Development Policy Manual D.6. The deciding factor is whether the donor or the University is the primary beneficiary of the expenses. For example, if an alumnus is volunteering to make telephone calls to raise funds for a class gift, the calls are deductible as a charitable expense if the alumnus confines the conversation to the subject of the class gift. If, however, he telephones an alumna both to request a gift for the class fund and to rekindle an old romance, the cost of the telephone call would not be deductible.
Expenses are nondeductible, however, if they are for attending solely as a member of a charity.
However, a donor may not deduct the value of the time spent in performing services contributed to the University. For example, carpenters, lawyers, mechanics, artists, etc., may not deduct for their own donated time. The fact that an act of generosity is not deductible does not mean that it cannot be acknowledged. However, care should be taken not to create a paper trail that would appear to substan- tiate a tax deduction. Contributions of services only are generally not reported as gifts for the same reason.