Washington Gives Terms of Service

Please carefully read the terms of service and share them with your executive director/CEO, communications staff, and finance office. 

501 Commons Terms

501 Commons, a nonprofit corporation designated as a 501c3 tax-exempt organization since 1989, will maintain its tax-exempt status. 

  1. Washington Gives, a program of 501 Commons, is an online giving platform that helps individuals, groups, and businesses discover and donate to nonprofits headquartered or serving Washington State. Washington Gives hosts two major annual fundraising campaigns:
    1. GiveBIG: A Washington-focused spring fundraising campaign.
    2. GivingTuesday: An international campaign that falls on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
  2. 501 Commons and our partners, Mightycause and Encore Media Group, will not share or sell donor information to other organizations or entities. 
  3. 501 Commons reserves the right to interpret or modify the Terms of Service at its sole reasonable discretion. Except when necessary, changes will be made annually before GiveBIG registration so that participants can review the revised terms of service before signing up.

501 Commons and MightyCause agree to provide organizations registered to participate in Washington Gives with the following:

  • Year-round access to the platform, an organizational profile page, and free fundraising pages for peer-to-peer fundraisers.
  • Free trainings, campaign guide, toolkit for fundraisers, graphics guide, tutorial videos, and Fundraising Accelerator. 
  • A database and easy reporting tools to manage your campaign and donor data year-round.
  • Access to new donors from a promotional campaign curated by our partner Encore Media Group in three media markets on TV, radio, print, and social media platforms. 
  • Discounted advertising rates in the Seattle Times Giving Guide.
  • Three automatic "Give Again" messages to your previous year's donors that ensure no giver is missed. This email allows people to repeat, increase, or change their donations in one easy process (Note: since this is directed at donors, who often give to multiple organizations, we cannot honor any requests from nonprofits to remove their past donors from these communications). 
  • Donor customer service and automatic donor receipts and thank you emails (which you can customize.)
  • A mechanism for receiving off-platform donations from donor-advised funds (DAF) and IRA accounts.

By accepting these terms of service, I certify that my organization agrees with the following:

Marketing Agreement

  • Giving day campaigns generate new donors and repeat donations because people feel that their donation, added to the gifts of others, makes a big impact. This is why it is important that all of the donations generated during GiveBIG are completed on the website or reported as offline donations on the GiveBIG platform. 
  • In order to increase the number of new donors to organizations on WAGives.org, we are now offering Giving Cards that a recipient can use for any listed organization.  In accordance with Washington State rules, if a gift card is not used after three years, the value of the card is converted to a donation to the GiveBIG Fund, which helps 501 Commons produce the next GiveBIG.
  • By registering and using the GiveBIG logo, name, and messaging, I agree that my organization will link donors to our GiveBIG page in emails, social media, and printed communications from April 22 - May 7, 2025.  (If you send people to your website or other payment platform, your GiveBIG campaign and the overall campaign will look less successful, and fewer donors, sponsors, and media partners will want to participate in the future.)
  • I agree to demonstrate the full results of my GiveBIG campaign by posting any offline donations we receive. We understand that organizations will receive some "offline" donations through checks, DAF/IRA donations, and gifts from donors accustomed to donating through your website. You are agreeing to record those offline donation amounts in your Washington Gives account, so donors can see the complete picture of the support your organization has received and the full accounting of the campaign's success.  For organizations that do not have a donor database, this also allows you to aggregate all your donor data in one place. 
  • I understand that I can maintain access to all our donor information by using the easy reporting tool to view and download donor information.

Fees

GiveBIG is an event by nonprofits for nonprofits. We try to make the fees affordable and fair - with organizations that raise more funds paying more of the cost. Most of the cost of GiveBIG is our 3-market media campaign with 20 media partners. Encore Media Group secures agreements from our media partners to provide in-kind advertising above the ~ $150k we invest.  That campaign gets millions of views/impressions on TV, radio, social media, and in print, including the discounted advertising available to you in the Seattle Times Giving Guide.

I agree to pay the following fees or have them deducted from donations received:

  1. A registration fee of $30- $400, based on our approved contributed revenue budget. 
  2. Participation fee: 3.55% will be deducted from the amount raised (2.3% to Mightycause for services to nonprofits and donors, including the giving platform, and 1.25% to 501 Commons to support campaign promotional expenses).
  3. Credit Card Processing Fee: 2.5% + $.30 Processing Fee
  4. ACH Processing Fee: 1% fee + $1.50 per transaction (fee cap of $5.00)

Concerned about fees? 

