I'm kinda surprised to see that $5,555.55 anonymous contribution. 4chan comments aside, I guess it's just someone feeling generous? I know that the purchaser can indicate the amount to go to charity, but I'm under the impression that this is not tax deductible. Can anyone confirm this?
Edit (added): Thinking more on this, I wonder if the Humble Bundle folks actually get the tax benefit of the donations.
Edit (added): Thinking more on this, I wonder if the Humble Bundle folks actually get the tax benefit of the donations.
I think you nailed an important part there. Clearly customers can't write anything off (since they aren't giving money to a 501(c)(3) directly, but obviously someone is. I can't remember what the default split was exactly, but if you figure it was 5% tip, 5% eff 5% child's play,the operator would be seeing more like 8.33% by default when the tax advantage came into play. If you assume a lot of people went mostly or totally for charity (especially for the large amounts) their margins would actually be rising.
They have/had a 'top donators' box on the donation page. I saw one entry that was #1 for at least a little while of $1,000, and it was advertisement. I thought that was pretty clever, and generally beneficial for everyone.
why does it matter? tax deductible donations still cost you. you get some tax credit on your expense but not 100% (depends on your income tax rate which can be anywhere between 0-50%)
I was thinking more in terms of that $5k anonymous buyer. The value of the apps aren't even close to that amount. The buyer is not getting any advertising benefit since they are anonymous. So the one benefit would be a tax credit due to the donation, but in this case there is no benefit there either.
BTW, I'm not trying to criticize the Humble Bundle folks in any way. I was really just considering the aspects of that large contribution.
Maybe the buyer wasn't looking to gain anything (gasp! someone that does something selflessly), and just wanted to support the website, concept, and/or developers to continue on.
Edit (added): Thinking more on this, I wonder if the Humble Bundle folks actually get the tax benefit of the donations.