual taxes through donations.

    • LukeMedia@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Unfortunately that was only for 2020 and 2021. Normally donations go under itemized deduction, and unless your total itemized is greater than standard deduction, it probably won’t directly benefit your taxes.

  • realcaseyrollins@kbin.projectsegfau.lt
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    1 year ago

    To be fair, I bet these companies strike deals with the charitable organizations to in turn raise visibility of those charities among the company’s customers.

  • zombuey@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Just FYI this is a sort of scam. The company donates the money on your behalf and they get the tax write-off for your donation while also appearing philanthropic for PR purposes. that’s why they do it.

    EDIT: US companies cannot do this in the US you can claim up to $300 on taxes. This is legit in the US.

    • Sendbeer@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      @zombuey I’ve heard that a lot, but it is apparently not true unless the company claims your donation as a profit and then writes it off, which negates any tax benefit. I think it’s more just a PR thing to make you feel good about that company while using your own money.

      • Dravin@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I think it’s more just a PR thing to make you feel good about that company while using your own money.

        Yep, even without any direct financial benefit there is certainly a reason to engage in such behavior. The store gets you to associate it with the charity campaign and they’ll make hay over the amount of donations they helped collect and their partnership with the charity. Drives for employee donations can also be used in a similar manner.

      • zombuey@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Furthermore, there is no contractual agreement on how or when they donate that money. So for example those companies might and likely will hold that money in trust to the non-profit. That way the company can use money as a hedge on taxes in future fiscal periods if they had an excess.

    • seang96@spgrn.com
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      1 year ago

      They also store it in a bank before donating to collect interest on it cause why not?

  • Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    And I will never ever give these fools my actual phone number for discounts. Just use any area code w/ 867-5309 to get around this.

    • jackoneill@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Jenny Jenny, who can I turn to? You give me something I can hold on to. I know you think I’m like the others before who saw your name and number on the wall

  • norapink@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I hate these donate screens because I have no idea where the donation actually goes and i don’t want to have to do a ton of research at the grocery checkout about whether its a good charity.

    • iAmTheTot@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I have never seen a donation bin/screen/what have you that didn’t say what charity it was for.

      If a business is collecting donations and then not giving them to the charities in question, that’s just fraud.

      • norapink@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Yeah but just because they name the charity doesn’t mean its a good charity. Some charities just aren’t good ones to donate to and you’re basically just throwing money down a well when you do donate to them.

  • tomve_cz@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    It’s still fine.

    Some big international store in europe is asking to buy food from them for full price and donate it to food bank. Fuckin hilarious for making profit on charity.