I recall that the 529 section specifically addresses that one can make a gift to a charity and that the charity can set up a 529 and in effect name a beneficiary later or change it w/o family rules.
There need not be a gift--you can raid your cash if there is too much.
The only thing that I didn't see was that a owner could turn over a 529 and claim a deduction.
But the best move is to solicit appreciated stocks etc where the donor gets advantage of stepped up basis for donation, and then the group sets up 529's upon salke of same--still need cash to put in.
Very little is written--go read the actual code/regs via Joe's site.