It seems to me that the best bet would be to follow whatever same procedure that was used to make a determination about the Elks and the Rotary Club.
Oh, you heard it from a Master Mason, so it must be true. Nonsese.
In what way are those little go-karts for parades “charitable”? Free medical care for burn victims, that’s charitable.
If you go to a Masonic Lodge fundraiser and give them $100 for burn victims, I give $100 to them for tiny motorcycle oil changes, and Joe gives them $100 for brand new tassles for their fezzes, ALL of us get to deduct the donation on our taxes, because all three of those are mission-related expenses, which the IRS broadly defines as charitable activities, because they advance the purpose of their mission.
If you have an issue with that, I recommend contacting the IRS directly.
The IRS is being criticized currently for investigating deeper when groups like the Tea Party want to get a charitable deduction for political activity. I’m not sure that IRS-with-political-pressure-charitable is the same as charitable-charitable.
Saying “the IRS accepts it” is not the same as explaining why it’s a charitable deduction.
Back to the drawing board. HOW does the purchase or maintenance of clown cars fit the general definition of charitable deduction? Non-profit, yes. Charitable, IMHO, no. Explain your HO… (is there a clown smiley face icon?) 
For example, the clowns themselves, equipment etc, for wandering thorugh hospitals cheering kids up - OK, that might be considered charity. participating in a parade - how is that a charity?
Back to the OP, would you recommend he accept Tea Party Charity Wing advertising for donations to their “teach school kids about their constitution” drive?
(I guess the basic definition to start from in “charity” is “benefits the community”)
The IRS is being criticized for improperly investigating 501(c)(4) organizations, to which donations are not tax-deductible, and are not considered “charitable”, other than the occasional lobbying group that promotes another charitable organization. (501c4 orgs are lobbying groups with the ability to spend significantly more money than typical non-profits on direct campaigning.)
How about, “the IRS has accepted it for the last 75 years”? No? 
The problem here is the widespread misunderstanding and misuse of the words “charitable” and “charity” in this context. Let me back up a little bit, and provide some exposition here. Let’s be really generous and consider a Masonic Lodge that has organized as a 501(c)(3), the broadest non-profit designation (I’ve found a number of them on Guidestar, so this isn’t completely out of reach). The IRS defines all 501(c)(3) organizations as “charitable”, and the purposes of any 501(c)(3) must fall under the following:
Note that this is for simply the *purpose *of the organization, not a complete restriction on activities that might not fall directly under the above. Here’s a great guide on what types of activities would put a non-profit at risk of losing their tax status. Essentially, those are:
[ul]
[li]Cannot provide unreasonable private benefit to a member. Shriners themselves do not own their tiny cars, they just get to drive around in them. They probably get a lot of enjoyment out of that, but they do not materially benefit. [/li][li]Political campaign activities. This isn’t relevant here, except to your last question, so I’ll expand. There is a lot of confusion on this point - non-profits ARE allowed to campaign. They just cannot a) expend a significant* amount of their funds to do so, and b) campaign for individual candidates (individual causes is perfectly fine, and c4, c5 and c6 organizations actually CAN endorse individual candidates).[/li][li]Legislative activities. Not really relevant here, but it again falls under the vague and weird “not a significant amount” clause.[/li][/ul]
So to belabour the point, “driving tiny cars around in a parade” is not directly a charitable activity, but it IS an activity that promotes the Shriners, draws awareness to their mission, and provides a public service. If you want to get hypertechnical, I could posit that clowns driving around in tiny cars “lessens neighborhood tensions”, and “combats community deterioration”. But I don’t think I need to do that, because those expenses are really no different than any other fundraising expense aimed at drawing public awareness to the organization.
Sure, provided they have the proper non-profit paperwork.
Absolutely. For a long time, the exemptions also included “promotion of social welfare” but that was considered too vague.
*“significant” is a deliberately vague term used by the IRS that has been one of the main reasons they’ve been extremely lacking in effort in this area
I’m right there with MD200, who said almost exactly what I came to post. If the particular event is for worship at a church, it doen’t apply. If it’s for buying sacramental robes, or the building funds, it’s not for the public at large. If it’s for the support of an overall charitable fund or project like hospitals, or eyeglasses for needy children, or feeding the hungry, then it’s a community servie and I would support my local City council in advertising it. Heck, if the local Church of Satan or BigBox Store were raising money for UNICEF, I’d say go for it.
