Give Local Gifts & Bonus Fund Terms

The Community Foundation has established guidelines regarding what types of donations count toward your organization’s Give Local totals and what funds qualify for Bonus Fund distributions. We receive thousands of donations for this event, and these rules exist so every participating organization is treated equally. 

To count toward Give Local totals and Bonus Fund eligibility, donations must be clearly intended by the donor to support your organization’s participation in Give Local.

 The Giving Window

Only donations received between November 2 - November 20, 11:59 pm will count toward your organization's Give Local totals. Additionally, if they are offline donations, they must be:

1. Dated between November 2– 20, 2026
2. Count as an allowable donation type (see below)
3. Entered in the system by the same November 20, 11:59 pm deadline. *See the verification rule below for checks of $1,000 or more.

Donation Types That Count

• Online Donations Made Through Spsgives.org

The site accepts debit and credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Venmo, Google Pay, and ACH. Donors giving $50+ can choose to give via Bank Account (ACH) through Plaid, a third-party banking integration.

• Offline Donations: Cash and Check

Checks under $1,000 are automatically approved once entered in the system. Checks of $1,000 or more require manual verification (see ‘How to enter an offline donation’ section below for verification rules). Cash donation entries will be accepted based on the organization’s reporting.

• Donor Advised Fund (DAF) or Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA)

These charitable account gifts follow their own process — see the DAF and IRA guide. Because these gifts are more complex, we recommend donors work directly with Community Foundation staff to make sure the gift is properly counted toward your totals and Bonus Fund eligibility.

Donation Types That Do NOT Count

• Online gifts made anywhere other than spsgives.org, such as via your organization’s website, a Facebook or GoFundMe fundraiser, an outside mobile app transaction like PayPal or Venmo, or donations received through your front office that the donor does not intend for Give Local.

• In-kind (non-cash) donations of any kind.
• Checks dated or received outside of the November 2– 20 window.

Why the online restrictions? A core goal of Give Local is to direct donors to a single online place to give to their favorite nonprofits and search for other nonprofits that may interest them. For this reason, online gifts made outside the Give Local platform aren't counted.

How to Enter an Offline Donation

1. Log in at spsgives.org/login

2. Click ‘Reports’ on the left side of the page.

3. Select ‘Offline Donations.’

4. Click ‘Add Offline Donation’(upper right) and enter the donor and gift details.

Verification Rule:

Keep a copy of every check you receive. For gifts of $1,000 or more, you'll need to send a copy to Community Foundation staff at heidi@thecommunityfoundation.com to verify that the donation was received during the giving period and was intended for Give Local. Make sure the donor's name, date, amount, and pay-to lines are visible; everything else can be blacked out. Since these need to be manually approved, please enter and send documentation by 5pm on November 20 at the latest. For cash donations, entries will be accepted based on the organization’s reporting. Please retain any donor documentation or internal records available to support your entry. 

Tax Receipts

• Online donations made through the Give Local platform are automatically receipted by Mightycause.

• Offline donations sent directly to the Community Foundation will be receipted by the Community Foundation.
• Offline donations your organization receives directly are your responsibility to receipt.

Regardless of how the donation is made, we encourage you to thank your donors personally and let them know the impact of their gift.