FAQs
Here are some of the frequently asked questions from donors, partners, and nonprofits. Don’t see the answer you need? Reach out to us here.
I made one donation, but multiple charges appear on my card?
In addition to the actual donation, if your first donation attempt was not successful, your account may show an authorization hold or Pending for the initial donation attempt(s). Please note that this is not an actual charge and should drop off of your statement within a few days (the length of time depends on your bank’s policy).
You may wish to contact your bank directly to have them remove this hold from your account. If the bank needs verification that we will not debit against the hold, we will happily provide it to them upon your request. We will need the card company's email or fax number and whose attention we should write the letter to.
How do I get a tax receipt for past donations?
Network for Good issues tax receipts at the time of donations. If you are looking for a duplicate receipt for one or more of the donations you made this year, you can contact us at anytime by completing the donor form here and request to have receipts re-sent to you.
Why is Network for Good on my credit card statement?
Network for Good appears on your credit card statement because you made an online donation to a charity through their website or through any of our partner sites like Facebook, Google, CharityNavigator, or Crowdrise.
Network for Good’s Donor Advised Fund is an accredited charity by the Better Business Bureau that helps charities by collecting donations from thousands of donors like yourself and disbursing it in an efficient manner to nonprofits that have been chosen by you.
Network for Good has created technology that allows you to support any charity, anywhere online. Networkforgood.org is a nonprofit Donor-Advised Fund*, so when you make a donation through the Network for Good giving system we re-grant your contribution to the nonprofit(s) you have selected in our monthly disbursement. That is why Network for Good is the merchant of record that appears on your credit card statement.
Thousands of nonprofits and hundreds of thousands of your fellow donors trust Network for Good to distribute their donations: Over $1.25 billion dollars have been disbursed to over 100,000 nonprofits since our inception in November 2001 by AOL, Cisco and Yahoo.
Can’t remember which charity received your donation?
Network for Good or its partners issues a receipt to donors upon completing the transaction. Check your email (or SPAM folder) for a donation receipt on or around the date of the charge on your credit card statement.
When will the charity receive my donation?
Disbursement can take between 15-75 days depending on the platform on which the donation was made.
Can I change my transaction details?
Unfortunately not. Once the donation has been completed we cannot change donor name, address, amount, or recipient charity.
Is the donation fully tax deductible?
Yes, the full amount of the charitable transaction, including any grant to Network for Good is tax-deductible, as long as the donor is not receiving any goods or services for their donation. For any thank you gifts or incentives offered independently by the charity, the value of the gift is non-tax deductible and is fulfilled directly by the charity.
What is a Donor-Advised Fund?
A Donor-Advised Fund is a charitable giving vehicle administered by a third party (in this case Network for Good) and created for the purpose of managing charitable donations on behalf of other nonprofit organizations (in this case up to 1.8 million U.S. 501c3 charities).
How can I use Network For Good to make donations?
Network for Good serves non-profits and donor alike. At our core is a Donor Advised Fund (DAF), our not-for-profit arm that provides donation processing and distribution services to 501(c)3 non profit organizations.As a prospective donor wanting to contribute to multiple 501(c)3 organizations of your choice, you may do so online using any of three major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, or American Express) by going to our donor portal at nfggive.org.
Learn more about your donations and disbursements
Introduction
Network for Good provides an online giving platform for donors, and sends checks to nonprofits in payment of those donations. Network for Good does not send checks to individuals. If you have received a check from Network for Good and do not represent a nonprofit organization, please visit this page.
Quick Access
- Don't see a donation on your report?
- Why are some of my donations anonymous?
- How to apply for EFT (direct deposit)?
Partner Donations
Even if you aren’t officially registered with Network for Good, your supporters can choose to use our website or one of our partner sites, like Facebook or Google, to make a contribution to your organization. You can also find your organization's listing on Network For Good's website here. As long as your 501(c)3 is listed in Guidestar's database and has not opted out of receiving online donations, it can be eligible to be featured on one of our partners' sites.
Once a donor chooses to donate to your organization through the sites mentioned above, they are officially making a donation to the Network for Good Donor Advised Fund, which then re-grants the donation to your organization when the funds are received. The funds are sent once a month via check to your organization's mailing address listed in Guidestar.org or via EFT if you have already signed up for electronic disbursement through Network for Good. These donors are issued donation receipts by Network for Good or our partners and some of these donors may appear as anonymous to your nonprofit.
