FAQ

As a non-profit, Global Impact works to keep the costs low for giving circles. We have a one percent (1%) fee that is assessed on the total giving circle grant distribution. The fee helps cover the operational costs of maintaining the platform.

The a 1% fee on the grant amount is assessed directly from your giving circle account after you make a grant. The account holder is responsible for making sure the account has enough funds to cover both the grant amount and 1% distribution fee. If you do not have enough funds in your account to cover the fee, Global Impact will be unable to distribute your funds to your selected grantee until they become available.

When making contributions into your Growfund account, we have a simple fee structure. Contributions made with a credit card are assessed a 3% processing fee. For e-check, ACH and paper checks, there is a 1% bank fee, which will be capped at $250 per contribution.

Giving circle members now have the option to check a box to cover transaction fees when making a contribution. This covers the credit card processing fee (3%) and operations fee (1%). Many giving circles choose to either ask members to check the box or add the fee to their contribution.

When opening an account, you’ll be designated as the Primary Advisor. As the Primary Advisor, you can add a Joint Advisor to the account. The Joint Advisor will share the same administrative privileges with the Primary Advisor over their Growfund, including the right to contribute funds to the account, grant funds from the account to organizations, receive account statements, and change account preferences.

Both Primary and Joint Advisors can also add Secondary Advisors to a Growfund account. Secondary Advisors have read only access to the account meaning they can contribute to the account, but not make grants and do not hold other administrative privileges.

Yes, giving circles administrators appreciate the ability to access account contribution history, including records such as name, and email of donors helpful in managing administrative matters. Reports can be exported allowing the ability to create mail merges if necessary. The following contribution and grant reports can be generated directly from your account. As part of your onboarding process, a Growfund representative is happy to walk you through running reports. Please email [email protected]

Contribution Reports (Found underneath the Contribute tab – Review Fund Contributions)

• Average contribution amount
• Date of contribution
• Contributor Subscription Information
• Contributor name, address, email, contribution type (CC or Check), recurring or single contribution, and donor comments. This report can be exported for mail merge into an existing CRM.

Grant Reports (Found underneath the Make a Grant tab – See Grant History)

• Grantees
• Average grant size
• Date of distribution
• Grants by fields of interest (NTEE Code)

Please email [email protected] and a Growfund representative will be able to assist you. After you submit requested changes, our team will make the revisions in 1-3 business days.

• Login to your account
• Go to “Update My Profile” within the Activities Center to update your information

Absolutely. To add a Joint and/or Secondary Advisor, please fill out the Account Access Form and submit it to [email protected]. To add or change the beneficiaries, please email us at [email protected], and we can do it for you.

The recipient organization receives notice that the grant has been made by the Giving Circle via Growfund. This is the case unless the grant has been marked anonymous, in which case the organization will receive a letter stating that a grant has been made by an anonymous donor via Growfund.