I'm working on our donations summary, and I've run across one that has me stumped. Would a donation to the state Sheriff's Youth Homes be eligible for CRA?

Usually I can sift through these pretty easily, but this one's got me stymied. TIA!

Becca,
You need to find out what exactly the home does. We don't have those here so I am not sure. If it is a home that takes in at risk kids and most come from families that are LMI, then yes, I would count it.

These are usually kids who have become chronic juvenile inmates and either have no home to go back to or the state feels that they would be too much at risk by returning home.

We have a couple of homes like that here and we count them. The examiners have accepted the donations as CD. But you know how inconsistant they can be.

We base the classification on the fact that the organizations get federal funding for the care of the kids and the parents (most of whom are poor) don't contribute. Most parents that can afford will send their kids to private facilities.

Here's another one: Big Brothers Big Sisters.

They receive state funding, and provide mentoring for children of all backgrounds. In our area they try to focus primarily on underpriviledged or at-risk kids.

Think it will fly?

Again, it would depend on the documentation you can get. To apply for many grants the organization is going to have to collect income info on the families it serves. I would think BB/BS has some of that info and could provide you with at least a percentage of kids that fit into the LMI categories. I am never afraid to ask, especially if they are asking for a grant from the bank.

Thanks! I can pull stats on most of these groups - but I've become a bit gun-shy of anything that doesn't directly provide food or housing to LMIs. Definitely helps to bounce it off the good folks of BOL!