Organization sanctions and watchlists screening
Benevity performs ongoing screening of all active nonprofit organizations within the Causes Portal against recognized sanctions and government watchlists using Benevity’s in-house screening database, which aggregates sanctions lists and watchlists into detailed profiles on organizations. This process helps Benevity to reduce the risk of donations going to these nonprofits that may violate our Terms of Use.
If a match is identified during Benevity’s sanctions and watchlist screening for a nonprofit in the Benevity Causes Portal, funds are immediately put on hold for the nonprofits identified while a review is completed by Benevity. A review compares available data points such as the name of the cause owner and the location of the nonprofit. Matches are only confirmed if, at minimum, the state/province and country are the same as the nonprofit information we have on our database. If the match is confirmed, the nonprofit profile is deactivated. If a match is not confirmed to be an organization in the Causes Portal, funds would then be released to the nonprofit and no further action would be taken.
For confirmed nonprofit matches that have received funds in the past or have previously committed donations:
- The organization will remain deactivated and unable to receive further donations or disbursements.
- An impact report identifying affected users and corporate programs is generated.
- Impacted clients are notified with a detailed transaction report that is also shared with Benevity’s support team to answer any questions from end users or clients.
Depending on the original method of donation, committed donations that have not been disbursed to the deactivated nonprofit will be reflected in the donor’s giving account to allow the user to make a new nonprofit recommendation or appear on the Donation Report (DR) as a “credit”, effectively “offsetting” subsequent DRs.
Country or regional sanctions
Benevity sanction screening is reviewed for one or more of the jurisdictions where Benevity itself has an entity and also for jurisdictions where our Partner Foundations/Organizations are located. Our Foundation Partners/Organizations may be unable to collect or disburse funds from or to the sanctioned areas, which could be a country or region, even if there are exemptions, general licenses, or specific licenses that may allow nonprofits to operate in these sanctioned areas. Benevity and its Foundation Partners reserve the right to restrict disbursements (or donations) to sanctioned regions or countries regardless of general region or country exemptions. In addition, every client and nonprofit is also responsible for ensuring that all its activities and stakeholders comply with all sanctions regarding their use of the Benevity platform.
Global regulatory reviews
Given the diverse and changing rules around the world, we endeavor to ensure our platform complies with the laws and regulations in all countries where we have a presence.
Global regulatory reviews are based on a point-in-time analysis and are subject to change, as are the decisions that result from them. The timing of these reviews is based on a few factors, namely; strategic importance for Benevity and our Partner Foundations, significant political changes, or events where we have increasing presence/donation volume.
Legal reviews are periodically conducted for Benevity and its foundation partners regarding sanctions that impact the Benevity ecosystem. These reviews do not opine on the possible legal position or requirements of Benevity’s clients and their users. Clients are still strongly encouraged to ensure they are operating their programs in accordance with the local laws and regulations in each jurisdiction of program use.