Is a gift to Making Heaven Crowded tax-deductible?

Any nonprofit can print “501(c)(3)” on its own website. What makes it checkable is that the IRS keeps a public, independent record. The IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization Search lets anyone look up an EIN directly. New organizations can take time to appear in every IRS list, so the IRS determination letter is also available on request.

Making Heaven Crowded’s EIN, 42-2985750, is the number to search on the IRS site. A donor’s own accountant or tax software can also use that same number when preparing a return — it isn’t information only the organization has access to.

Money is only one way people give. Donated items such as clothing and water bottles for street outreach are gifts too, and the donate items page lists what the team can use. For a gift of goods, the IRS generally leaves the value to the donor to determine, so Making Heaven Crowded does not put a price on what you hand over. Larger gifts of goods carry their own IRS reporting steps, and a tax preparer is the right person to ask about them. Jesus’s teaching in Luke 12:33-34 that the heart follows the treasure is a useful reminder of why a gift of any size, money or items, is worth giving. Paul quotes a line from Psalm 112:4-9 about the one who has given to the poor, which is another reason the passage is often read alongside questions about generosity.

Time is different. Volunteering at an outreach, such as the weekly Serving Saturdays, is valued and welcome, but the value of your own time or services is not a deductible gift under federal rules. Some out-of-pocket costs of serving a charity can qualify, so keep your own records and check with a tax preparer. The spirit behind the gift is described in Deuteronomy 15:7-11 on giving without a grudging heart, and the tax question only decides how it is recorded.

A purchase is not a gift. If you buy something from the merchandise page, you receive a product in return, which is a sale rather than a donation, and the receipt language above, which says no goods or services were provided, applies to gifts only. Purchases from the merch page are different, since buying a product is a purchase and not a donation, though the sales fund the same outreach.

None of this is tax advice. It describes how the general rules work so you know what to ask. Your own situation, and what you can claim on your return, is a question for a qualified tax professional. The Bible’s own counsel on the attitude behind a gift, set out in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 on giving freely and without pressure, is a separate matter from the paperwork and does not change the deduction.