Mildly Infuriating

There are sites to check how much actually goes out. Check before you donate.

They do not, at least in the US.

Here me out before accusing me of being a billionaire toady.

Not really, at least not in the US. Charitable contributions are a deduction from taxable income, not a credit, so it is still a net financial loss to donate.

Where the benefit comes is the PR and power over the organization they donate to and its sphere of influence.

Yes, which is why you should donate yourself if you are inclined to do so.

I think that's a myth as it isn't income it goes into a separate fund to transfer 1:1.

And redirecting you attention on to the "offsets" scam too.

Ever wonder why climate change is such a problem if 1.5 pence per liter petroleum burnt can undo the damage? Spoiler: it can't. You can't sequester CO² for that cheap, and CO² isn't the only issue. "Offsets" are not certified by any trustworthy third party, and companies intentionally don't pry too much, so they can say "Oh sorry, didn't know" if anyone investigates and discovers they did squat-all.

@zombuey I've heard that a lot, but it is apparently not true unless the company claims your donation as a profit and then writes it off, which negates any tax benefit. I think it's more just a PR thing to make you feel good about that company while using your own money.

They cannot, and do not, claim your donations on their taxes.

That's not how tax write offs work. The only way to claim that money in a write-off would be for the business to also claim it as revenue. That would even out, with no tax savings. Businesses also don't handle donations that way, they usually serve as a collection agent that just passes your donations on without being able to claim it towards their revenue or their tax write offs. The only person who can write-off their donation is the person who actually made it.

The reason businesses do it is for marketing. They get to put out a press release saying "They helped donate $10 million to puppies without borders."

No, that's not how it works. In order to do so, they'd have to first claim the money received as income.

That said, there are scummy things that they do. At the least, it's saying "we [bigcorp] donated $1,000,000 to charity" when in reality all that they did was collect it. In other situations, companies like Sobey's doesn't actually pass on food bank donations as cash, but rather have then as credit to buy products only from Sobey's.

Not sure if this is 100% accurate, but I heard that how it works is they donate the money first, get the tax write-off and then try to hit people up at the checkouts to refund all the money after the fact. That way they get the tax break for donating the money without actually being out of pocket. I don't know what happens if people donate more than the amount they spent, but I think I can take a reasonable guess.

Jenny Jenny, who can I turn to? You give me something I can hold on to. I know you think I’m like the others before who saw your name and number on the wall

I can assure you that nobody working at the fast food restaurant gives a shit if you donate to charity.

This is actually true. But those small margins add up to a huge profit overall. Still, they probably could not afford to donate $20 per shopper.