By his logic wouldn't Kickstarter be illegal? Many KS projects charge users before making a product (they use Amazon to process the payment, but the user's credit card is still charged, which may very well be a Visa). I think this is a little silly.
If you're collecting money without selling something, you need a license from the authorities. To get a license, you need to be a registered charity.
You can't just say "we'll probably use your donation to build something you might like and may send you one when it's ready".