CHARITY FAQs
Why should my Charity use CrowdRise? Back to Top
CrowdRise is meant to complement your Charity's website and existing fundraising and volunteering activitites. Our goal is to (1) give you an extremely easy platform to create compelling, viral fundraising campaigns that raise new money for your Charity, (2) give you a way to turn your donors, supporters, and volunteers into Fundraisers by asking them to create their own free fundraising pages on CrowdRise, (3) let you use our Promotions to incentivize your donors and fundraisers to raise more money with a greater sense of urgency, (4) make volunteering and fundraising fun.
Are there start-up costs? Back to Top
Your charity pays nothing to get started on CrowdRise. You can build a super compelling page for your Charity on CrowdRise in about 2 minutes and you don't need any programmers, IT staff or graphic designers. We make it so easy you won't even believe it. During the sign up process, you'll claim your charity and then have the option of signing up for a free Basic Account, a $49/month Featured Account, or a $199/month Royale Account. View Account Types. CrowdRise charges Transaction Fees on donations to ensure a secure charitable giving system, process credit card payments, and develop, maintain, and host the Site, plus other value-added services to give you the best platform in the world to raise money for charity. You'll also have the option of receiving your donations through Network for Good or through your own Amazon Payments account.
What are the Transaction Fees? Back to Top
CrowdRise is designed to help Volunteers and Fundraisers answer the call to service, raise money for Charity, and have the most fun in the world while doing it. To make sure that we don't go out of business trying to help everyone raise lots of money for Charity, CrowdRise charges Transaction Fees on donations. There are three account types for charities to choose from, and pricing differs for each. Transaction Fee pricing ranges from a flat 4.95% charge on each donation, to a 4.95% charge on each donation plus $1 on each donation, to a 5% charge on each donation plus $1 on donations under $25 and $2.50 on donations $25 and over. To see the exact pricing options Charities have to choose from, we made this gorgeous chart of Charity Account Types to make it really easy. This pricing INCLUDES all credit card fees so there are no additional credit card fees charged on the donations. If you have any questions, please email us at falco@crowdrise.com and we'll give you the greatest customer service in the world.
The Transaction Fees cover CrowdRise's costs associated with processing credit card payments and developing, maintaining and hosting the Site, plus other value-added services so we can give you the best platform in the world to raise money for Charity. Our goal is to give you an interactive, social, and fun platform for you to raise money and attract supporters in new, unique, viral ways. Compared to other online competitors, and, compared to traditional ways of fundraising like sending direct mail or putting on a charity dinner, both of which we encourage you to keep doing, CrowdRise is an inexpensive and efficient way to raise money for charity. Charities usually spend 20%-30% of every dollar they raise to get people to donate, leaving less for them to use to do all the amazing things they do around the world. CrowdRise charges a fraction of that amount so we're a really good deal for charities and donors supporting them, and we're free to use. We think our website, user experience and tools are so good that you'll more than cover your transaction fees with the extra money you'll raise through CrowdRise. We can't guarantee that but we feel really good about it and we've seen it happen over and over for our very satisfied charities.
What is the Processing Fee? Back to Top
The Processing Fee is entirely optional. When applicable, it is paid for by the donor. CrowdRise is able to offer lower transaction fee options to charities because generous donors choose to leave a processing fee. The optional Processing Fee defaults to 10% and the donor can adjust to zero at their discretion before processing their donation. The optional processing fee helps cover the charities' and CrowdRise's costs associated with (i) providing "the best customer service in the world"; (ii) providing a secure charitable giving system; (iii) vetting nonprofits through Guidestar's third party web service; and (iv) all other business expenses including, but not limited to, legal fees, insurance, the best staff on the planet, and staple removers.
Processing Fees charged through Network for Good are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law and will show up on your credit card under the name Network for Good. CrowdRise also shares part of the Processing Fee with Network for Good. The Processing Fee charged through Amazon Payments is not tax deductible and will show up on your credit card statement under the name CrowdRise. I know we said it already but it's so important we want to say it again. CrowdRise is able to offer lower Transaction Fees to Charities because generous donors leave a Processing Fee.
