General/About CanadaHelps
- What is CanadaHelps?
-
CanadaHelps.org is a not-for-profit charity portal that serves as an information
resource about charities in Canada and seeks to promote and facilitate philanthropy
through online giving. As a public foundation, CanadaHelps uses a donor-directed
funding model to facilitate online donations from donors to charities.
CanadaHelps.org offers its services at a very low cost to the charity
and at no cost to the donor.
- What is CanadaHelps' Charitable Business Registration
Number (BN)?
-
CanadaHelps is a public foundation. Its BN is 896568417RR0001.
- How is CanadaHelps funded?
-
CanadaHelps appreciates the financial support of a number of Canada's
most respected companies and foundations including Bell Canada, Bank of Montreal,
CIBC, The Muttart Foundation, Ernst & Young, and Hewlett Packard.
CanadaHelps receives inkind support from Brookfield, Q9 Networks, Microsoft and others.
Individual donors also support our work.
- How much does CanadaHelps cost me or the charities I support?
-
CanadaHelps assesses a 3% transaction fee on each donation. This amount is
deducted before the donation is sent to the charity. This 3% is covers all
credit card merchant rates, transaction fees, banking costs, receipting,
reconciliation and disbursement. The 3% is a modest charge for the service
that CanadaHelps provides to Canadian donors and the charities they support.
- Where does CanadaHelps get its list of charities?
-
The CanadaHelps list of charities is a compiled list of charities found on the
Canada Revenue Agency's list of registered charities. The list is updated bi-weekly,
to ensure we're adding new charities and removing those that have become delisted.
- I work/volunteer for a charity that might want to use
the CanadaHelps service. What do I have to do?
-
Please see the information found at
CanadaHelps for Charities.
- Does CanadaHelps screen or investigate the charities
listed on the site?
-
CanadaHelps uses the approved Canada Revenue Agency list of charities.
We do not screen the charities. All charities that have valid charitable status
are allowed on the website.
- Can I link to your site?
-
To ensure you are using the most appropriate link, please
contact us
before linking to our website. To determine the source of our donors and be able to
perform appropriate market research, knowing who's linking to us and how is important.
- Can CanadaHelps support non-profits or individuals?
-
No. CanadaHelps can only facilitate donations for Canadian registered charities.
- Does CanadaHelps list American/worldwide charities or
only those in Canada?
-
No. Only Canadian charities are listed. Some of these charities may have activities
in the international realm, but are registered as charities in Canada. To make a
donation to an American charity, please visit Networkforgood.com .
- Can a charity use CanadaHelps to sell items or have
people register for events?
-
No. All transactions made at CanadaHelps are for tax-receiptable donations.
CanadaHelps cannot be used to sell memberships, goods or registration for events.
-
Pop-ups are used to preview ecards and Charity Gift Cards. To enable your browser
to accept CanadaHelps pop-up windows, please see your browser's Help function.
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Charity Gift Cards - Give the Gift of Giving™
- What is Give the Gift of Giving™?
-
The CanadaHelps Give the Gift of Giving™ program is a gift card service that
allows donors to give a charitable donation to friends and family. Donors purchase
a gift card in a certain amount, and the gift recipient chooses which charity receives
the donation amount.
- How does it work?
-
A donor purchases a Gift Card in a specific amount, and CanadaHelps emails the
gift recipient the gift card to designate.
- Can I print a copy of the card to give to my gift
recipient?
-
Yes. Once you've paid for the donation, you are given a link to a page you can print.
- Can CanadaHelps personalize Charity Gift Cards for
corporate giving? Can I put a logo on a card?
-
At this time, no. However, if this is a feature you'd be interested in, please
contact us.
- Will CanadaHelps mail a real card to my gift recipient?
-
No. All cards are virtual, and are emailed as an HTML link to your gift recipient.
The gift giver is able to print a copy of the gift card to give to the recipient,
but we do not mail cards to the donor or gift receipting.
- Can I buy Charity Gift Cards in stores?
-
No. The only place to buy Give the Gift of Giving™ Charity Gift Cards is online at
www.canadahelps.org.
- What does my gift recipient get?
-
Your gift recipient gets an email from CanadaHelps, with a link and a card validation number.
The link brings the user to the CanadaHelps gift card page, where they enter their
validation number. They are then presented with your special message and the image of the card you chose.
- What if my recipient does not redeem his/her gift card?
-
If the gift recipient does not redeem his/her gift card to the charity of his/her
choice within 6 months, CanadaHelps will contact you. You will then be asked to
designate the donation to the charity of your choice.
