Donor FAQ
General Questions
The federal Tax ID number for Peace House Community is 41-1940764.
Yes, each company that we work with to process online donations goes to great lengths to protect donor data. See below for information about an individual company’s practices.
- Credit Card – Stripe (sorry, their explanation is technical and in depth, but it will calm your fears)
- Credit Card – GiveMN.org
- Bank Transfers and Donor Advised Funds – Contact your bank for their procedures for transferring funds
- PayPal – PayPal Security
- Venmo – Venmo Security
- Amazon – Amazon Customer Protection
Unless otherwise specified by the donor, all funds go to PHC programming. Donations pay for the supplies, facilities, and staff involved in our work. All staff are directly involved in the services we provide to our community members. Even the Executive Director is required to provide direct services to community members at least one day a week to ensure that all staff stay directly connected to our mission and community.
PHC accepts donations by Donor Advised Funds, credit cards, checks, PayPal, Venmo, and electronic transfer. Donors can also visit our Amazon registry to purchase items and have them shipped directly to PHC. If you are not sure how to donate through a specific method, call us (612-870-7263) for assistance.
Automatic Donations
Automatic donations have several benefits for donors and for PHC. The advantages for donors include:
- Not having to remember to send the funds. Once you set up the automatic donations all the work will be done for you.
- Automatic donations make your monthly budget more predictable. Rather than having a large expense once or twice a year when you donate, you will have a regular, smaller expense each month.
- You know that your money will empower a cause that you support. By setting up an automatic donation, you ensure that the agencies and causes you believe in will have the resources they need to serve those in need.
PHC benefits from automatic donations because:
- Our income becomes much more predictable. We usually receive over 50% of our donations in the last six weeks of our fiscal year. This can make spending decisions difficult earlier in the year because we aren’t sure what our total income will be. Being able to predict the donations each month, and for the year in total, makes it easier for us to make wise spending decisions year-round.
You can set up recurring donations through the PHC website. You will have several options for how you want to set up the transfers:
- Donor Advised Fund – You can click on the “Donor Advised Fund (DAF)” tab to arrange a donation from your donor advised fund. All DAF donations have to come from the fund’s administrator, so you will be taken to the company that administers your fund.
- Bank Transfer – If you want to set up a direct transfer from your credit union or bank account, you can click on the “Bank Transfer”. The transaction frequency is set to “Monthly” by defaults but you can set the frequency according to your preference.
- Credit Card/PayPal/Venmo – Click on the “Credit Card/PayPal/Venmo” button. The transaction frequency is set to “Monthly” by defaults but you can set the frequency according to your preference.
- You can also contact your financial institution to arrange that an automatic monthly check be sent directly to PHC.
Yes, you can change or cancel your automatically recurring donations at any time.
- If you set up your donations through the PHC website, you can call us at 612-870-7263 or email [email protected] with the change you want to make. We will notify you when the change has been completed.
- If you set up a direct transfer from your financial institution, you can contact the institution directly to change or stop the transfers.
Generally, your donation will be charged on the same date each month, based on the day you make the first donation. For instance, if you make your first donation on the 16th of the month, every subsequent donation will be charged on the 16th of the month.
Yes, many of our sustaining members write a personal check each month or have arranged for their financial institution to send a check each month. This system avoids all credit card processing fees, and it will not be interrupted when your credit card expires.
Donor Advised Funds
A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is an investment account controlled by an investment firm (e.g. Fidelity, Charles Schwab, Vanguard Charitable, etc.), a foundation (e.g. Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation), or other entities (e.g. some religious organizations manage DAFs). Donors who invest in the account give directions to the administrator about when, how much, and to whom funds should be donated.
DAFs have several potential benefits to donors:
- Legacy giving – donors can designate who will control the DAF after them, ensuring that their values are reflected in future DAF donations.
- Maximizing your tax deduction – donors receive a tax deduction when they put money into the DAF, not when it is paid out. A donor can invest several years’ worth of charitable giving at once, maximizing their tax deduction. Since DAFs do not have a minimum required distribution each year, this would not affect the funds that the donor actually sends to charities in future years.
- Increased giving power – because the funds are held in an investment account, the account grows over time, usually at a faster rate than in the donor kept the funds in a traditional bank account.
- Flexible investing – donors can invest in a DAF using cash, stocks, real estate, and other assets.
DAFs have several potential benefits to donors:
- Legacy giving – donors can designate who will control the DAF after them, ensuring that their values are reflected in future DAF donations.
- Maximizing your tax deduction – donors receive a tax deduction when they put money into the DAF, not when it is paid out. A donor can invest several years’ worth of charitable giving at once, maximizing their tax deduction. Since DAFs do not have a minimum required distribution each year, this would not affect the funds that the donor actually sends to charities in future years.
- Increased giving power – because the funds are held in an investment account, the account grows over time, usually at a faster rate than in the donor kept the funds in a traditional bank account.
- Flexible investing – donors can invest in a DAF using cash, stocks, real estate, and other assets.
Not directly. Charities receive the same amount whether a donor sends funds directly or through a DAF, and there are only slight differences in how the donations are processed. The indirect benefit to charities is that DAFs tend to grow faster than traditional bank accounts, so that over time DAF donors tend to donate more than non-DAF donors.
No. Donors can open DAFs with a small initial deposit.
No. You can allow your investment to grow over time. For example, if your child is going to graduate from college in four years and you plan to make a donation to a charity to celebrate, you can put the funds in a DAF now so that you can make a larger donation when the time comes.
You will need to speak to the administrator of your specific fund to learn about their procedures, but generally, the donor recommends a donation to the DAF, and the DAF sends the amount recommended to the specified charity. There are a few restrictions on what DAF funds can be used for and which organizations can receive DAF donations. For example, because the donor received a tax receipt when they deposited funds, the funds cannot be used to buy tickets to a fundraising event or purchase products from a nonprofit. The funds can only be used for charitable donations that do not benefit the donor. Speak with your DAF administrator for specifics.
Contact your investment firm or a financial advisor to open a DAF. DAFs can be opened online.
No. Different DAFs have different administrative costs, investment priorities, etc. Compare DAFs before selecting the one you want to use.
No. Funds become the property of the agency that administers the DAF. However, DAF administrators must use the funds according to the tax code and other regulations. Generally, unless a donor requests that funds go to an ineligible organization (e.g. a private foundation) or be used for an ineligible transaction (e.g. purchasing banquet tickets), the administrator will follow the recommendations of the donor.
For general information on DAFs, check neutral websites like philanthropy.org. For general information or questions about specific DAFs, contact investment firms and DAF administrators.