fredfarmer775 Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 Does anyone here know anything about straight donation boxes using the clear acryllic boxes? It seems to me that just simply placing the donation sticker on the box, maybe putting a little of your own change in the box (so that others might be tempted to leaver their money too) would be the best way to make the absolute most money and here's why: 1) If you're not selling any mints, or chocate or whatever then you won't have to pay sales tax on any of it. Where I live the sales tax is 9.25%. 2) You never have to spend any time at all buying or restocking ANY product. Go to wherever your locations are, pick up the money and leave. I'll bet someone could service over 200 accounts in one day like this. It would also be pretty damn easy to get locations because who's not going to want to help out a charity when they aren't even responsible for what happens to the box? 3) The acryllic boxes that I've seen all come with locks on them so it's not like having an open honor box where people can rip you off left and right. Your money would be safe. 4) I keep reading the posts from you guys talking about Sheridan Systems and how great they are with the boxes they sell. However, I know of a way to get those boxes FOR WAAAY CHEAPER by ordering them straight from the factory in China. Trust me, you will save TONS OF MONEY this way. Ask me about this and I'll be happy to tell you. 5) Does anyone here know of any charities to go through where you can do this (that will allow you to put their charity stickers on the acryllic boxes)? You see those donation boxes on the counter tops at retail stores all the time so there's obviously money to be made in it. 6) I'm also wondering about the legalities of this. I would imagine that you could get in trouble if it's not done in the right way. Does anyone have any info about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 How up front would you be about the fact you are taking some of the money in the box to line your pockets? Would you post on the box that less than 100% of the donations collected are going to the charity they want to support? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amc-vending Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 child search out of houston allows you to use thier stickers on the boxes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredfarmer775 Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 Sherlock, would you have to post on the box that not all the money is going to that particular charity because of legal reasons? There is no such thing as a charity that takes 100% of your donations and deposits that directly towards its intended purpose. All non-profit organizations are like this because somewhere someone is also using those funds to pay living expenses. All of these charities that you guys go through with your bulk candy machines are also doing the same thing. I also don't see much difference ethically between putting a charity sticker on the box and selling a piece of candy for a quarter and not selling anything at all. If you didn't sell anything at all and just collected money, you could donate more of what you pull in. That's not to say that the charity that you're then donating more money to isn't going to pocket more money for themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Sherlock, would you have to post on the box that not all the money is going to that particular charity because of legal reasons? There is no such thing as a charity that takes 100% of your donations and deposits that directly towards its intended purpose. All non-profit organizations are like this because somewhere someone is also using those funds to pay living expenses. All of these charities that you guys go through with your bulk candy machines are also doing the same thing. I also don't see much difference ethically between putting a charity sticker on the box and selling a piece of candy for a quarter and not selling anything at all. If you didn't sell anything at all and just collected money, you could donate more of what you pull in. That's not to say that the charity that you're then donating more money to isn't going to pocket more money for themselves. Some VERY big problems with your outlook... 1. The answer to the question at the start of your quoted post above is "YES". You would have to post that not all money is going to your particular charity because of legal reasons. This is why if you look at the stickers created by charity vending programs like NCCS, you will find a disclaimer statement on every sticker explaining how the program works so that people putting money into your box/machine have been "informed" the owner of said box/machine is keeping some for his/her own pockets. However, just putting that disclaimer on a label is not enough. The person following your plan would need to be a LEGAL non-profit or have a signed contract with one or the disclaimer is useless. 2. You are correct in that 100% of money raised by non-profits NEVER goes directly to the "cause". But, charities and non-profits have very strict federal guidelines they must follow to outline how money is being handled. Just putting boxes out with charity labels on them does not give you the legal ability to treat donations in the same manner that licensed and exempt non-profits do. 3. Your ideas about the similarities between vendors selling candy and box owners just accepting donations are mistaken. There is a huge difference between the two. First off, donors in your plan get NOTHING for their contribution, so you would be expected to follow proper 501c procedures in the handling of those donations. Secondly, all properly run charity vendors are legally contracted to a licensed and certified 501c non-profit like NCCS or Childsearch (just 2 examples). So, doing things as you suggest would be illegal, whereas running a charity vending route contracted to a 501c is legal....BIG difference, no? Comparing what you are suggesting with what non-profits do shows you need to do more research into the legal processing of donations. 501c regulations are no joke and neither the IRS nor local law enforcement agencies will be very kind to anyone doing what you plan to do with the proper federal exemptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredfarmer775 Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 OK Thank you Sherlock. I appreciate your info. I wasn't planning on doing it, I was only inquiring about it. I'm definitely not going to do it now. Also, per everyone's request on where to get acryllic honor boxes at a FAR cheaper cost, you can order them directly from the facorty in China at www.alibaba.com You can also order product (at FAR CHEAPER cost) directly from China at www.alibaba.com also. Basically you would be doing the same thing Sam's Club or Costco do by doing this and eliminating them as the middle man. I'm therefore wondering if you would even have to pay sales tax on it if you did. Any of you have any thoughts on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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