That is very different than whether it is technically tax deductible. There are quite few tax deductible activities that a local council would not want to advertise for various reasons.
Just ask them what the money is going toward, and include a brief explanation in the ad. That should head off the crazy. Of course, there’s no stopping the stupid crazy, but do what you can. 
Shriners are one of those pieces of Americana Americans may not realise the rest of the world barely knows about and cares less.
Wiki says they were founded in 1870, so what did they use before Herr Daimler’s invention ? Tiny carts drawn by miniature horses carrying 200lb men couldn’t race particularly fast.
Different Lodges favor different charities - it’s totally at the discretion of the Lodge and its members to which charities their donations go. Some Lodges have more money to give than others. It’s not only money we donate, but time as well. My Lodge donates tens of thousands of dollars every year to various charities. Just a few examples: we donate money to the local Police Patrolmen to buy bulletproof vests (required for their job, but paid for out of their own pockets), we host, pay for and organize a Special Olympics bowling tournament every year, donate money to local civic initiatives like cleaning up historic landmarks in town, etc. We are also a supporting member of a local program called H.E.L.P. - Hospital Equipment Loan Program. It’s run entirely by volunteers, and no money ever exchanges hands. Hostipate equipment is donated to the program (wheelchairs, adjustable beds, crutches, iron lungs, whatever) and anyone (Mason or not) just shows up and takes what they need, and brings it back when they’re done with it.
A lot of guys want to “give something back to the community” and if they find their way into Masonry, they find ample opportunities to do so.
To the OP:
Your boss should establish a policy to list charitable events only if the event advertises where the money is going, namely, what is the cause for which money is being raised?
Because even a non-profit and ‘charitable’ organization which exists specifically to raise money for causes (e.g., the Rotary Club) also has overhead and administrative costs and cost for ‘perks’ for which people may not want to give.
So, e.g., if the Rotary Club is having a pancake breakfast, you need to ask “for what?”. Is it to buy blankets for the local orphanage? Or is it to build an expensive office in the most expensive commercial district in town?
Same with a church. Is the car wash to aid victims of a flood or to buy a new stained glass window?
Same with a Masonic Lodge. Is the carnival to build a homeless shelter or a new Lodge?
You might also want to check with http://www.charitynavigator.org/ to find out how much of an organization’s funds that are raised go to direct aid and how much go to ‘administration’ and have your boss set score (e.g, three stars) that any organization needs to meet or exceed in order to be posted. There are shady groups out there (e.g., so called PBAs who print fund-raising directories) where less than 20% of the money they collect actually reach those in need.
Many Scottish Rite Mason Lodges support Children’s Speech Pathology Clinics all over the US, providing care free of charge to many children who would not receive treatment otherwise.
A few things:
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Charity Navigator is an incredibly unreliable source. They’re a for-profit organization with a near-useless evaluation algorithm. On one hand they state that non-profit CEOs should be paid “what the market can bear” and on the other heap criticism to those organizations that DO allow the market to determine pay grades.
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Most organizations that advertise on a small community board are likely too small to be required to file a 990, and thus are not in Charity Navigator’s database.
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Criticising an organization for “high administration” costs is one of the most arbitrary things you can do. Not only are most administration fees completely justifiable, but they’re also nearly universally misreported to the IRS.
If you want to use Charity Navigator for your personal use in evaluating organizations for your charitable donations, feel free - I do it all the time. But I would never in a million years put any validity into their rating system - you have all the information you need at your own hands with the posted 990 forms when you look a group up on that website.
IANAL, but ISTM the only key question is how they intend to spend the funds raised.
I agree. In the long run, I am sure the Shriners are a charitable organization.
It’s just that if the money is earmarked for an expenditure the public at large would not consider “real charity” (i.e. those clown cars that kept me awake at 3AM during the Toronto convention many decades ago) then the public and his boss may disapprove of the advertising. If, as is much more likely, it is going to one of the many charitable causes the shriners do push, bravo! Advertise.
Just ask them what the funds are meant for…
See question below. In English we read from top to bottom. There is no question above.
If you had started at the top, you’d have noticed the question. “Are groups like the Masons or service organizations?” It’s missing a word or something, but it’s there.