Donors help to fund GiveBIG/WAGives.org. An amazing 91.8% of donors covered the participation, credit card, and ACH fees in 2024, which means the average transaction cost to nonprofits is less than 1%. Donors also contribute "tips" when they check out that are used to support GiveBIG, lessening our need to increase registration fees. 

About Your Organization

By agreeing to these terms and conditions, I am attested that my organization meets the following eligibility requirements:

  1. We are an IRS tax-exempt organization (501c3, 501c4, 501c6, or other), a Washington State tax-exempt government program, or an organization operating under fiscal sponsorship by another qualified tax-exempt organization.
  2. We are headquartered in or have a service location in Washington State or a program providing a direct benefit to Washington residents or communities (a service location can be a physical site located in the state or a remote service provided to state residents).
  3. We observe and comply with all applicable Federal, State, and County laws, regulations, and ordinances.

Use of Funds

I agree that my organization's use of the funds raised on the platform will be consistent with the following Washington Gives and IRS donation rules:

  1. I agree that 100% of the proceeds raised through Washington Gives will be used towards programs for beneficiaries within Washington State. The exception to this requirement is that funds raised by a global organization headquartered in Washington can be used for beneficiaries outside of Washington if they've clearly described their intention to use these funds outside of the U.S. on their profile page.
  2. I agree that Washington Gives contributions will not be used towards purchasing memberships, tickets, raffle tickets, payment of event sponsorships, pledge payments, or any other item that could be interpreted as a benefit for their donation.

Communication Agreements

My organization will comply with the following communications agreements:

  1. My organization will provide accurate information for our Washington Gives profile page.
  2. Our organization will designate one person as the Washington Gives website's Primary Contact. We understand that this person is responsible for reading and responding promptly to phone or email communications from 501 Commons or Mightycause. 
  3. If our Primary Contact can no longer serve as Primary Contact, the organization will promptly designate a new Primary Contact.
  4. The Primary Contact will ensure that wagives@501commons.org is added as a Safe Sender to prevent Washington Gives emails from ending up in a spam or junk mailbox.
  5. Our organization agrees that 501 Commons and Mightycause shall retain nonprofit profile information entered on the website. Maintaining this information helps Washington Gives ease the registration processes for subsequent giving events.
  6. By participating in Washington Gives, we agree that our designated attendees may be photographed, filmed, or otherwise recorded at 501 Commons-hosted events. Any individual who does not consent must notify timt@501commons.org.

Legal Agreements

My organization acknowledges and agrees to the following legal provisions:

  1. Participation in Washington Gives does not constitute an endorsement by 501 Commons or any Washington Gives partner of my organization or mission.
  2. 501 Commons reserves the right to disqualify an organization from Washington Gives and its giving day events after giving the organization the opportunity to correct a problem. Actions that can lead to disqualification include:
    1. Organizations will not be listed, and registration fees will not be returned if an organization does not meet the minimum requirement for completion of its profile page, such as a logo and mission statement. 
    2. The organization uses the Washington Gives logo, GiveBIG logo, or branding that is a close version of these logos but directs donations to a website other than the Washington Gives/GiveBIG website.
    3. The organization no longer meets eligibility requirements.
    4. The organization uses images or text that 501 Commons determines, at its sole discretion, to be inappropriate, hateful, or advocating harm to others on or off the Washington Gives site.
  3. 501 Commons and Mightycause are not responsible for any loss of donations due to a disruption to the Washington Gives website or Stripe, the credit card payment processor contracted with Mightycause. Mightycause processes all transactions through the Mightycause Charitable Foundation (MCF) before disbursing funds to nonprofits. Any fees retained by Mightycause, including platform and processing fees, are outlined above.
  4. Donor information is sensitive and should be handled following privacy laws and regulations. My organization agrees to hold 501 Commons and Mightycause harmless if our organization uses donor information in a manner that results in fines and/or legal action.
  5. Our organization accepts liability for any Washington Gives-related event hosted by my organization (or by a third party at our request) and releases 501 Commons and its Washington Gives partners from all liability.
  6. 501 Commons' technology partner is Mightycause. Funds donated on the platform are processed through the Mightycause Foundation and distributed directly to nonprofits that receive donations. By participating in Washington Gives, our organization also agrees to Mightycause's Terms of Use & Privacy Policy.


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