Why should my organization join GivingTrain.com?

How does GivingTrain.com work?

GivingTrain.com has partnered with each of the retailers shown on the site.  In return for providing these sites with customers, each of the retailers has agreed to pay GivingTrain.com a commission.  In order to receive this commission, a customer must purchase goods from the retailer using one of the links located on this website.  In essence, GivingTrain.com is an online mall that rewards your organization based on your supporter's shopping habits.

This is all you have to do:

1.  Select what organization you want to support.
2.  Click on the link to the retailer you want to shop at.
3.  Shop.
4.  Complete your purchase.
5.  When completed a donation of up to 20% of the total sale (excluding shipping and taxes), from each transaction will be donated to
     the organization of your choice. 

NO EXTRA COSTS ARE INCURRED.
NO PERSONAL INFORMATION IS COLLECTED BY THIS SITE.

Why would an organization be interested in using GivingTrain.com?

Every day, more and more people shop online.  The overwhelming majority of those people go directly to a site to shop.  GivingTrain.com believes that these consumers, who also comprise an organizations potential donors, would welcome the opportunity to support an organization in another form, especially when there are no additional costs to them.  In essence, the consumer benefits from the knowledge they are contributing through their everyday purchases, and a recipient organization has now established an additional means of fundraising with no additional costs to them.

Benefits to consumers:
1)  Knowledge they are supporting a cause they care about with every dollar spent online.
2)  Knowledge they are buying products directly from a site they want to purchase from.
3)  Access to sales and other deals they might otherwise not know exist.

Benefits to organizations:
1)  Creation of additional fundraising tool.
2)  No additional costs to maintain/support the site.

How does an organization join?

Membership is free.  All that needs to be done is send an email to us and we will follow-up promptly to answer any questions and get your site set up.

How will my organization be paid?

Donations are paid to participating organizations on a monthly basis, with a one-month lag.  For example, all qualifying purchases made in January will be paid by March 15th.  This lag allows for product returns, cancellations, or exchanges, which might alter the donation level.

Checks will be sent directly to the organization.  To simplify the process, checks will only be written when an organizations balance exceeds $25.  If donations for a particular month fall below this $25 threshold, the total will be carried forward to the next month.

How much will my organization receive?

Up to 20% of each transaction will be donated to your organization.  Each merchant partner has a clearly identified donation percentage or flat fee associated with it. To see how much of each transaction will be donated, click the button below.

Can an organization have multiple causes?

Yes!  The beauty of GivingTrain.com is that it allows an organization to have multiple causes supported.  For example, a school can set up a site specific to a sport, a department, or scholarship.  Unless specified, each organization will initially be set up with one specific page, with proceeds going to the schools general fund.

To set up additional causes, simply send us an email, telling us what additional programs you would like to set up, identify a contact person, and specify where checks should be sent.

What does an organization have to do?

Nothing.  Ideally, we would expect an organization would want to spread the word to their communities, either through an email to their supporters making them aware of this new mechanism (which we can supply), or via a link displayed on the organizations website itself.  This link will be customized for each organization, allowing a user to go directly to a schools site.

While there are no requirements for an organization to help promote the site, simple steps like those mentioned above can improve overall performance of this program and result in greater donations.