Garrett: Linux Foundation quietly drops community representation

I referred to the charitable income tax deduction in my second paragraph. However, the complaint was about the tax exemption for the organization itself. Charitable and religious organizations (501(c)3 non-profits) are exempt from income tax in their own right, separate from the deduction for donations to such organizations, and the reason for this is that they are not expected to have any income (i.e. profits) to tax.

The Linux Foundation isn't even classified as a charitable organization in the first place, so donations to it are not tax-exempt. It's a 501(c)6, a different type of non-profit organization which covers business leagues and so forth.