Click here to check out our transaction fees and charity account options.
How does my charitable organization get its money? Back to Top
Your organization can choose to receive its donations through Network for Good or Amazon Payments. If you set up your own Amazon Payments account, which is really easy, you'll receive better pricing and you'll receive your donations less the Transaction Fee in real time directly to your Amazon Payments bank account. Amazon Payments is not affiliated with CrowdRise and they offer best in class security and service. If you choose to use Network for Good, they send payments to charities on the 15th of each month that include all donations made in the previous month. For example, donations processed in October will be paid on November 15th. Charities will receive their payments less the Transaction Fee. If you use Network for Good, the check is sent to the address that the Charity has on file with GuideStar. Charities will be responsible for taxes based on their net income or gross receipts. These payment schedules are subject to change at any time at the sole discretion of CrowdRise.
What information does CrowdRise provide to my nonprofit? Back to Top
We know how important the information on your donors and fundraisers is to your organization and we provide you with everything you'd ever want. As a charity on CrowdRise, you will have access to the following information when someone donates to your charity through CrowdRise: name, email, physical address, amount of donation, the date/time the donation occurred and the CrowdRise fundraiser that generated the donation should the donation have come through a CrowdRise fundraiser. Note that donors can choose to Donate Anonymously. You have the ability to sort these items in you "Account Manager" tab along with the ability to download them into Excel reports for importing into your donor database.
Are donations Secure for our Donors? Back to Top
This will sound really official because we know how important it is. CrowdRise processes donations through Network for Good and Amazon Payments. Amazon Payments is not affiliated with CrowdRise and they offer best in class security. Network for Good is not affiliated with CrowdRise. Network for Good uses industry-leading Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. Network for Good, who processes the credit card donations, is a Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance accredited charity that meets all of the BBB standards for charity accountability. They have processed more than $400 million in donations for 50,000 charities through their giving system. When donors checkout through CrowdRise, they agree to the CrowdRise Terms of Use, CrowdRise Privacy Policy, the Network for Good Privacy Notice and Network for Good User Agreement, and the Amazon Payments Privacy Policy and Amazon Payments User Agreement.
How do I set up my Charity on CrowdRise? Back to Top
Select "Sign Up" on the upper left of the homepage and then at the bottom, click on the link that says: "If you're a Nonprofit Organization and want to claim your charity, Click Here" and then fill out your charity details. You can search for your charity by name, keywords or Tax ID. On the next page, it will ask you to determine whether you want a free Basic Account, Featured Account, or Royale Account. Please select one of those options. In order to protect your charity's privacy and security, we'll contact you through the phone number listed with GuideStar or on your Charity's website or via email that we get from your Charity's website to give you a super secret Pin Number which you'll use to complete the Charity Sign Up process. All of this can be done in about 2 minutes and then your charity can start turning your grassroots supporters into grassroots fundraisers. The super secret Pin Number is needed if you want to have access to your charity donor report. Please Contact us with all questions.
What's the difference between a Free Basic Charity Account, a Featured Charity Account
and a Royale Charity Account? Back to Top
Our pricing is already great but Featured and Royale charities get preferred pricing so they can keep more of the money donated to their charity. Also, as a Featured or Royale Charity, your charitable organization will be featured throughout the CrowdRise website and emails. Plus, your donors will receive double CrowdRise points for every dollar they donate. So, if a donor were to raise $100, for example, for any of the Featured Charities, they would receive 2,000 CrowdRise Points and CrowdRise Impact Points. That way, your supporters will be more likely to want to donate to your charity so they can also receive more points which they can use toward CrowdRise Rewards. Featured and Royale Charities receive premium account support, which means we send you super secret contact info so you can talk and email with real CrowdRise humans so fast you’ll probably ask to be put on hold just to enjoy our hold music. If all that’s not good enough, Featured and Royale Charities receive a 1-Year Guarantee. That means if you aren’t satisfied with anything for any reason in your first year, let us know and we’ll make a donation to your charity up to the amount you paid for your account. Finally, Royale Charity Accounts offer a fully custom solution so you can brand your fundraising events and campaigns with custom emails and page design. Learn more by checking out the Charity Account Types.
