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by oplav 2158 days ago
DAFs at established administrators, like Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab, rely on brand name so that users trust the money they donate to the DAF will be granted to the non-profits they make recommendations to.

Other than being currently connected with YC, what else can users rely on that their donation to Charityvest will in fact be granted to the non-profit the make the recommendation to?
1 comments
Leonidas243 2158 days ago
Trust is an important factor for us. You're right, and YC helps, but we also have other structures that make things transparent.

The charitable assets in our app actually go into a 501c3 public charity (Charityvest Inc), a part of our social enterprise, which has to file a Form 990 every year making its financials and board members public. We launched in 2019, so our first 990 filing is this year. We also conduct our own internal financial audit which we plan to make public on our site. Our charitable operations will be increasingly transparent.

We're also partnered with / backed by other significant institutions: Yale University, The Farm at Comcast NBCUniversal, Dwolla, Plaid, Synovus Bank, etc.

You can also follow up with any charity you grant to out of Charityvest yourself and ask them if they receive Charityvest's grants in a timely manner. Generally all charities will gladly confirm receipt of a donor gift.

Hope this helps!

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JustARandomGuy 2158 days ago
> You can also follow up with any charity you grant to out of Charityvest yourself and ask them if they receive Charityvest's grants in a timely manner. Generally all charities will gladly confirm receipt of a donor gift

This is an important part to emphasize, and it's good practice IMO. My work does a year end charity drive through United Way - you can donate to any charity, but the donation has to be made through United Way to get work-related benefits (for example, a pizza lunch for the dept, etc).

I donate to my college every year during these year end drives, but I also book an appointment for the end of January to call up my college and verify they've received my donation.

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