For your convenience, please find our most common questions and answers.
Not finding what you want? Reach out directly through our Contact Us page.
Q: I’m a Charity. How do I become a beneficiary?
A: Occasionally we have merchants who do not yet have a designated charity, in which case we provide a list of Supported Charities categorized by sector. To be added to our Supported Charity List, please REGISTER by sending an email through our Contact Us page. The fastest way to ensure a merchant picks you for the Donate Up system is of course to REFER a merchant to us. Such referrals may gain your charity an AFFILIATE commission in addition to customer donations, enhancing your cash flow!
Q: I’m a Merchant. Can I have donations go to my preferred Charity?
A: YES. Merchants tell us which charities they would like customers to donate to. If it is not a charity we have a relationship with, we can REGISTER that charity.
Q: How do you vet your Charities?
A: We vet our Charity registrations by checking charity ratings with a third-party rating service and asking what % goes to admin fees and marketing fees. We seek charities that have low admin and marketing fees, where a majority of their proceeds go to the actual cause. While no system is perfect, we do our best to ensure we operate with truly beneficial charities — we ask your help to REPORT any charity you suspect there may be a complaint about.
Q: I know a Merchant. How can I refer them?
A: If you know a Store Owner or Merchant, please REFER A MERCHANT to us! We can additionally sign you up as an AFFILIATE or as a SALES AGENT where you can earn an ongoing commission!
Q: Do you make money off the Donations?
A: NO. We believe 100% of a customer’s donation should go to the Charity. Less the small processing fees Visa/MC charges on each transaction (usually around 2%), the full donation goes to the charity. Donate Up does not profit on customer donations, as we ethically see those as belonging to the charity.
Q: Can a Merchant change their Beneficiary Charity?
A: YES. A Merchant may periodically change which charity they promote and support. This helps promote new charities and raise additional awareness, and limits donor fatigue with returning customers.
Q: What are Interchange Rates?
A: Interchange refers to the fees charged by the card networks (Visa / Mastercard) and the back-end processing banks (where the funds are ultimately withdrawn and deposited from). This set of fees excludes the cost charged by the Independent Sales Organization (ISO) which manages a store’s merchant account (servicing the equipment, monitoring fraud, compiling monthly reports, and handling each and every transaction).
- Visa Interchange rates: https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/
download/merchants/visa-usa- interchange-reimbursement- fees-2016-april.pdf - Mastercard Interchange rates: https://www.mastercard.us/en-
us/about-mastercard/what-we- do/interchange.html