Receipt for donation from "agent" of charitable org.

A for-profit company's business is that it raises funds for a type of 501(c)(3) whereby they send 100% of the funds to the charity. They make their money in related transactions, such as sale of merchandise. They (the for-profit) send the required receipt. Is that receipt adequate for a $250+ deduction?

Depends what is meant by "written acknowledgment"

https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profi ... wledgments

The written acknowledgment required to substantiate a charitable contribution of $250 or more must contain the following information:

Name of the organization;

Amount of cash contribution;

Description (but not value) of non-cash contribution;

Statement that no goods or services were provided by the organization, if that is the case;

Description and good faith estimate of the value of goods or services, if any, that organization provided in return for the contribution; and

Statement that goods or services, if any, that the organization provided in return for the contribution consisted entirely of intangible religious benefits, if that was the case.

I'm guessing an acknowledgement has to be from the actual charitable organization otherwise I could just type up an acknowledgement myself every time I donate. Even if the third party acknowledgement satisfies the law, I doubt an irs auditor would accept it and you'd end up having to go to appeals.

(f) Substantiation of charitable contributions of $250 or more -

(1) In general. No deduction is allowed under section 170(a) for all or part of any contribution of $250 or more unless the taxpayer substantiates the contribution with a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the donee organization.

But that still does not answer my question. Is "from" inclusive of from an agent?

An agent acts for the principal. So if the agent issued the receipt for the principal, it was issued by the principal. (Does that answer your question?)

Maybe.

Turns out there are a number of rulings, mainly involving companies that accept donations of cars for charities as agents. Formal agency agreements are in place, and as a result, a properly written receipt and acknowledgement from the agent is as good as by the donee, and the delivery of the donated item to the agent is as good as to the donee.

As an aside, I suspect the agents make as much as the charities, if not more.