Network for Good Donations
Network for Good also offers fundraising software, personal fundraising coaching, and resources for nonprofits. In fact, we’ve distributed over two billion dollars to more than 120,000 nonprofits since 2001. You can learn more about how we support nonprofits and donors here.
Any organization that is designated by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) and is part of the GuideStar database can use Network for Good to receive online donations.
What should I do next?
Please review this giving agreement as depositing the check means you have accepted the agreement. This agreement does not bind you to any of our products or subscriptions. It mainly confirms that you are a 501c3 eligible to receive donations.
If you've have questions about donations that came through any of our partners such as Facebook, Charity Navigator, or Google contact them or find answers here.
What if I receive a notification of a "redirected grant?"
Please check out our detailed article on redirected grants here!
How to Get Your Network for Good Donations Through Direct Deposit (EFT)
Network for Good offers direct deposit donation delivery to nonprofits who receive donation disbursements through our platform. Instead of receiving a paper check in the mail, eligible organizations can apply to receive their future donation disbursements as a deposit directly into their bank account.
Note: this does not apply to our customers who useWePay to process online donations.
What is direct deposit (EFT)?
Direct deposit (also known as EFT) is a banking feature that allows for inter-bank deposits. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) describes the method for moving the funds. With this method, Network for Good can deposit your donation disbursement funds directly into a connected bank account.
Who's eligible?
Nonprofit organizations that have received a donation through Network for Good and its partners, via the Donor Advised Fund (DAF), can apply to receive their monthly disbursement payouts via direct deposit. Direct deposit is Network for Good’s suggested mechanism for donation disbursements.
Note: As of March 2022, any customers who previously utilized Network for Good's DonateNow platform in the past will now have access to Network for Good's Giving System (DonateNow Lite). The process for these customers to sign up for direct deposit is the same as listed below.
What do I need to apply?
To sign up for direct deposit, you'll need:
- Access to your nonprofit's 'My Account' portal through Network for Good’s Giving System. If you've not previously registered for this portal, you can do so by following the instructions below
- Information about your bank's authorized representative (name, title, phone number, email)
- Authorization from your nonprofit to engage in this activity
- Login information for your organization's bank account (username, password)
How do I apply?
Note: Feel free to check out our detailed guide on how to apply here, or follow the instructions below!
- Log into the your Network for Good Giving System or “DonateNow Lite” account here using your nonprofit’s registered EIN and password.
- Go to the Direct Deposit section and select "Apply Now".
- Review and Accept the Giving System Agreement.
- Select "Get Started".
- Follow the prompts to either connect via DirectLink, or provide the appropriate information to connect using the ManualLink (if appropriate).
What is the difference between the two options listed - DirectLink and ManualLink?
You will have two options to submit your paperless application.
The first is through our DirectLink option, which allows you to connect via Plaid. DirectLink uses Plaid in order to relay your nonprofit's bank account information securely for processing and review.
The second option is through our ManualLink option. ManualLink allows you to submit your nonprofit's bank information to our team without connecting to Plaid via the ManualLink.
Note: ManualLink may take up to 8 weeks to process. We strongly encourage you to connect using DirectLink unless you are otherwise unable to do so.
What if my bank isn't listed?
There is a possibility that your bank is not listed when you reach the step to link your account. If this happens, please utilize the ManualLink option to connect and submit your application.
How long does it take to get approved?
As each of our applications goes through a manual review for verification, applications are not approved or granted immediately. Turnaround time for approving a direct deposit application through the DirectLink is two weeks. ManualLink applications typically take up to 8 weeks to process.
Once an organization’s EFT application is approved by the operations team, the nonprofit contact listed on the application will receive an email if the application has been approved or rejected.
Is it secure?
To make direct deposit seamless, Network for Good uses a technology service called Plaid. Plaid is trusted by a long list of banks and financial institutions that have chosen to allow their account holders to authenticate through Plaid.
With Plaid, we allow you to sign into your bank account so that we can retrieve your bank account and routing numbers over a secure, end-to-end encrypted connection. With this information we can deposit funds directly into your account via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).
To read more about Plaid's security, click here.
