If you want to do charity and help some one don't make them your tenant.

If charities won't help, why would you?

Lots of great answers here, but these are mine:1) To be able to have a bigger impact on more people in this world, primarily though supporting Christian-based charities, and missionaries, through investing both time and financial resources.2) To enable my teenage son to a) pursue whatever he is passionate about in life, whether it pays well or not and have a significant impact on others.  

I'm looking to pick up a property that was donated to a charity.

I want to give all the nice furniture to a charity and rent it for $1000 less.

And, no, I do not see REI as humanitarian or charity work, but am I clueless thinking it could be at least a neutral activity regarding the welfare of others?? 

If your youth group has an altruistic purpose you might also talk about treating charity as a specific piece of your financial budget and actively chosing giving by evaluating things like operating costs and purposes of a charity.

I am considering donating some weekend stays at my vacation rental for some charity events.

Vash,keep in mind that when you invest in an active business with a retirement account the income will be taxed at UBIT rate, here are more details:https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/unrelate...The rate for UBIT tops at almost 40% so be sure to run this with experienced CPA in order to understand the tax impact.

Alternatively, they can use a Charitable Remainder Trust to get a big tax deduction, pull out annual income, benefit a charity of their choice.