How to ensure you’re picking the correct charity so the funds you raise go to the cause intended:
ColoradoGives.org has worked hard to provide a user-friendly way for everyday philanthropists to rally support from their communities by fundraising for the causes that are important to them. One of the key parts of creating a charitable fundraiser on ColoradoGives.org is, of course, choosing the charity. If you’re looking to start a charitable fundraiser on ColoradoGives.org, you probably already have the charity in mind, but it’s important to connect your fundraiser to the correct charity.
If the nonprofit you’d like to raise money for has sent you a link to their ColoradoGives.org page, you can simply click “Fundraise” on their page next to the Donate button to create a fundraiser linked to their nonprofit. This is the easiest way to create a charitable fundraiser on ColoradoGives.org.
You can also choose your charity through our fundraiser wizard. Here’s a step-to-step guide to choosing your charity using our wizard.
Two Steps to Verify That You’re Choosing the Correct Charity
You can search for charities by name on ColoradoGives.org, but because ColoradoGives.org lists the organization’s legal name (which can be different than how you know them), you’ll want to look at two different factors to verify that you’ve chosen the correct charity for your fundraiser:
Location: This is the easiest way to check that you’re picking the charity you intended. All ColoradoGives.org pages for charitable organizations and the list of charities in our fundraiser set up process have their locations listed. Make sure that the charity you choose for your fundraiser is in the correct location. Pay attention to the city and state! There are 41 towns named Springfield in the United States — if you’re trying to raise money for the humane society in Springfield, Illinois, be careful not to choose the humane society in Springfield, Massachusetts. You’d be surprised how many nonprofit organizations share similar names!
EIN: An EIN is a 9-digit number that the Internal Revenue Service uses to identify organizations and companies in their system. For nonprofit organizations, their tax-exempt status is tied to their EIN. (If you’ve ever deducted a charitable donation from your income taxes, you probably remember needing this number.)
A nonprofit’s EIN is public information, so charities will often list their EINs on their websites. If you’re not able to find it there, you can always call the nonprofit or email them to ask — they will know what you’re asking for and be happy to share that information with you.
Why It’s so Important to Get It Right
Charitable donations on ColoradoGives.org pass through the Colorado Gives Foundation.
Colorado Gives Foundation is obligated to send funds donated to a charitable organization on ColoradoGives.org as the donor advises. ColoradoGives.org and Colorado Gives Foundation cannot move or alter donations after they have been made. Charitable donations on ColoradoGives.org are considered complete and final, per our Terms of Use. So it’s important that when you create your charitable fundraiser, you make every effort to ensure that you choose the correct charity, because we can’t un-do it if you accidentally choose a different charity with a similar name.
Can’t find the charity I’m looking for on ColoradoGives.org?
Nonprofits must enroll and complete a profile to be on ColoradoGives.org. We largely hosts 501(c)(3) charitable organizations, so the charity you’re looking for may have a different kind of tax-exempt status. Feel free to direct the nonprofit to this page to learn about eligibility requirements and enrollment.