Help & FAQs
- What’s the Community Impact Portal?
- The Community Impact Portal enables our friends, family and customers to donate to vetted causes that are driving positive change. The portal is powered by Benevity, a software company that creates giving, volunteering and grant-making solutions for companies around the globe.
- What is a cause?
- A cause is a term we use to define a non-profit or charitable organisation.
- How do I use my charitable gift card?
- On the top menu bar, go to the Redeem a Gift Card page and enter the code from your gift card. The amount from the card will then be available to donate by clicking on any Redeem Gift Card button on the site.
- NOTE: When your gift card expires, the funds will no longer be available for donating.
- How do I make a donation?
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- Select Donate Now for one of the featured giving opportunities or search for a cause you want to donate to.
- Add your donation amount and method of payment.
- Enter your credit card information or choose PayPal to process your payment. The charge will appear on your credit card as Benevity Online Donations.
- Why does it say that the match is estimated?
- Because the match is only available if there are still matching funds remaining. Sometimes companies set a limit on how much money they can match. Also, although rare, if multiple donors finalise their payment at the same time, one of the donations might use the last of the available matching funds before the system has time to update.
- Who gets the tax benefit for the matched portion of the donation?
- The company who provided the match receives any available tax benefits. The donation, including the match amount, is in your name.
- Will I receive a receipt for my donation?
- Yes. We’ll email either a tax receipt or a donation acknowledgement receipt to the email address that you provided at the time of payment. Receipts cannot be modified or reissued after your donation is complete, so make sure your account details are accurate before donating.
- Which donations may receive an official tax receipt?
- Benevity provides tax-effective giving in the following countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- If you live in one of these countries and donate to a cause from the same country, you may be eligible for a tax benefit.
- What is a donation acknowledgement receipt?
- It’s a simple receipt acknowledging that your donation was processed successfully. It is not an official tax receipt. If you think your donation should be tax effective, please consult with a tax advisor to determine the deductibility or tax treatment of your gifts.
- Where does the information on my receipt come from?
- The information on the receipt comes directly from the information you entered in the donation form.
- How much of my personal information will be shared with my chosen cause?
- Your cause will receive your postcode, but not your name, email address or receipt address.
- Can I request a refund for my donation?
- No. All donations are final.
- I made a donation through the Community Impact Portal, but the tax receipt was issued by a foundation. Why is that?
- As a part of the donation process, Benevity’s foundation partners automatically issue all of the tax receipts through our donor-advised fund partners. We do this to save the cause the time and cost of having to issue receipts themselves. Because the foundation will receive the donation before disbursing it to your chosen charity, your receipts will show the foundation as the recipient of each donation.
- I’m an employee. Can I donate through Community Impact Portal instead of logging in to Benevity Spark?
- Yes, but then your donation will not be eligible for internal company matches or rewards. To take advantage of these additional benefits, we recommend you give using your company’s Spark account.
- How do the causes receive my donation?
- Benevity partners with a small number of foundations that receive donations and make grants to non-profits. We will combine your donation with all other donations made to the same cause – individual and company donations. Disbursements will be sent the month after your donation. At the end of every month, they’ll receive the combined donations in a single disbursement.
- Receiving funds in this way is easier for organisations to manage, meaning that they spend less on administrative overhead. The cause receives your donation, and any applicable matching funds, while Benevity’s foundation partner issues the tax receipts.
- What happens if my chosen charity does not receive my donation?
- In the rare case that the foundation cannot disburse the funds to the cause you selected, the foundation will distribute the funds to an alternative eligible cause.
- Are there any fees charged when I make a donation?
- Benevity’s foundation partners aggregate and automate distribution of all donations made through the Benevity platform so that the recipient causes don’t have to perform processing, issue tax receipts, receive separate distributions from multiple companies or prepare donor reports.
- An administrative fee of no more than 2.9% is charged by the foundation for donation processing and for use of the software. This fee is effectively netted off the donation, after it has been received by the foundation and before funds have been distributed to the recipient causes.
- Causes who choose to receive donations via cheque may be subject to a manual cheque fee, which is applied after a charity has received three cheques. This amounts to a 7% fee per aggregated disbursement; the minimum being $25.00 and the maximum being $100.00.
- Did you know: 89% of donations made through Benevity are sent via electronic funds transfer (EFT) within Canada and the United States. And internationally, 100% of funds are sent via EFT.
- Are there any fees charged when I make a donation using a credit/debit card or PayPal?
- Credit card: Fees vary by foundation and currency. A typical credit/debit card donation will incur a 2.4% payment processing fee.
- PayPal: Fees vary by foundation, currency and the type of payment method you select in PayPal (e.g. direct debit, credit card). A typical PayPal donation will incur a 2% payment processing fee.