Donor FAQs

 

What nonprofits are currently available on the CaringCent platform?

Does CaringCent verify all the Nonprofits listed on its site?

What types of credit cards does Caringcent accept and does it have to be an online account?

Can anyone use CaringCent to make donations to a nonprofit?

Is CaringCent secure?

What does it cost to use CaringCent?  What is the fee structure?

Is my donation tax deductible?

What is the process for signing up?

 

If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!

 

What nonprofits are currently available on the CaringCent platform?

All 1.8 million registered 501(c)3 nonprofits are available for supporting via the CaringCent platform!

 

Are the Nonprofits listed on CaringCent verified?

Yes – CaringCent goes the extra mile to make sure that all charitable nonprofits available on CaringCent are verified against the IRS list of registered 501(c)3 charitable nonprofits.

Additionally, CaringCent vets the list against the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to ensure that no CaringCent listed organization is on this overriding government watch list.

 

What types of credit cards does Caringcent accept and does it have to be an online account?

CaringCent accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards which have online access and are issued by U.S. Banks and some foreign banks.  Excluded are most foreign issued cards, pre-paid cards and cards issued exclusively for a “retail” chain (like a Macy’s card or Home Depot card).  Additionally, the bank issuing the credit/debit card must be covered by one of our financial technology partners; however, we have coverage of well over 95% of all U.S. card issuing banks.

 

Can anyone use CaringCent to make donations to a nonprofit?

Absolutely – anyone who has a valid credit or debit card can register.  In order to have your credit or debit card enrolled for the “roundup” functionality, you will need to have a card for which you have online access to the account, as that is how we are able to receive data on the transactions to apply the roundup technology.

No online access?  No worry — you can still register and enroll your non-online credit or debit card and simply set a monthly recurring donation amount that is equal to the average monthly rounding amount (or for any amount you wish – minimum $10) to your selected nonprofit.  This amount will be charged to your enrolled payment card. You can also make a one-time donation at any time!

 

Is CaringCent secure?

CaringCent places security as paramount to our mission. Any financial data entered by donors (eg, Credit Card number, expiration date, account usernames and passwords) are passed directly in an encrypted format directly to our ultra secure financial technology partners.   CaringCent does not store bank login or account information, credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, CSV codes or even billing addresses on our servers.  As a comparison, our platform is as – or more – secure than the donation platform available on non-profits’ websites.  In addition, we will never sell or rent your personal identifiable information to anyone – heck, as a security precaution, we don’t even have it to sell!

 

What does it cost to use CaringCent?  What is the fee structure?

Registering with CaringCent is free for all donors –no enrollment fee or annual contract is required!  A minimum monthly donation to the donor’s supported organization of $5.00 or the donor’s monthly roundup amount, whichever is greater, is applied and will be charged to a donor’s funding card.  This donation will be made to the Organization of the donor’s choice on a monthly basis as outlined in this document.

To cover operations and support, technology partner fees, ongoing application development and all credit/debit card and ACH/bank processing fees, CaringCent assesses a fee of 8% plus the cost of card processing (estimated at 2.9% plus .30 per processing transaction) on all funds processed through CaringCent. The fees are netted back from the funds processed for an Organization per their agreement with CaringCent so a donor is never hit with any additional charges. Donors may also have the option to cover the card processing fees. If this option is enabled, a donor will have the card processing fees added to their donation amount, thereby increasing the donation to the nonprofit by covering those fees themselves.

CaringCent processes the donations for enrolled Organizations on a monthly basis, after the donation funds have been received from the donors.  Additionally, when the Organization receives funds from CaringCent, it is fully “processed” with no extra card processing or ACH fees – just the cash free and clear.

The finer details:  Due to the high cost of credit card processing over which CaringCent has no control, CaringCent does not process donations under $5.  In this manner, CaringCent can provide much greater value to the Organizations and not cannibalize valuable donation dollars with excessive card processing fees.  The donor also has the ability to control the amount of their maximum monthly contribution through the roundup program to any amount $5 or greater per month (simply set the Maximum Contribution Cap in your Donor Dashboard to an amount that is comfortable).  If a donor has excess roundups that are above the set maximum monthly contribution, those roundups will be carried over to future months; thereby a donor does not lose any roundup capability.

In the scenario that the Organization you have selected to support has not yet enrolled with CaringCent, your donation will still be sent to the Organization; however, the fee structure for non-enrolled Organizations is 15% plus the cost of card processing.  These fees will be reduced to the standard fee structure listed above once the Organization enrolls with CaringCent.  The additional fees are to cover the additional cost required to validate the Organization’s status, gather required contact and Organization information, and physically print and mail donation checks to the Organization. Donations will be sent to the Organization once they have reached an aggregate amount of $50 or more.  Should an Organization not enroll with CaringCent within 90 days, CaringCent reserves the right to cancel future donations to such an Organization at their sole discretion.

Please consult with your tax professional or advisor on any matters related to the potential for tax deductibility on any portion of your donation and/or other taxable matters.

 

Is my donation tax deductible?

With changing tax laws, a Donor should verify whether a donation, or portion of the donation, is tax deductible with their tax professional or advisor as every donor’s status can vary.  If the Organization you are donating to is a US-Based 501(c)3 charitable organization, your CaringCent donation, or portion thereof, may be tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

One of the great things about donating through CaringCent is there is a record of all your donations, available at the click of a button. Unlike other checkout counter donations and many crowdfunding site donations, YOU retain any applicable tax deduction for your donations. Reports for tax purposes are found through your Donor Dashboard in the reporting section.

 

What is the process for signing up?

CaringCent has been designed to be not only easy and painless, but fun for donors! Once you have signed up through a quick registration process, you select the organization you want to donate to, and that’s it! You can sit back and let CaringCent handle your regular donations to your favorite charity, or you can be actively involved—sharing your organization’s efforts and successes, competing with your friends, and possibly winning rewards if your organization offers them!  Ready to get started?  Sign up here!