I'm not a tax expert and I'm not an accountant. But I imagine that sending money intended for the Red Cross would be treated as a gift to the Red Cross, and Randy wouldn't be showing income on his books but rather revenue and a payable... for all intents and purposes you'd be making a gift to the Red Cross. I assume that would fly just fine.

(Although you may not have direct knowledge that Randy is forwarding the funds, and I do trust him completely on this, I assume you'd be similarly alright handing your brother $100 in cash and telling him to drop it in the collection plate for you. And you should be permitted to rely on that.)

Here's one rub though -- for any contribution of greater than $250 you need a receipt from the charity in order to claim the deduction on your taxes. So the Red Cross would need your name and address and they would have to send you the acknowledgement.

Randy, do you know if the Red Cross will be individually acknowledging folks who contribute? (Otherwise, if the deduction is a necessary component of a decision to make a gift, one might want to keep gift amounts under $250.)