NOTICE: David Berman has posted a blog announcement claiming the board has approved cash collections for the Zu Chi Foundation to help provide relief to Taiwan victims of the recent storm. He also mistakenly claimed that all such donations to Zu Chi would be tax deductible.

However, no board agenda items, deliberations or announcements concerning approval of such fund-raising have been made. Unless there was yet another secret board meeting, David Berman is wrong.

In addition, David Bernstein (retired attorney living in SCA) researched the tax aspects and posted on the Berman blog as follows: VERBATIM from section 170 (c) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code: “A contribution or gift by a corporation to a trust, chest, fund, or foundation shall be deductible by reason of this paragraph only if it is to be used within the United States or any of its possessions exclusively for purposes specified in subparagraph (B).”

David Bernstein also stated: “As a 501 (c) corporation, it may have income that is non-taxable. But that does not automatically make any contributions to that corporation deductible if the funds so donated are to be used in Taiwan…”

I have sent an e-form asking the SCA Directors to immediately correct the record to avoid inconveniences to members when they discover no board authorization has been issued to allow such funds collections on community property.

While SCA members are involved in many good fund-raising causes every year, the association policy in the past has been that SCA community property can not be used for collections for outside organizations–except for the Minuteman Foundation.  Many previous charitable requests have been denied. If the policy is to be revised in the future, it will take some careful work on the revised policies by the Lifestyle Committee and the Board.