Why can't I find my Charity on CrowdRise? Back to Top
Crowdrise uses a third-party web-service from GuideStar that contains information on over 1 million US-based 501(c)3 nonprofits. If you can't find your nonprofit on CrowdRise, first try searching by your EIN (Tax ID) since that's the most accurate way to search. If you still can't find your nonprofit, here's what you need to know: GuideStar receives a file from the IRS an average of 11 times a year of organizations who are deemed eligible to be listed as a nonprofit so it will take at most, a month and a half before your nonprofit can be automatically included in the GuideStar database.
What is GuideStar? Back to Top
GuideStar collects information on nonprofits from the IRS and other sources and organizes it into one of the most respected databases of information about nonprofits. To qualify for a Charity Account on CrowdRise, nonprofits must be in the GuideStar database and recognized as a US-based 501(c)3 nonprofit.
What is Network for Good? Back to Top
Network for Good is a nonprofit that makes it easy for donors to support any charity, anywhere online and that helps nonprofits raise funds for their missions through simple, affordable and effective online fundraising services, including donation processing and email outreach tools. Through partnership with corporations, Network for Good enables charitable giving solutions on company websites like CrowdRise. Network for Good is a Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance accredited charity that has processed over $400 million in donations for more than 50,000 nonprofits since its 2001 founding by AOL, Cisco and Yahoo!. When you and your donors use Network for Good, you agree to the CrowdRise Terms of Use, CrowdRise Privacy Policy, the Network for Good Privacy Notice and Network for Good User Agreement.
What is Amazon Payments? Back to Top
If your charity chooses to receive donations through an Amazon Payments account, Donors will make their donations using the Amazon Payments trusted credit card processing service. The donation will be deposited in the charities' Amazon Payments Account less the Transaction Fee. Charities have immediate ownership over their donations and can electronically transfer the funds from their Amazon Payments Account to their Charity's Bank Account per the Amazon User Agreement. Charities will be responsible for taxes based on their net income or gross receipts.
How do I change the address where my Charity's check is sent? Back to Top
To change the address listed for your nonprofit profile in GuideStar, click here or email nposervices@guidestar.org. Updates to that form will be shared with CrowdRise and Network for Good for future payments.
I received a check from Network for Good and want more information. Back to Top
If you received a check from Network for Good on behalf of CrowdRise and want the details of the donor information, you can login to Network for Good's donation tracking report. You will need to establish a login using your charity's nine-digit EIN (Tax ID) number. Once you are registered, you will have access to a real-time online report detailing information about your donors who have chosen to share their contact information. You can also create or login to your CrowdRise Charity Account and export all donor information. If you have any questions about your check, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) or donations, contact Network for Good customer service at crowdrise@networkforgood.org or call 888.284.7978 or email CrowdRise at quintas@crowdrise.com.
How do I sign up for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) with Network for Good? Back to Top
To get your donations more quickly (and to save paper), have them sent to you electronically via EFT. You can Sign Up for EFT Here.
How do I remove my Charity from the CrowdRise website?Back to Top
Crowdrise uses a third-party web-service from GuideStar that contains information on over 1 million 501(c)3 nonprofits to populate its website. To remove your charity from CrowdRise, simply send an email to nposervices@guidestar.org and simply tell them to remove your charity from their third-party web service and you'll be removed within 24-48 hours. We want to give you the greatest service in the world and we're here to help you so if you have questions or want any help with anything, email us at falco@crowdrise.com.
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