The Cause tab, located on the main navigation bar of a request or invitation, displays detailed information about the applying nonprofit organization. The data shown on the tab is pulled from the Benevity Causes Portal.
In this article:
- What's the Causes Portal?
- Cause Information
- When an organization is not in the Causes Portal
- Employee Engagement
What's the Causes Portal?
The Causes Portal is Benevity's global database of over 2 million nonprofit organizations. It syncs with the IRS and CRA database monthly. Any public charitable organization in good standing in the US and Canada is automatically included in the database. The portal also syncs regularly with the charitable databases for the UK, Australia, and Ireland. Learn more about the Causes Portal.
Cause Information
The first section in the tab is Cause Information. Content here is pulled directly from the Causes Portal.
For managing your requests or invitations, the most helpful information may be the status labels. Below is a breakdown on each label. Depending on your program settings, some of these labels, such as tax eligibility, may work a bit differently.
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Verified: The cause has a profile in the Causes Portal and is verified by our vetting team.
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Self-certified: The cause has completed self-certification in the Causes Portal. Self-certification may be a requirement for a cause to be eligible to apply for grants.
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Tax eligible: The cause is a tax eligible and registered charity in their country. Tax eligibility is a required field when completing a payment. If a cause is not tax eligible, they can still be paid, but they must be marked as “not tax eligible” in the payment line. Tax eligibility can be different for every program. If you have any questions on how it’s handled in your program, please contact your Benevity Client Success Manager.
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Disbursable: Benevity is able to disburse funds to this cause.
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Receives EFT: The cause is able to receive disbursements by EFT. If the cause has a checkmark for Disbursable, but not Receives EFT, they can only receive disbursement by check.
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PayPal: The cause accepts payments via PayPal.
Note: When the Verified and Disbursable labels are checked, the cause is eligible for disbursement through Benevity. But, every program is unique and this might not be the case for you. If you have any questions, contact your Benevity Client Success Manager.
When an organization is not in the Causes Portal
They will not be able to receive disbursement from Benevity. In this scenario, the section will look something like the screenshot below. Note, the cause doesn’t have to be in the database if you’re paying through accounts payable. But, if it’s in the Causes Portal, you know that Benevity has completed a thorough vetting process.
You can always nominate the cause within Benevity Grants. It will be added to the Causes Portal and available for disbursement from Benevity.
Employee Engagement
The second section in the tab is Employee Engagement. If you have Spark, Benevity’s software for volunteering and giving opportunities, you’ll have access to this data.
The section summarizes employee activity in Spark over the last 12 months. Only causes that have had high engagement with your employees will show. High engagement is defined by at least five employees donating or volunteering with a given cause.
The data is listed in the following categories:
- Number of giving opportunities (employee or user-created)
- Number of volunteer opportunities (employee or user-created)
- Total hours volunteered
- Total dollars donated
- Total company matching