- What if we lose the gift card number or did not print
out the card?
-
Please contact us. We can resend you the page link to print out the card.
- I can't see the gift card preview! Why?
-
You must enable pop-ups form your browser. To do so, please review your browser's Help function.
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Making a donation
- How do I make a donation?
-
To make a donation, you need to search/browse for the charity you wish to donate to,
add it to your "Giving Basket" and then pay for the gift.
- Can I designate my donation in honour or in memory of
someone?
-
Yes. You can designate all donations in honour or in memory of someone.
- Can I have CanadaHelps send a card to my honouree or to
the family of the person who has passed away?
-
CanadaHelps offers free ecards for all donations - you can send a friend or family
member a CanadaHelps ecard to let them know you are thinking of them.
Ecards are available for birthdays, weddings, and more. You can request that your charity
send a hard-copy postal card or note to your designated honouree or memorial contact,
but CanadaHelps cannot guarantee that your charity will do so. We pass all information
and requests onto the charity, and the onus is on the charity to fulfill your request.
- I don't have a credit card. Can I mail CanadaHelps a
cheque?
-
No. CanadaHelps accepts payment by credit card only.
- Can I request that the charity I give to use my
donation in a particular way?
-
Some charities have enabled a "fund designation" option, while others have not.
If the fund you wish to designate the donation for is not available,
you may be able to send a message/enter special instructions to your charity of choice.
- How much money gets sent to my charity?
-
CanadaHelps assesses a 3% transaction fee on all donations before disbursement.
Your charity is therefore disbursed 97% of your gross donation amount.
- When does the charity get my donation? How?
-
CanadaHelps batches disbursements weekly, for donations made the previous week,
for all charities that have enabled the direct deposit option. For those charities that
still require disbursement by cheque, we batch donations monthly, and disburse cheques
on/around the 15th of each month for donations made the previous month.
- Can I cancel my donation?
-
No. Donations are non-refundable. We issue charitable tax receipts in real time,
and because they are in digital format, we cannot ask that the file be returned.
You cannot change your mind once you've made a charitable donation.
- I would like to donate a car or other item to charity.
Does CanadaHelps accept gifts inkind?
-
No. All donations made at CanadaHelps are donations paid for by credit card.
To donate inkind, please visit www.inkindcanada.ca.
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Receipting
- How do I get my receipt?
-
Tax receipts are sent immediately following the payment of your donation(s) to
the email you entered. Please check your email following the donation. Please be sure
to check your junk/spam folder in case our message has been diverted by your email client.
If you have a MyCanadaHelps account, all donations and all receipts are stored
online for you. You can access your receipt at any time.
- Is my receipt valid for tax credits?
-
Yes. CanadaHelps uses secure PDFs for tax receipting. Electronic receipts are valid
for tax filing by the CRA.
- I use Intuit QuickTax to file my taxes. How do my
receipts get into the QuickTax program?
-
CanadaHelps is a partner organization to Intuit. When you are filing your taxes using QuickTax,
you will be asked about your charitable tax receipts. If you have a MyCanadaHelps account,
you will be able to choose CanadaHelps from the receipt source section,
and will be able to have all of your giving history for the calendar year you are filing
uploaded into the QuickTax program.
- I use a Mac. Are your receipts compatible with
Macintosh systems?
-
Yes, our receipts are compatible, but must be viewed in Adobe Reader for Macintosh.
The default view on a Mac does not render secure database generated receipts,
and displays them as blank files. You can
download
Adobe Reader for Macintosh here. It is a free, commonly-used program.
- I live in Quebec and am required to have three copies
of my tax receipt. What do I do?
-
Please print your PDF receipt three times. CanadaHelps sends one file only to you.
- I've lost my charitable receipt(s). How can I be
reissued my tax receipts?
-
Please contact us, with your name, and approximate
date of donation. We'll resend you your tax receipt by email.
- What information must be on a tax receipt?
-
Tax receipts must contain the name and address of the payee of the gift.
- Why can't I have tax receipts issued in someone else's
name?
-
Receipts can only be issued to the payee of a donation. The donor of a donation
makes the cash donation to charity and therefore qualifies for the tax credit.
CanadaHelps charity Gift Card recipients or donation honourees may direct that donation
to a particular charity, or be honoured by the charity, but because the donation dollars
came from the payee, the recipient should claim no credit.
For more information about how Canadian charities must issue tax receipts,
please visit http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/charities/policy/cpc/cpc-010-e.html.
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Privacy
- Why do you collect my email address?
-
Your email address is used as a login for future donations and is how CanadaHelps
issues your tax receipt and will communicate with you about donation details.
