Giving Circles FAQ

As a nonprofit, Global Impact works to keep the costs as low as possible for Growfund. Growfund has a one percent (1%) distribution fee, which helps cover the operational costs of maintaining the platform. The 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.

Processing fees for contributions apply and vary depending on how your members submit their contributions.  These fees are charged by payment providers and not by Growfund – see our updated pricing schedule here.

Contributions are assessed by payment providers; contributions made with a credit card are assessed a 3% processing fee. For e-check and ACH, there is a 1% bank fee, which will be capped at $250 per contribution.  As of March 1 2021, we will no longer accept paper checks from Giving Circle contributors.

Individuals can make initial contributions to their Growfund Accounts by physical check.  Contributions of physical checks less than $5,000 are assessed a $20 processing fee.  Please make your check out to Global Impact, writing your account name on the memo line. Mail it to the following address:

Attn: Growfund
1199 N. Fairfax Street, Suite 300
Alexandria, VA 22314

Giving circle members who give by credit card 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 the distribution fee (1%). Many giving circles ask members to check the box or add the fee to their contribution.

If your Giving Opportunity is public follow the steps outlined below:

1. Login to Growfund
2. On the side navigation click Find Giving Circles
3. Click Search all opportunities
4. Enter your fund’s title in the keyword field
5. Click on your fund’s Learn More link
6. Copy the URL of this page and share it

If your Giving Opportunity is private, please email us at [email protected]  to share a Giving Opportunity with your personal network. We can provide you with a link that allows non-Growfund Advisors to donate via credit card.

In order to be eligible to receive a grant from a DAF, your organization must be registered as a 501c3 Non-Profit in the United States. At this time, we are not able to process grant request to charities located abroad (unless they have a headquarters registered in the U.S. that is recognized as a 501c3) or individuals who are experiencing hardship.

The person that opens the giving circle account will automatically be assigned as the Primary Advisory. 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.

No separate login or account is needed. You should be able to access your giving circle account through your personal Growfund account.

Primary Donor and Joint Advisers will be able to view all contributions made to the giving circle account under “Contribution Activity” when they log in to their account. Our service level agreements aim to approve and post contributions within 5-7 business days of first receiving funds under “Contribution Activity”.

Please note that online checks and e-checks may take longer to clear by the bank – we have experienced longer processing and posting times for these payment methods.  Funds must be settled before we can post to your account; in our experience some banks take up to 10 days to process online checks, and physical checks must be received by our offices before we can start the posting process.

If the transaction was declined, it will not be posted.

Yes, giving circles administrators are able to access account contribution history, including names and emails of donors helpful in managing administrative matters. Reports can be exported directly from Growfund, allowing you to easily create mail merges for any necessary communications.

The following contribution and grant reports can be generated directly from your account.

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)

Tax Receipt Letters (Found underneath the Contribute tab > Contributions to My Fund > Letter)

Our policy on tax receipt letters is as follows:

Becoming a registered Growfund user is the easiest way to download statements and tax letters on your account dashboard, organizing all your giving in one account.

As of March 1 2021, we require donors to become a registered Growfund Individual User to download statements and tax letters on your account dashboard, organizing all your giving in one account.  Here’s some additional guidance for tax receipts:

• Donors who are claiming tax deductions should keep bank statement records or cancelled checks as evidence of their charitable contributions.  Further guidance on this requirement can be found on the IRS website here.
• For electronic contributions via credit card and e-check into Growfund, you will receive an email reply as confirmation of your contribution, regardless of the amount.  Please keep this in your records as evidence of your contribution.  Registered Growfund account holders will be able to access contribution history and receipts in their dashboard.

Registered Growfund users can view and access receipts in the account dashboard – we encourage you to register as a user for this feature if you haven’t already done so.  If you are a contributor to a Giving Circle and not a registered Growfund user, receipts will be provided Via an immediate email if you have donated electronically via credit card or e-check.

Please note, all donations into Growfund are an irrevocable gift to charity.  Amendments to recurring donations can be made online or by emailing [email protected].

Global Impact cannot give tax advice.  Please consult your tax advisor for further guidance on your own tax situation.

Please email [email protected] and Growfund Support will be able to assist you. After you submit requested changes, our team will make the revisions in 2-3 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. Growfund sends an acknowledgement letter that includes the donor’s name and address. 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.