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[Ric Gillespie]

Today we're launching our first Forum Membership Drive.  Like nonprofit public radio and television, this Forum is freely accessible to everyone and free from advertising, pop-ups, and other commercial distractions. And like our counterparts in the broadcast world, our ability to provide this service depends upon funding generating by tax-deductible membership in the parent nonprofit organization. Borrowing a page from the NPR playbook, we'll periodically take a time-out from our usual "programming" to ask for your support.

There are currently 1,296 people registered to this Forum.  Only a small percentage are members of TIGHAR.  If you use and enjoy this Forum we're asking, not requiring, you to join TIGHAR. Our goal for this our first Forum Membership Drive is 50 new TIGHAR members.  Until we reach that goal I'll be responding only to questions and comments posted by currently paid-up members of TIGHAR, so please include your member number (as most of you do anyway) at the end of your post.

The sooner we reach our goal, the sooner we can get back to regular Forum action.

You can join TIGHAR or renew your membership HERE or send a check to:

TIGHAR
2366 Hickory Hill Road
Oxford, PA  19363

Or, if you prefer, you can phone me with your credit card information at 610-467-1937.  I'll be honored to take your call.

[Jonathan_Davidson]

I suppose that this query will go unanswered since I am not a member, but are donations/membership fees tax deductible OUTSIDE of the United States?

I am a Canadian citizen (and Canadian resident) who only pays income tax in Canada (i.e. I have no income from sources considered taxable by the IRS). I am very reluctant to make a charitable donation where I am unable to claim it as against my income tax.

[Bruce Thomas]

I suppose that this query will go unanswered since I am not a member, but are donations/membership fees tax deductible OUTSIDE of the United States?

Since I am not Ric, the way I read the recent announcement of the Forum Membership Drive, there's nothing to prevent me from answering your inquiry.

I am a Canadian citizen (and Canadian resident) who only pays income tax in Canada (i.e. I have no income from sources considered taxable by the IRS).

It's pretty easy to Google a question like yours and come up with a plethora of explanations. Most of them I've looked at say essentially the same thing! (That's a good thing! But check with your tax accountant to make sure.  )

In order to claim a deduction for a donation to a U.S. charitable organization, it appears that a Canadian taxpayer has to have income earned in the United States. Here's one of the explanations I read that talks about this. Enjoy! 

I am very reluctant to make a charitable donation where I am unable to claim it as against my income tax.

Oh, come on! Think of it as an investment in your quest to be one of the people who eventually helps to definitively discover what really happened to Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. 

[Alfred Hendrickson]

Don't get hung up on saving a few cents on your taxes. Just get out your checkbook and help support TIGHAR. To do anything short of this is to ride the bus without paying the fare.

Alfred Hendrickson, PE
TIGHAR Member 2583R

[jgf1944]

Amen to what Alfred wrote.
J Guthrie Ford
3422

[Jeff Lange]

Jonathon,
I joined TIGHAR in 1989 and have been a member ever since. Yes, because I reside in the US, I do get the tax benefits from my contribution, but that is not why I am a member. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the mystery and discoveries and adventure over the years. Yes- you can follow the forum and the website without contributing, but think about it- for what a person would spend for a good dinner out on the town for one night-you can help support a cause that you already have interest in. We are not talking hundreds of dollars here! So if you enjoy what you see, and read, and your conscience urges you to do so-join us, and support a worthwhile organization. I have never been unhappy that I did!

Jeff Lange
# 0748CR<--- And you'll even get a cool member number too!

[Jonathan_Davidson]

Frankly a bigger issue is the current exchange rate. The Canadian Dollar is today worth roughly half of the American Dollar. Therefore, anything purchased in American funds costs _twice as much_ as it would in Canadian funds. Combine this significantly increased cost with the absence of a tax benefit and I really have to think very carefully about how I wish to spend my money.

[Bill Davidson]

Ric,

"You can join TIGHAR or renew your membership......"

Is a standard membership fee an annual fee? I don't see that info specified, but because you mention 'renew', seems like an annual thing. True/False?

[Ric Gillespie]

Is a standard membership fee an annual fee?

True

[Monty Fowler]

While TIGHAR has a number of membership levels - 8 at last count - since it it has stated that it is an international organization, perhaps an "international" membership level for those outside the US would be appropriate. This would help address the exchange rate concern, which I for one feel is a valid one, and it would possibly attract new members of the global community since it would be explicitly clear that all are welcome.

LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 EC

[Ric Gillespie]

While TIGHAR has a number of membership levels - 8 at last count - since it it has stated that it is an international organization, perhaps an "international" membership level for those outside the US would be appropriate. This would help address the exchange rate concern, which I for one feel is a valid one, and it would possibly attract new members of the global community since it would be explicitly clear that all are welcome.

 As you say, TIGHAR is an international organization.  As such, TIGHAR has no nationality.  No one is a "foreigner."  We happen to be based in the U.S. so we show the various levels of membership in U.S. dollars. Exchange rates are what they are.  We're recognized as an American public charity so people who pay American taxes can get a tax deduction. Other countries have different systems to promote charitable giving. Those systems are not available to us. Members who do not reside in the U.S. are more expensive for us to service by mail but we don't penalize them. I don't know what an international membership would look like.