You don't need to register as a non-profit, but doing so may afford additional tax benefits to your donors. Charitable organizations exist in The United States

You don't need to register as a non-profit, but doing so may afford additional tax benefits to your donors. Charitable organizations exist in The United States. The unsupported claim that it is impossible and that 'capitalism' is preventing charity, is probably what made this thread so inflammatory. The statement laments the state's regulations (which don't prevent charity in any case) while blaming markets. From my side this reads as a non-sequitur. History tells a different story in regards to mutual aid societies. It wasn't markets which prohibited mutual aid, but the state itself. >Mutual aid, also known as fraternalism, refers to social organizations that gathered dues and paid benefits to members facing hardship. >For instance, in New York City in 1909 40 percent of families earning less than $1,000 a year, little more than the "living wage," had members who were in mutual-aid societies. >The first major blow against fraternalism occurred when the American Medical Association gained control of the licensing of medical schools. In 1912, a number of state medical boards formed the Federation of State Medical Boards, which accepted the AMA's ratings of medical schools as authoritative. The AMA quickly rated many schools as "unacceptable." Consequentially, the number of medical schools in America dropped from 166 in 1904 to 81 in 1918, a 51 percent drop.18 The increased price of medical services made it impractical for many lodges to retain the services of a doctor. Medical boards also threatened many doctors with being stripped of their licenses if they practiced lodge medicine. >The next most damaging piece of legislation was the Mobile Law. The Mobile Law required that mutual aid societies show a gradual improvement in reserves. Until this time, societies had tended to keep low reserves in order to pay the maximum benefits possible to members. High reserve requirements made it difficult for societies to undercut traditional insurance companies. The Mobile Law also required a doctor's examination for all lodge members and forbade all "speculative" enterprises such as the extension of credit to members. By 1919, the Mobile Law had been enacted in 40 states. Further examples of regulatory capture follow. https://mises.org/library/welfare-welfare-state https://mises.org/library/welfare-welfare-state