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> The donation is tax-deductible

Is it? One of the requirements is "No goods or services were given for this donation."

A PBS tote bag is a “good or service”. The broadcast isn’t, pedantry aside.

Perhaps they consider it some kind of perk that is not "paid for" by the donation. The receipt states "No goods or services were provided."

Or maybe they're lying, but I'm going with what the receipt says.

That sounds like the alcohol permit loophole. Instead of getting a permit to sell alcohol, just buy this $10 pack of peanuts and it comes with a free beer. This is known to come with hefty fines btw.

That said, If the gift is insubstantial in value it’s allowable. Or they’re supposed to give you a statement of the value and you have to deduct the donation less value amount. My thought is maybe the content is or will be free and the app is just a convenient portal to consume it. So one would claim it’s rather insubstantial. But to be honest, no auditor would really dig too deep into a donation to PBS.

Possibly the content is (or was) all broadcast on free TV, and the donation lets you access it on-demand through streaming?

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