Mi Yodeya is a question and answer site for those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
If one orders an item to donate to a charitable organization, such as a shul or Yeshiva, and wants to deduct the value of the item from his ma'aser money, can he deduct the shipping costs?
Does it make a difference if he could have picked the item up in the store and saved on shipping, but for his own convenience (or time constraints) chose not to?
If we generalize a bit I understand you are asking if expenses related to tzedakah count as tzedakah, with a subcase being when expenses are for the convenience of the donor.
Eretz Hemda addresses a very similar scenario
For sure, the full amount [you spend which] counts. It is rare to give donations where there are not costs in some form and usually there is no way to avoid or to calculate how much.
In general, it is how much you spend on it. For example, you can count toward maaser the stamp and envelope (if you still send that way), even if I don't know I would suggest being that exacting.
R Shimon Taub in The laws of tzedakah and maaser (p. 104) says a charity collector is permitted to deduct from the tzedakah account any expenses that were incurred to enable the tzedakah fund to function. I think the analogy holds here as well.
