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§3.2 MEANING OF DONORwas not allowed to deduct a sum paid to fill a gully in a city street, inasmuch asthe payment was made in compliance with an order issued by the city. 238 Likewise,a payment made to a tax-exempt retirement home to reserve a room for thepayor or a relative of the payor was not a deductible charitable gift. 239By contrast, when the payor has a choice or an election to make, a paymentto a charitable organization can constitute a charitable gift. Thus, when a charitableorganization required participants in a group insurance plan to assign dividendsto it as a condition of continued participation in the plan, the paymentswere held to be nondeductible. 240 Subsequently, however, the plan terms wereamended to make refund of the dividends an easy-to-exercise option; the IRSruled that the payments to the charitable organization under the revised circumstanceswere deductible as charitable gifts. 241In analogous circumstances, credit card holders voluntarily elected to contributerebates generated by their credit card purchases to charitable organizations.The IRS ruled that the payments were deductible as charitable gifts. 242 Likewise,when a “sponsorship gift” was requested, but not required, in connection withadmission to an exempt retirement home, the payment was considered to be adeductible charitable gift. 243The Supreme Court observed that a payment proceeding from the “constrainingforce of a moral or legal duty” is not a charitable gift. 244 This principlewas applied by a court in concluding that a portion of the amount paid to an educationalsociety was in the nature of fees for tuition, in connection with educationof the payors’ children, and thus was not a charitable contribution. 245§ 3.2 MEANING OF DONORA donor is a person who makes a gift. A donor obviously can make a gift (or contribution)to a charitable organization. A donor may or may not obtain a contributiondeduction as the result of a charitable gift. Many factors can operate todetermine this outcome. 246There are several types of donors, that is, several categories of persons whocan make contributions to charitable organizations:IndividualsC corporations 247S corporations 248238 Alman v. Commissioner, 39 T.C.M. (CCH) 527 (1979).239 See, e.g., Sedam v. United States, 518 F.2d 242 (7th Cir. 1975).240 United States v. American Bar Endowment, 477 U.S. 105 (1986).241 Priv. Ltr. Rul. 8725058.242 Priv. Ltr. Rul. 200228001.243 Dowell v. United States, 553 F.2d 1233 (10th Cir. 1977).244 Commissioner v. Duberstein, 363 U.S. 278, 285 (1960).245 DeJong v. Commissioner, 309 F.2d 373 (9th Cir. 1962).246 See § 3.6.247 A C corporation is also known as a regular corporation; this tax term is derived from the portion of the InternalRevenue Code creating the concept. IRC subch. C, consisting of IRC §§ 301–385. Discussion of a C corporationas a donor is in § 6.13. 93