Legal Question in Banking Law in Illinois

It's up to the church, but I don't think they'll want to.

1. If you gave the money to this person directly, it is a gift; gift tax may be payable.

2. Normally without the formalities of setting up some kind of charitable fund that meets the tests of charitable funding, you can't make a donation to a charity and demand they pay it out to a third party, take a tax deduction, etc.

3. If the IRS caught wind of it, this could be considered tax evasion and the church could be considered complicit.

Nice try.

Why don't you tell her you came into some "clean" money. While it may be a white lie, you don't have to pay the kind of games you're thinking of, although gift tax may still be payable.