Business Donations

I have a complicated question. I work for a cellular company in Minnesota. If we collect used phones from our area are we able to donate those to a charity and then claim them as a deduction? I guess the question is can we as a business and the person who is donating them both write off the same phone that is donated? If not, in that case if we were to give some sort of compensation to the donator could we then write off the compensation and donation? If then what other restrictions would apply?

Thanks

You cannot collect the phones without paying for them and then get a deduction for contributing them to charity. If you act as an agent of the donors in contributing the phones, and if you do not compensate the donors in any way, then the donors would be able to take the deduction.
If you pay the donors cash for the phones and then contribute the phones to charity, you can deduct the amount you paid for the phones.