An associate's son was just diagnosed with terminal cancer and proposed treatments are experimental and evidently not completely covered by insurance. A group of associates want to help with the medical bills. The first question is can a qualified charity take donations that will go for paying his bills. I said the charity has to be a 501(c)(3) for contributions to be deductible and then you have to some how make sure that they can pay the medical expenses directly to the vendors. The one time I tried to get that to happen they could accept the designated contributions, but as to the payment out depended on the board's approval and budget.
Can they have a Go Fund Me page - no charitable contribution and with no tax charge to associate or child. Not an expert, but Go Fund Me can be designated to pay medical bills directly, right? There would not be any income tax liability to the family as long as payments go directly to pay medical vendors charging the child, right? Who is in charge of the Go Fund Me money and who writes the checks?
They know they can raise $100,000- they want to make sure that bills get paid and no income tax becomes due for family members. The contribution deduction would be nice, but not necessary.