I am a beekeeper and run my business as a sole proprietor using a DBA. A local shop in my area recently mailed a check made out to my DBA for $300 as a donation for 'helping to save the bees'. The money was unsolicited and very unexpected. I do not know the shop owner or anyone otherwise affiliated with it. The included thank you note says the donation is a combination of a portion of the shop's business earnings and donations collected from the community. The shop owner's name and DBA are on the check, so it would appear that she's a sole proprietor, too. She has "donation" written on the memo line of the check as well.
Am I allowed to accept this donation as a for-profit business? My understanding is that donations must be made for charitable purposes to properly classify as such, but I would not think it charitable to give money to a for-profit business, especially if given without any condition or specific expectation on how the money is to be spent. If the money could not properly classify as a donation, could I accept it as a gift even though the intent was clearly to give it as a donation?
If there is a way to accept the money, how would I record it in my books? If I were to accept it as a gift rather than as a donation, would I have to record it as business income at all?
I realize that the easiest and perhaps most sensible thing to do here would be to just mail back the check with a thank you (but no thanks) note of my own, but my finances are such that it would be immensely helpful to me to be able to accept this check, and if it is possible to accept this money in a way that is on the up and up, then it would be great to do so.
Thanks.
