Are donations considered part of an admission fee?

Question

I'm showing a movie at the library, and the contract says, "No charge shall be made for admission to any program or meeting." The guy that's handling my program application says that I can't take donations either, since that is a charge. I'd like to argue otherwise, but maybe it's peer pressure or ethics that forces people to donate...

On the other hand, Wal-Mart accepts donations for the Salvation Army during Christmas time, and they definately aren't admission...

In response to davidmi's answer, the donations do not support my event; they support a charity that I'm fund raising for. None of the money actually goes to recuperate expenses that I made to arrange the event.

Answer 1

i dont think it's the same as long as the donations are not mandetory. then there would be people seeing your movie for free and that's the difference

Answer 2

Unfortunately a 'donation' can be construed as an admission fee. You have to see it from the perspective of the potential moviegoer - and as you already mentioned, there's pressure on the moviegoer to donate money to see the movie.

That being said, you could ask for donations *after* the movie, and that would relieve the patrons of that pressure. It could backfire though, if the movie is bad. ;-)

As for Wal-Mart and the Salvation Army - the SA asks for permission to collect money at those locations. Wal-Mart doesn't collect money for SA, SA is there under the auspices of Wal-Mart, Target, etc. It's good PR and all that.

Answer 3

The big difference is that you are in the library and requesting donations to support your event. The Salvation Army is located outside of the store and the donations in no way benefit the store.