What is a Charity?

A charity is something that is gifted or donated to an organization or individual in order to help them or to benefit them. Charitable giving is the humane action of giving money to an organization designated for a particular purpose in order to help people who are in need. The practice of charitable giving means giving voluntarily of ones aid to people in need, acting in humanitarian terms. Charitable organizations function as public charities, or as private charities.    ^{Show Source Texts}

Private foundations generally use their funds to grant to public charities, or make gifts to charity, religion, education, or other causes which benefit the general public. Private organizations, overseen by a trustee or by the donors themselves, generally make grants or gifts to public charities. Most states require non-profit organizations to be registered as charities if they solicit donations from the general public in any form, and, as we saw, private charity foundations are eligible to become charities without necessarily soliciting donations at all.    ^{Show Source Texts}

What is more obviously different about 501(c)(3) charities than other nonprofits, though, is that donations made to 501(c)(3) organizations are tax-deductible for their donors. There are tax advantages to both charities and donors because of direct benefits to the public, resulting in qualified charities being exempt from paying federal income taxes. To qualify for charitable tax-exempt status, organizations cannot engage in many political activities within the meaning of the federal 501(c)(3) code, while most political organizations and labor unions are covered by other sections of the code.    ^{Show Source Texts}

If the purpose of the non-profit is education or religion, if it provides funds or services that assist with medical research, or if it advances a cause that could in some way benefit the public at large, 99 percent of the time the organization is known as a charity. A charity’s goal must be solely for something known as public benefit (see below). Charitable organizations may be based in education, religion, or they may also be based in activities that are of a general interest. 

The laws and regulations for charities depend on the country or area in which they were established and operated. Charities are funded by either the government or private sectors, either by monetary donations, by not-monetary donations, or by volunteers. Donations made for causes which indirectly benefit the less fortunate, such as donations made to finance cancer research, are also charities. 

Charity is usually given with the assurance it will help a person and provide some kind of relief, or to their education and progress. Charitable organizations are there always to assist needy persons that require assistance and to give them safe surroundings for them to lead better lives. Universities offer aid for student fees for lower-income families, medical studies may mitigate problems such as asthma, a specific issue among poor people, and churches undertake various activities to assist the needy.