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Reliant does not offer tax deductible giving for donors towards any student participants attending a domestic Leadership Training  (LT) that is inside of the U.S.  However, tax deductible receipts are issued to donors for donations for an overseas Reliant LT events if the student participant is attending an overseas LT like in Europe, East Asia, Honduras, etc.  See International LT- How to Give for Fundraising Event Participants.

Why?

After seeking extensive legal counsel, Reliant determined that unfortunately it cannot allow participants to raise support for a domestic LT event through Reliant. This was in agreement with what our legal counsel was advising.  It is Reliant's interpretation of IRS Tax Code that domestic LT programs (usually 10 weeks in length) inside of the U.S. results in the participant receiving tangible personal benefits, like significant leadership education and training along with the requirement to work full time while attending the LT event.  Since Reliant, and our legal counsel determined that these were considered tangible personal benefits, we decided that following IRS Tax Code (which prohibits a donation receiving tax deductible status if it results in tangible personal benefit) meant not allowing domestic LT participants to raise financial support for their LT program fees through Reliant.  We realize this is a conservative decision, but we feel it is in the best interest of Reliant Mission and its donors. 

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Domestic LT participants may still fundraise on their own and ask donors to give a financial gift (out of the kindness of their heart to go towards something they believe in), but it cannot be considered a taxable deductible gift for their donors since they giving to an individual and not a 501(c)(3) organization.  All checks need be made payable to and sent directly to the participant (not collected by Reliant) with no tax deduction allowed.  All domestic LT payments will be made directly by the participant to Reliant  (Reliant will not accept any payment from donors (other than from a church) for an LT participant fees).   There is no way for donors to give electronically through Reliant to help support a student attending a domestic LT, however they could send an electronic check directly to the participant's bank account. 

Can a domestic LT participant support raise on their own through an outside fundraising online site such as GoFundMe? 

Depending on how the online giving sites like GoFundMe are set up it may be possible for a domestic LT participant to use them.  They would need to specify that the gifts are not tax deductible, but simply a gift given out of the kindness of their heart to go to something that they want to support.  The students would also obviously need to follow the instructions outlines in our Reliant Fundraising Liability Form.  Since fundraising for domestic LT program fees are not considered tax deductible by Reliant, all financial support must be given directly to the student and not to Reliant.  The supporters of domestic LT participants could not therefore receive tax deduction through another online giving site.  

Provided Materials.

For accountability purposes we ask that each LT participant wanting to raise their own financial support, to complete and upload to their online LT registration, this Fundraising Integrity Form to say they will not collect more funds than needed to cover the cost of their specific program.

We ask that all participants wait until they have been officially accepted into the program before they begin their support raising for the program fees.  We  Reliant will send an acceptance email and also also provide these fundraising guidelines (attached to the acceptance email for the LT) to help those choosing to raise support on their own to know a few steps to help with the process. 

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