As an online entity, CanadaHelps does not mail donors newsletters or receipts.
- What information do you collect and what information is
passed onto the charity(ies) I support?
-
CanadaHelps collects your email address, name, and address. We also collect payment details.
We pass only the information you want us to pass on to the charities you give to;
you can give the charities your name only, name and email, all contact information,
or make your donation totally anonymously (to the charities you donate to).
- Do you sell/trade donor information?
-
No. CanadaHelps does not share donor information with any third parties. Please read
our privacy and security policy for more information.
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Monthly Donations
- How does monthly giving work?
-
To set up a monthly gift, a donor must create a MyCanadaHelps account,
store their credit card information online, and chooses the charity,
day of credit card charge, and amount to give each month. The donor can set
an end date to finish the gift pledge, or advise how many months the gift should be processed.
- How do I get my receipt?
-
Receipts for monthly gifts are not created each month. To access a receipt for monthly gifts,
a donor must log in to create a receipt. Receipt aggregation can be set to create
one receipt for all donations made over the course of a calendar year,
or can be created at the donor's discretion.
- Why can I donate monthly to some charities but not
others?
-
CanadaHelps has chosen to facilitate monthly gifts for those charities that have chosen
to receive disbursement payment by direct deposit (electronic fund transfer)
and not for those that receive payments from us by cheques. The EFT disbursement process
is much more cost-effective for CanadaHelps.
- Will I receive notification when my credit card is
processed?
-
Yes. You receive an email when we have charged your credit card.
- If my monthly donation fails, will I be notified?
-
No. We ask that donors ensure their billing information is kept up to date
in their MyCanadaHelps profile.
- How do I cancel a monthly gift?
-
To cancel a monthly gift, a donor must log in to the MyCanadaHelps account
and cancel the pledge in their Monthly Giving section.
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Finding a Charity
- How do I find a charity to give to?
-
CanadaHelps offers search functionality whereby donors can search by name, keyword,
location, or charitable business number (or any combination thereof).
A category search functionality is available as well, but only those charities that have
selected their own category(ies) are included. Charities must self-identify categories on the site.
- How many charities are on the CanadaHelps website?
-
CanadaHelps lists all of Canada's 80,000 charities. Some of these charities have
registered to enhance their profiles and receive funds by electronic fund transfer.
- My charity does not show up in the category search.
Why?
-
Charities must register with CanadaHelps and log into their account to self-identify.
Once registered, charities can add keywords, upload their logos, enhance their profiles,
and accept monthly donations. If you represent a charity, please view our information
found at the CanadaHelps for Charities
section of the website.
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General GivingPages Questions
- What are GivingPages?
-
GivingPages are a new feature at CanadaHelps, which enables people to raise
money online for the charities they support, with personalized fundraising
pages. Our GivingPages are an easy way for fundraisers to reach out to people
and make it easy for those people to donate.
- Does it cost me anything to use GivingPages?
-
No. CanadaHelps services are free for donors and fundraisers. We take a
transaction fee of 3% of each donation to cover the costs of accepting credit
cards online and processing the donations for the charities. Our fees are very
cost-effective for charities that choose to fundraise online. By using
CanadaHelps, you save the charity the time and cost of tax receipting,
collecting cheques or cash, printing and mailing letters, and creating their
own in-house online e-commerce system for accepting online donations.
- What kind of GivingPages can I create?
-
You can create GivingPages for almost any event or milestone! We have templates
for wedding "registries", birthdays, memorial pages, sporting events, and more.
- How do I create GivingPages?
-
To set up your own GivingPages, you need to have a GivingPages user account or
a MyCanadaHelps account. Once logged in, you can create and manage your
GivingPage in your secure administration area.
- How do I find a GivingPage to donate to?
-
Just use our search area to locate the GivingPage you want to give to. You can
search by the page creator's name, or browse for pages by category.
- How do I let my supporters know about my GivingPage?
-
Once you have created your GivingPage, you are given a custom URL that will
bring donors to your GivingPage. You can use your own email software to send a
message to your friends, family and supporters, or you can use our emailing
tool. You can also link the URL to your website, blog page, or signature file.
- How does the charity(ies) I choose get the money?
-
Payment is sent to charities in batches, either weekly or monthly, depending on
our set-up with the charity. Donations are disbursed less the 3% fee.
- Who gets the tax receipt? How does it get sent?
-
Donors get the tax receipt, and they are emailed once payment has been made.
They are sent by email as secure PDFs, and will require that the donor have
Adobe Reader installed.
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