Nonprofit Expenses

You can take a tax deduction for costs you pay out of pocket to provide services to a charity.  This can potentially include use of your home, but you will have to do some work to prove it.

For starters, you can't deduct anything for the temporary use of your home or other property.  You can only deduct something you pay for that is used up by the charity, or that becomes property of the charity.  That means that if you use your computer and printer for the charity, you can deduct ink and paper that you use up, but you can't deduct for the partial value of the computer, unless you donate the computer to the charity and it becomes their permanently-owned property that they can do with as they wish.

You also need some kind of written acknowledgement from the charity as to the services you provided.  This letter does not need to attest to specific cost, but it should specify what services you provided free of charge.  And if you are an officer or closely related to the charity, that letter should be signed by someone else in authority, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest (you should not sign your own letter).

There are two theories on deducting costs, and I have seen Tax Court cases use both theories.  One theory is proportional cost.  That is, if 10% of the service is related to the charity, you can deduct 10% of your cost.   You need to have some kind of reliable records to prove the cost.  How could you prove that 10% of your trash disposal service, or electricity, was for the charity?  It's not impossible, but it may be difficult to develop proof that you can take to an audit.

The other theory is the "but for" rule.  To be deductible, you need to be able to say "but for the charity, I would not have paid this cost."  (If not for the charity, I would not have this cost.). For example, if you pay for trash pickup for your personal needs, that is your personal cost even if you also dispose of the charity's trash.  If the charity does not increase the cost, nothing is deductible.    If you pay extra because of the charity, that extra cost is deductible as a donation.  

The IRS really looks down on self-dealing.  You don't want to try turning personal expenses into deductible donations unless that's what is really happening and you can have someone independent verify that.  If you are a decision-maker with the charity, you should have another decision-maker who is not you, approve of your donations, to create the independence the IRS will want to see.