Giving Site Offers Donors a Satisfaction Guarantee

By Nicole Wallace

GlobalGiving — an online-donation site that matches donors with grass-roots social and economic-development projects in the developing world — is guaranteeing donations of up to $10,000.

The Washington organization describes the move as a way to be more accountable to people who make contributions through the site.

"You deserve to know who you're giving the money to, when your money gets there, what they're doing with your money, and you deserve to be able to comment on it and interact with them," says Dennis Whittle, co-founder of GlobalGiving. "If you don't believe that we are doing a good job enabling you to do that, then you should get your money back and be able to give it to another project."

Under the new policy, donors who are unhappy with their experience making a gift through the site or with the information they receive from project sponsors can request a refund voucher, which they can use to contribute to another project on the GlobalGiving site.

Donors have up to a year after the original donation to request a voucher, and can request no more than $10,000 in total refunds per year.

GlobalGiving says that it cannot offer cash refunds because of laws regulating charitable donations. For donors to receive a tax deduction for a gift, the Internal Revenue Service requires a clear transfer of "control and discretion" of the money, and prevents charities from relinquishing that control and discretion.

The organization keeps 10 percent of all donations to cover the cost of finding and vetting projects, as well as an additional fee to cover the cost of transferring donations overseas.

The group says that it has set aside a reserve to cover potential calls on the guarantee.

During the organization's most recent fiscal year, GlobalGiving collected nearly $2-million for charitable efforts around the world.

For more information: Go to http://www.globalgiving.com/guaranteed.