Due to rising energy cost, which include the cost of jet fuel. I was wondering if I could start a charitable organization to offset the cost of ‘JET A’ for private owners of airplanes by donations. I envision people dressed up in green suits ringing bells outside Wal$mart.
Can this be legally done? is there some income requirements that have to be met by the recipients?
I’ve no idea personally, but I can’t see why not, as long as you’re okay running a charity that perpetually operates at a net loss. 
You bet you can do this. But speaking as a person who has worked in nonprofits for five years, and currently for one of the most well-known relief agencies EVAR… if people don’t give enough for those who truly need it, then they won’t for those that don’t.
It’s a free country, and you’re welcome to solicit donations and make contributions to anyone you please. You can even do it on Wal-Mart property in the unlikely event that you get their permission.
By asking if you could do this as a “charitable organization”, however, you undoubtedly mean that you want your organization to be tax-exempt and for contributions to be tax-deductible for the donors. Your friends at the Internal Revenue Service are likely to take issue with that.
My bolding. Doesn’t sound like jet fuel for private plane owners will qualify.
Freddy the Pig hit it. Nobody’s going to prohibit this, but getting your organization acknowledged as charitable in the sense of tax law, which means donations to you are deductable (which, practically, means a huge public subsidy), is a totally different thing, and the answer would most likely be no.
Based on what Freddy the Pig said, it seems that the charities for the rich are limited to the traditional ones – the Opera, the Philharmonic, the Museum and the University.
As well as research into alternative sources of jet fuel.
I think this is called “US Congress.”