Originally Posted by
joypulv
As far as anyone I know who was a dba...
"d/b/a" is not a noun. It is not a thing. The phrase means, of course, "doing business as", as in "John Smith, doing business as 'Smith's Widgets' ". John Smith might be a sole proprietor, but people who buy widgets from him know is store as "Smith's Widgets". Similarly, if OP's non-profit corporation does business as (some phrase), that doesn't affect who is responsible. Whether the IRS will allow people, who have made charitable donations to the non-profit, to deduct those donations is what 501 (c) (3) recognition is all about. A review of the IRS bulletins and manuals on the subject might answer the question.