what is a qualified charitable organization 
qualified charitable organizations are nonprofit organizations that qualify for tax exempt status according to the internal revenue service irs they must be operated exclusively for one of the following purposes religious charitable scientific literary educational testing for public safety the prevention of cruelty to animals or children or the development of amateur sports in the united states a qualified charitable organization is known as a 501 c 3 organization referring to the portion of the internal revenue code irc that deals with the tax treatment of nonprofits 12rules for qualified charitable organizationsonly donations that are made to a qualified charitable organization are tax deductible organizations that do not qualify for this status are considered for profit and are taxed accordingly political contributions are not tax deductible for example because political parties are not charitable institutions on the other hand contributions to an organization dedicated to building hospitals in underdeveloped countries likely would be a charitable organization and contributions would be tax deductible 3qualified charitable organizations differ from strictly tax exempt organizations which do not have to be for a charitable purpose yet are not required to pay taxes 2 however qualified charitable organizations are also tax free 4qualified charitable organizations include charities philanthropic groups certain religious and educational organizations nonprofit veterans organizations fraternal lodge groups and cemetery and burial companies certain legal corporations can also qualify even federal state and local governments can be considered qualified charitable organizations if the money donated to them is earmarked for charitable causes 5a qualified charitable organization is prohibited from engaging in any sort of political advocacy including supporting specific candidates or trying to influence legislation 6