Legal Question in Business Law in California

As you seem to know, your group would be ineligible for "S" corporation status. For non-S corporations, the limit for charitable contribution deductions is 10% of taxable income, with some limited exceptions. Your best bet is to get IRS Form 1120 and its instruction booklet, both available on line. This will give you the basic rules and an opportunity to do some pro-forma tax estimating. Note that the donee organization(s) must be bona fide qualified tax-exempt organizations on the IRS list.

As to LLCs, the IRS does not have a general category for them yet; they generally are treated as partnerships and file partnership returns, but can elect to be taxed as corporations. This may suggest that an LLC is the better way to go, but I advise you to have a face-to-face consultation with a tax advisor before adopting your business plan, because it may contain some risks and pitfalls.

Unless your lawyer is also a qualified tax advisor, you need to seek out reliable tax advice and consultation before getting legal advice. Feel free to contact me for the legal help in incorporating and setting up the company properly, but you and I will rely on your tax advisor to determine the proper form for the company to suit your purposes.