Important Information for Charity Donors

Posted/Revised: December 24, 2024


This page provides information required by California AB488 and other federal and state regulations. Topics covered include:

  • Role of Pledgeling Foundation
  • Disbursement Timelines
  • Alternate charities
  • Tax deductibility
  • Fees

We do not have (and are not required to have) charities’ prior written consent to receive and process donations that we are regranting to them – see “Charities Listed In Our Database” below.


Please refer to the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Acceptable Use Policy, and Cookie Policy for additional information about your use of our products and services. On this page, terms have the meanings assigned on the Terms of Service. In the event of a conflict between this page and our Terms of Service, the provision(s) in the Terms of Service will prevail.


If you have questions, contact us via help.pledge.to, where you can open a ticket or chat with our agents from 6am - 6pm Pacific time on weekdays.


Overview


Pledgeling Technologies provides a platform for processing Donations and facilitating Donation transactions. Our Services include systems that accept and process donations (“Donations”) from donors to 1) charities or 2) people or other eligible entities. This page describes elements of the former.


We have no control over any Charity, personal fundraiser host, or donor, their conduct, or the information they provide. We are not a financial, tax, or law firm – do not rely on information we provide to assess the implications of using the Services, especially making or receiving charitable donations. Consult your own professional advisors.


Donations to Charity


How It Works


The initial donation is to Pledgeling Foundation, a U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity, and Pledgeling Foundation will re-grant those Donations to one or more donor-selected charities or other qualifying tax-exempt organizations listed in the Pledgeling Foundation's database (a “Charity” or “Charities”). The regrant recommendation that apportions that Donation to one or more Charities is a “Recommendation” and the donation from Pledgeling Foundation to the Charity is a “Regrant.” Further detail is provided below.

  • Pledgeling Technologies, a “charitable fundraising platform,” provides the technology.
  • Pledgeling Foundation, a “platform charity,” is a registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity (the “Foundation”), The Foundation is an independent, tax-exempt nonprofit that is the initial recipient of all charity donations made through the Services.

Charities Listed In Our Database


Our Website or Services allow event hosts, prospective donors, and others to look up charities and obtain additional information about them, or may allow users to select one or more charities to receive Regrants of Donations.


In most cases, we do not have an agreement in place with a listed charity and those charities have not provided consent or permission for our listing them in our database and presenting them as eligible to receive regranted donations. Such consent is NOT required, since 1) our listing uses publicly available information, and 2) we will remove any charity from our listing if they so request. Our listing a charity does not constitute a solicitation on its behalf.

  • If any fundraiser page was created to promote peer-to-peer charitable fundraising, the contents of such pages may not have been reviewed or approved by the charity.

We expressly disclaim any liability or responsibility for the accuracy of information about any Charity, or whether that Charity will use Donations as described or in accordance with the law. We can not guarantee that all Charities are and will be who they say they are. NEITHER PLEDGELING NOR ITS AFFILIATES OR LICENSORS IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONDUCT, WHETHER ONLINE OR OFFLINE, OF ANY CHARITY IN THE SERVICE. Those responsibilities are solely with the Charity.


We review Charities to ensure that they are in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service or their domestic regulatory authority. If you become aware of any potential fraudulent activity, misuse of funds, or other indications that donations to a charity will not be used as represented, please contact us via the form at http://help.pledgeling.com.


Donor Responsibilities


If you are a donor, it is your responsibility to ensure that you are requesting that we regrant funds to the correct charity; and to understand how your money will be used by that charity.


Charitable Donations and Regrants


No refunds on charity donations. **Donations to Charities made through the Services are complete and final charitable gifts to the Foundation, and are not refundable.**To comply with federal tax laws and Internal Revenue Service regulations, the Foundation must have exclusive authority, discretion, and legal control over all Donations. In the case of user error, we may be able to reverse the transaction if funds have not already been regranted to the charity.


Fees. The amount of any Regrant will be based on the donor's Recommendation less applicable processing fees. See “Fees” below.


Timing of Payments to Charities. The Foundation may pool Regrants from multiple Users together, but will generally make Regrants to the advised Charity within 15 days of the end of the calendar month in which the initial donation was received. If the aggregate amountl to be paid to the Charity is less than $20, disbursement to the charity may take longer. Deliverability issues, whether due to postal mail or electronic payment problems, may also delay payment. Pledgeling reserves the right to establish minimum amounts and other restrctions for any Regrant.


