Pivot to focus on individual givers #941

chadwhitacre · 2016-12-14T15:36:48Z

I know @timothyfcook has pitched this before, though I don't find a ticket. He wants to manage all of his charitable giving in one place: could Gratipay be that place? The idea would be that the giver would become our customer (the one whose pain point we're addressing). We would collect funds from them and make a lump payment to the charities they direct.

(I think we should still make another go at funding open source, so I'm not suggesting we pivot today. I'm floating this idea now to return to later if funding open source doesn't work out.)

In a strong version of this, we wouldn't even ask permission from the charities first. They're already charities soliciting donations. We would be paying them via whatever channels they already advertise on their own websites. (Btw, that's a page out of HackerOne's book: the directory.) Would we be able to get our own 501(c)(3) status in order to preserve tax-deductibility for our customers? If not, would we be able to preserve tax-deductibility for our customers some other way? Would this qualify as a commercial co-venture?

Can a for profit collect donations on behalf of a non-profit and those donations be tax deductible for the donor.

I'm looking into starting a website that helps raise funds for small organizations and don't want the company to be a non-profit as it would limit the ability for it expand. I wish to start it by collecting funds online to give to these organizations and would make money by charging a percentage of the funds collected. There are already websites out here that do this.

Yes, but there are statutes and regulations, including disclosures about the percentage of money that the nonprofit earns, and there are registration requirements for professional fundraisers, etcetera.

There are many professional fundraising companies, with various technologies and capabilities. You should educate yourself about the regulations which would affect such a business, along with obtaining an informed understanding of the competition and capital costs, including complying with regulations to protect financial and personal information of donors, etcetera. Good luck!

I agree with the previous answer. Be aware that some states require that bonds be obtained, that professional fundraisers register and pay filing fees, that contract with clients contain specific language, . . . . You must familiarize yourself with the various regulations so that you do not get yourself or the charities that you work with in any trouble.

https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-a-for-profit-collect-donations-on-behalf-of-a--531145.html