A wonderful way to love your community through service is by collecting donations on behalf of other organizations. This can be non-monetary goods or monetary donations. You can use Subsplash Giving to facilitate monetary donations that will benefit other organizations.
Collecting donations on behalf of others is pretty straightforward. However, we’ve all heard stories about charity fraud; watched religious leaders be investigated by the government; lawsuits from former congregation members for misuse of funds or obfuscation of donation beneficiaries.
We want to help you make the donation process as transparent and above-board as possible. Here are our best practice recommendations to ensure that donations on behalf of others comply with federal laws and regulations, as well as helping your donors understand exactly to whom and through whom they are giving. Clear communication with your donors about collecting donations that will benefit another organization will help prevent many potential donor issues.
Best Practices
DO make it very clear to your donors that they are giving money to your church to be used for/distributed to another organization. Make it clear that they are not giving directly to the other organization and will receive the tax receipt from your church, not the other organization. Good, clear communication has never hurt anyone!
DO NOT name the fund exactly the name of the organization it will be going to. For example:
Boys and Girls Club of Renton
Union Gospel Mission
DO name the fund something generic and communicate in other ways who it will benefit, or name it something very descriptive. For example:
Community Outreach Fund or World Outreach Fund
Rover Lake Church Community Care & Causes
Jeremiah Fund (reference Jeremiah 29:7 with a focus on investing in your local community)
Interbay Community Church Loves Seattle
Winter Outreach Fund benefitting Boys and Girls Club of Renton
Christmas blessings for Union Gospel Mission
Backpack Donation Drive for Lawton Elementary Students
Sunny City Church serves Northwest Harvest
DO consider encouraging donors to give directly to the benefiting organization, so that these charities can keep even more money. While Subsplash Giving is always happy to process all of your donations, direct donations benefit the chosen organizations the most!
Tip! If you choose a generic fund name, communicate via your app, pulpit, social media, or other means as to which organization will be blessed by the fund. Push notifications are great for this!
Tip! A descriptive fund name is an ideal tie-in for a whole volunteer event or campaign your congregation does with the benefitting organization. People could serve with their time (cleaning, serving meals, etc) collect and/or donate non-monetary donations (canned food, clothing, hygiene products), or serve via monetary donations.