Tracking Payments to Charities. Pledgeling Foundation’s email receipts include a link to a web page where the donor can see when their donation has been sent to the Charity, and for some payment methods, whether the charity has received it.


Tax Deductibility. We email IRS-compliant receipts for the initial donation to Pledgeling Foundation, a U.S. 501(c)(3) public charity, but the Donor’s tax situation will determine that donation’s deductibility. For instance, if the donor does not itemize their deductions on their federal tax return, a donation will not change the federal tax they owe. It is the Donor’s responsibility to understand the tax, legal, and other implications of their Donations.


Sending Donations to Alternate Charities. The Foundation makes reasonable efforts to respect the wishes of its donors and regrant donations to the Charity or Charities requested by the Donor. The most common reasons we are unable to complete this process are 1) the charity has lost its IRS tax-exempt status; 2) the charity closed, 3) the charity moved and we can not determine their new address. In the unusual event that donor's recommended Charity does not satisfy the Foundation’s criteria or we are unable to reasonably deliver payment, the Foundation may select an alternate Charity to receive those Donations. We will attempt to find an organization with a similar mission in the same geographic area.


Charity Donations are Unrestricted. The Services may offer a donor the ability to indicate preferences for specific use of the funds by a Charity in a Recommendation. Such preference will be noted in the communication to the Charity accompanying the Regrant, but this does not guarantee that funds will be used in a manner consistent with any such preference, and neither we nor the Foundation are responsible for or will be held liable for the ultimate handling of such preferences. You hereby acknowledge that any designation of a Donation's use is merely an expression of preference and does not give rise to any contractual obligations. Pledgeling reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove text from this field before it is provided to the designated Charity, for example, if Pledgeling deems it inappropriate, offensive or misrepresentative.


Our Fees


Payment Card Processing Fees


Deductions for payment card processing depend on the platform and product on which the donation originates. In general, any payment to us made via a payment card, whether intended for a charitable organization or personal fundraiser, is assessed a 2.9% + 30¢ charge. This amount is deducted from the amount regranted to the designated charity or paid to the personal fundraiser beneficiary and is primarily used to pay third party payment processor costs.


Exceptions:


  • For charity donations of less than $1,000 made using Pledge’s products on the Pledge platform: specifically, on Fundraiser Pages and Donation Forms on pledge.to, and our Zoom App available in the Zoom app store. On those charitable donations only, Pledge covers the 2.9% + 30¢ payment card fee.

  • If there is a “cover our costs” checkbox on the donation form and the donor checks it: the payment card amount is increased and the payment card processing fee is not deducted from the donation. See description in the next section.
  • If a commercial partner or sponsor has agreed to pay for payment card processing for donations on a specific site or to a specific cause or charitable organization: there is no charge for payment card fees.

Technology Fee for Individual Donations


In cases where there is no optional tip on a donation form, there is a 5% Technology Fee deducted from the amount regranted to the designated charity or paid to the personal fundraiser beneficiary.


Exceptions:


  • Tips and the Technology Fee are mutually exclusive (see below)
  • The donor may may see an option to “cover our costs.” If selected, the payment card processing and technology fees will be added on top of the donation / contribution amount, and the donor will pay the combined total. In that case, those fees are not deducted from the donation prior to regranting.
  • One of our commercial partners or sponsors may pay for the payment card processing and technology fees for donation forms hosted on a specific site or to a specific cause or charitable organization.
  • Employee engagement programs have a separate fee structure per an agreement between the employer and Pledgeling.

Tips


If a donation form has a line item for tips, there is no Technology Fee. The tip is optional and can be adjusted by the donor, including to $0.00. The tip is displayed prior to the donor approving the charge to their payment card. Tips are in addition to the donation amount so do not affect the amount reaching the charitable organization or personal fundraiser beneficiary. Because tips flow immediately to a for-profit service provider, under IRS rules they are not tax deductible to the donor.


Per-payment Fees for Disbursements to US Charitable Organizations


At the end of every calendar month, we calculate the amounts received for every charitable organization, net of the fees above, and send US charitable organizations payment for all amounts greater than $20. We charge a $5 processing fee per ACH payment or paper check.


Fees for Disbursements to Charitable Organizations Outside the US


For payments to non-US charities not registered as 501c3 organizations with the IRS, we partner with international nonprofits who handle the disbursements to the recipients. They typically charge a 5% fee against the amount of the donations that we send to them, although different providers may have different rates. They may aggregate payments due to a specific organization across multiple months in order for the disbursements to be economic. The timing of their disbursements is outside of our control.