Charitable giving
We are a 501(c)(3) public charity run entirely by volunteers. Here is what that means for your gift.
501(c)(3) public charity · Charity ID 39-2868923
The National Amateur Radio Alliance was chartered as a Tennessee nonprofit corporation on July 4, 2025, and is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charitable organization under section 501(c)(3). Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Our determination letter, charter, bylaws and filings are published on the public documents page.
What our status means
Being a 501(c)(3) is not a slogan on a footer. It sets out what we may do with money, what we owe the public, and what a donor can expect from us.
- Your gift is deductible. Gifts to NARA are deductible to the extent allowed by law. We provide a written acknowledgment for every gift, and a year-end statement of everything you gave.
- Nobody here draws a salary. Every officer, representative and committee member is a volunteer, so a gift pays for programs and the costs of running a national organization, not payroll.
- Assets are committed to the mission. Our funds are held for the charitable purposes in our Statement of Association, and cannot be distributed to members, officers or directors.
- We answer publicly. Our governing documents and annual filings are published, and the board adopts the policies the IRS asks a charity to hold, including conflict of interest.
- Advocacy, not politics. We speak for amateur radio before the FCC and Congress. As a charity we do not support or oppose candidates for public office, and we never will.
Membership dues are not a gift
Dues buy a membership, and a membership carries benefits, so we count dues separately from charitable giving. Only gifts count toward the recognition below, and only gifts appear on your year-end giving statement. If you want your support to be a gift rather than dues, give to one of the funds below.
Where gifts go
You can send a gift wherever you want it to do its work. Every fund is spent on what it says.
General Fund
Keeps the lights on: the website, insurance, filings and the day-to-day work of running a national organization.
Outreach + Education
License classes, club presentations, school and scout programs, and the teaching material behind them.
Spectrum Defense
Protecting amateur allocations: regulatory filings, comments and the technical work they rest on.
Online Services
Our online work: the amateur radio wiki, whatishamradio.com, usnara.org, the member portal and the cloud services behind them.
Scholarship
Awards for young operators continuing their education, and help with exam and equipment costs.
Ways to give
- Online, once or monthly. Give by card or PayPal on the donate page. A monthly gift is the most useful kind we receive, because it is the only income we can plan against.
- By check. Payable to the National Amateur Radio Alliance and mailed to the address on our contact page. Write the fund on the memo line and we will honor it.
- Through your employer. Many employers match charitable gifts, and some give for volunteer hours. Your matching-gift administrator will need our name, charity ID and determination letter; email cq@usnara.org and we will send them.
- From a donor-advised fund, an IRA or appreciated stock. These can be the most tax-efficient way to give, and they need a little coordination on our end. Write to cq@usnara.org before you initiate the transfer so we can match the gift to you when it arrives.
- In your will. A bequest costs nothing today and can outlast all of us. We are glad to provide the exact legal name and charity ID your attorney will ask for.
- In memory or in honor of someone. Tell us who, and we will record the gift that way and notify the family or the person honored if you would like us to.
- Equipment and in-kind gifts. We accept some donated equipment and services. Ask first: what we can use depends on what programs need at the time, and we would rather say so honestly than take a radio we cannot place.
How we recognize donors
None of the work runs without funding, and NARA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that funds its work across all four key focus areas through donations. Two permanent programs recognize that giving, both detailed on the Ways of Giving page: the Beacon Club recognizes giving within a single calendar year, resetting every January 1st, with six levels running from $100 to $5,000 and above; the Founders Society recognizes lifetime giving instead and never resets, starting at Pioneer at $5,000 lifetime and climbing to Visionary at $250,000. Corporate members like Diamond Antenna, QRZ and Spec 5 support this work at the corporate membership level.
Every gift counts toward both milestones, whatever fund you send it to. Both are shown as meters on the ways of giving page, and members see their own two needles in the member portal alongside a certificate, a donor card and their year-end statement. Recognition is opt-in: if you would rather give anonymously, say so and we will keep your name off the donor listing.
Questions, receipts and records
For a duplicate receipt, a year-end statement, a W-9, our determination letter or anything else a finance department asks for, write to cq@usnara.org.
We are not able to give tax advice. What a gift does on your return depends on your own circumstances, so talk to your tax advisor.