Donation policy

RISEaid is a Utah nonprofit corporation · EIN 43-2334222 · 501(c)(3) application in progress.

RISEaid is based in Ogden, Utah. Every gift is made to RISEaid itself and supports our mission: walking with people through life's hardest transitions, from incarceration, foster care, addiction, homelessness, domestic violence and human trafficking, so they can enter society with confidence and hope.

You can see how we plan to use money and what we have spent on our financials page. Questions? Email hello@riseaid.org or call or text 888-860-RISE.

Online gifts go through Stripe, a secure payment company. You type your card or bank details on Stripe's checkout page, not ours. RISEaid never sees or stores your full card number.

• The smallest online gift is $5. For a gift over $25,000, please email us and we will help you directly.
• Covering card fees is your choice. If you check that box, we add a small amount so the fee doesn't come out of your gift. The full amount you pay counts as your gift.
• Stripe asks for a billing address. We use it to mail a handwritten thank-you card to first-time givers and some larger gifts, and to understand where support comes from.
• Dedications are optional. You can give in honor or memory of someone. We do not contact that person automatically. If you would like us to send a note, email us.
• Shop purchases are not donations. Buying RISEaid merch is a purchase. Those orders follow our shipping and returns policy.

When you choose Monthly, you join The Rise Circle. Stripe charges the same amount once a month until you change or stop it. You get an emailed receipt for each monthly payment.

To change or cancel, open any Rise Circle receipt and tap Manage your monthly gift. That button takes you to a secure Stripe page where you can update your card, change the amount or cancel. Changes take effect before your next charge.

If the button has expired or you can't find a receipt, email hello@riseaid.org or call or text 888-860-RISE. We will stop or change your monthly gift for you, usually within one business day, and we will never pressure you to stay.

Right after you give, we email a receipt. Please keep it. Each receipt shows the amount, the date, a receipt number, our name and city, and this statement: no goods or services were provided in exchange for your gift. That is the wording the IRS looks for on a written acknowledgment.

Where our tax status stands today: We're preparing our 501(c)(3) application. Talk to your tax advisor about deductibility until it's approved.

Here is the general rule. Once a new nonprofit files its 501(c)(3) application with the IRS within 27 months of forming and the IRS approves it, that approval usually reaches back to the date the nonprofit was formed. Gifts made during that time can then be deductible. While an application is pending, though, no one has advance assurance, and if the IRS does not approve it, gifts are not deductible as charitable contributions.

So we cannot promise that your gift is tax-deductible today. Please talk with your tax advisor. When the IRS decides, we will update this page and our receipts, and we will confirm the result in writing to donors.

Need a summary of everything you gave this year, or a copy of a lost receipt? Email us and we will send one.

Our donate form lets you choose Donate toward one of our programs: Incarceration, Foster Care, Addiction, Homelessness, Domestic Violence or Human Trafficking. If you leave it on Where it's needed most, your gift supports all of our work.

We honor your choice and record it with your gift. If a program is fully funded, changes or ends, or if we can't use the money there in a reasonable time, RISEaid may use your gift where it is needed most. Our board keeps final say over how every gift is used. This is called variance power, and it keeps your gift working instead of sitting still.

On our Rise Fund pages, members share their stories and the specific costs standing in their way, like a deposit, tools, tuition or a bus pass. Members ask for these pages themselves and sign a consent form. They can take their page down at any time.

A Rise Fund gift is a gift to RISEaid, made in honor of that member. It is not a gift to the member. Here is how it works:

• Your gift goes first toward the needs listed on that member's page, starting with the one you picked.
• Members never receive cash from donors. RISEaid decides how to meet each need.
• Any amount not used for this member's goal goes to the Rise Fund to help the next person starting over. That includes money left over once every listed need is met, and money for a need that is already covered, changes, or can't be used (for example, if the member steps away or takes the page down).
• RISEaid has discretion to use any unspent Rise Fund gift, including one given toward a specific member's goal, for the same purpose: helping our members start over.
• Gifts already made stay with RISEaid, even if a member's page comes down.

Why we work this way: under IRS rules, a gift earmarked for one specific person is treated as a gift to that person and is not a charitable contribution. Keeping full control and discretion is what lets RISEaid treat these as gifts to a charity. Your choice of member is a heartfelt preference we take seriously, not a binding instruction.

To keep people safe, some names are changed, and pages for survivors of domestic violence and trafficking never show a face, a city or a real name.

Gifts are generally final, because we put them to work quickly. But mistakes happen, and we will make them right.

• Duplicate or mistaken gifts: if you were charged twice, typed the wrong amount, or chose monthly by accident, contact us within 60 days and we will refund it.
• Other requests: contact us and we will look at each one with care. Gifts that have already been spent on a member's need may not be refundable.
• How refunds work: we refund to the same card or account through Stripe. Banks often take 5 to 10 business days to show it.
• Receipts after a refund: a refunded gift no longer counts as a donation, so please don't use that receipt for taxes.

If you don't recognize a charge from RISEaid, please contact us before disputing it with your bank. We can usually fix it faster.

Our donor wall thanks people by name. It is always your choice. Every gift starts out private (Donate anonymously), and you only appear on the wall if you pick Thank me by name on the wall.

• If you choose to be thanked, the wall shows the name and city you type, or your first name, last initial and city if you leave those blank.
• Your gift amount appears only if you check Show my gift amount.
• Anonymous gifts never appear on the wall.
• Each person shows once, for their latest gift, and names drop off after one year.
• Changed your mind? Email us and we will take your name down.

After you give, we send your receipt first. A few hours later, and over the following weeks, we may send a short series of thank-you notes that show what gifts like yours make possible. A founder reads and approves every one of these notes before it goes out.

Every thank-you note has a Stop these emails link. One click ends them. You will still get a receipt each time you give, because the law and your taxes may need it.

Our donate form has a box that says Send me the Rise Report (stories and updates, once a month). It starts out ticked, and you can untick it. We add you to The Rise Report, our monthly newsletter about people rising and where the money went, only if the box is still ticked when you give. If you unsubscribed before, giving again does not sign you back up. Every issue has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing does not affect your receipts.

We never sell, rent, trade or share our donor list. We use your information to process your gift, send receipts, thank you, and keep honest records. We share it only with the companies that help us do that, such as Stripe for payments and our email provider for receipts, or when the law requires it.

We keep gift records as long as tax and nonprofit laws require. To see, correct or remove what we hold about you, email us. Our privacy policy explains the details.

We believe in the spirit of the Donor Bill of Rights: you have a right to know how your gift is used, to see our financial information, to be thanked, and to have your information kept confidential.

Want to give by check, stock, a donor-advised fund, an employer match, or donated goods or services? Email hello@riseaid.org and we will send instructions and let you know what we can accept. Companies can also start on our partners page.

For gifts of goods or services, we will acknowledge what you gave, but we don't put a dollar value on it. Valuing a non-cash gift for taxes is up to you and your advisor.

Many states ask charities to register before they ask residents for gifts. RISEaid is completing its charitable solicitation registration with the Utah Division of Consumer Protection, and we will register in other states as their laws require.

Registration with any state does not mean that state endorses, approves or recommends RISEaid.

As each registration is completed, we will list that state's required disclosure statement here. You can also ask us for our most recent financial information at any time.