FAQs: EU residents and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
What is the GDPR?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new European privacy law due to become enforceable on May 25, 2018. The GDPR applies to all organizations established in the EU and to organizations, whether or not established in the EU, that process the personal data of EU data subjects* in connection with either the offering of goods or services to data subjects in the EU or the monitoring of behavior that takes place within the EU. Personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.
(*in the case of Network for Good customers an EU data subject could mean a donor who is an EU resident or someone who subscribed to your email list by donating, who is an EU resident.)
How does the GDPR impact Network for Good and my software subscription?
While Network for Good does not have any physical existence in the EU, we recognize that some of our customers might be directly affected by the GDPR if they receive donations from EU residents or EU residents have subscribed to their email list. Therefore, we are taking all the necessary steps to comply with the GDPR requirements that would apply to us by implementing specific legal, technical, and organizational measures. An updated version of our Privacy Policy, with information regarding GDPR, can be found on our website. If you need help in supporting EU resident’s rights to access, update, or delete their personal information, please contact our customer support team with requests.
Can I continue using Network for Good and be sure that I’m in compliance with GDPR requirements?
Yes! We have taken all the necessary steps for Network for Good to be in compliance with the requirements of GDPR. Talk to your legal counsel to evaluate your individual organizational processes and understand what you may need to do to ensure full compliance at your nonprofit.
How can I make sure my organization is in compliance with GDPR?
As a customer of Network for Good, you should make sure that you have a lawful basis for collecting personal information from EU residents. You are also responsible for properly handling and processing notices sent to you (or any of your agents or affiliates) by any person claiming that you have violated such person’s rights, including “requests to be forgotten” according to GDPR. Please seek legal counsel for additional GDPR requirements that are applicable to you.
What is personal data?
Any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person ('data subject'). An identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as - name, email address or location, and also online identifiers like IP address, types of website cookies, and other device identifiers.
Who are data controllers, processors, and sub-processors?
A data controller is the entity/person that determines purposes and means of processing personal data of the EU resident.
A data processor is responsible for processing personal data on behalf of a controller.
Sub-processor refers to another processor engaged by the data processor to carry out specific processing activities on behalf of the controller.
The GDPR data protection obligations apply to both data controllers and processors (including sub-processors).
Does GDPR apply to territories outside the EU?
GDPR can apply any time to personally identifiable information of any EU resident that is stored and/or processed. It does not depend on the physical location/territory. Also, establishments located in the EU are subject to GDPR regardless of where personal data comes from.
How do I handle user data deletion requests from EU residents?
If your users (donors, email list subscribers) ask you to delete their personal data, please reach out to us and we will remove their data individually. If you’ve passed any of your users’ data to any 3rd party services (Quickbooks, another donor database or email system), you are responsible for ensuring that the user’s data is deleted from those services as well.
How do I establish lawful basis for collecting and processing personal data?
There are six lawful bases for processing personal data. For details on how to establish your lawful basis, please refer to guides provided by ICO.
How we Support Donors and Charities
About Network for Good
- We are a nonprofit organization that helps other nonprofit organizations with easy and affordable online fundraising.
- Since 2001, we’ve processed over $2.5 billion in donations for over 125,000 nonprofits
- We have a secure giving system that meets the BBB Wise Giving Alliance standards for charity and accountability.
- We are a Certified B Corporation
How we help with donations
- Network for Good can best address your donation and matching related questions via our Contact Us form or find many answers to common questions at our knowledge base
- Our Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) can handle all donor related questions like problems with a donation going through, questions about fees, receipts, matching, batch invoicing etc.
- You also have access to historical donation and matching gift reports at the NFG Partner Portal
How we help charities that receive donations through your site
Payment Notification
- All checks for donations made through the Network for Good’S giving system are sent on or around the 15th of the month for donations and batches made and paid during the previous calendar month.
- Checks are sent to the address that is listed in GuideStar’s database.
- Charities can sign up for system generated donation notifications.
Donation Tracking Report:
- networkforgood.org/donationtracking
- Charities can access information on their donors in real-time
- Data can be exported into a CSV file
Receiving Funds via Direct Deposit:
- Please go here for information on how to apply for direct deposit
- We encourage charities to sign-up for direct deposit, also called electronic funds transfer (EFT) so that donations can be sent directly to your organization’s bank account
- It saves time, paper and trees