Is a "Facebook Cause" necessarily on the level?

February 18, 2009 6:11 PM

Facebook "Causes": How do I know a donation is actually going to the specified charity? And is any extra cut taken out of it (as opposed to a direct donation)?

I recently received a Facebook request from a friend to join a cause on "Facebook Causes", additionally asking for some small donation. I would be happy to donate the requested money to the charity in question, but how do I know that clicking the "donate" button will actually send my money to the charity?

And (assuming it's all legit in the first place) does Facebook, or anything else, take some cut out that would otherwise go to the charity itself if I were to just donate it directly?

Finally, anything else you think I might want or need to know about this situation would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

posted by Flunkie to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Response by poster: To be clear, I'm certain that the charity organization that the "Cause" purports to raise money for is an actual charity organization. So I'm not asking how I determine something like that - rather, I'm asking how to determine whether the "Cause" actually, rather than purportedly, raises money for that charity organization.
posted by Flunkie at 6:20 PM on February 18, 2009

If this is a legit non-profit, locate their website and make a donation directly...
posted by HuronBob at 6:49 PM on February 18, 2009

Best answer: They definitely take a cut out of the donation through Network for Good, an online charity donation processor.

From the Causes Help Center:

Donations to U.S. nonprofits are processed by our nonprofit partner Network For Good, an industry leader in processing online donations. Donations can be made using Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Near the 15th of each month, Network For Good sends a check to every nonprofit that received contributions within the last 30 days.

A 4.75% flat fee is applied to each donation. 3.5% of this fee goes to Network for Good and is used for bank and credit card fees, fund distribution, and other costs associated with disbursement of funds. 1.25% of the fee goes to Causes to cover a fraction of our operational costs. Therefore, for a $100 donation, $95.25 goes to the nonprofit, $3.50 goes to Network for Good, and $1.25 goes to Causes.

Of course, if you donate to the charity directly, a couple percent of your donation is going to cover credit card fees and other costs anyway so i doubt it makes a huge difference. I'm sure no charity will object to you sending them a check instead :)

My understanding is that beneficiaries have to be 501(c)(3) organizations as verified through Network for Good, so it's pretty likely that no one is ripping you off here.

Lastly, if your employer matches charitable donations in some way (perhaps through donations through United Way or another employer-sponsored program), you might want to make your gifts that way, so as to let the charity receive the benefits of the match.
posted by zachlipton at 6:54 PM on February 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

No charity is going to say no to a check, of course, but a lot of them prefer donations to be processed online because it means less manpower spent receiving the check, depositing it, and manually mailing out a receipt. It's worth the small credit card fee.
posted by fructose at 9:11 PM on February 18, 2009

Fructose - I posted an AskMe a few weeks ago about credit card vs. check for charities. I didn't get many answers, but there's some evidence that charities would MUCH rather get a check.

Speaking as a donor, 4.75% feels like a lot to me. I'd much rather get those few dollars into the hands of my chosen recipients.
posted by kristi at 11:14 AM on February 21, 2009