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Q: How can I donate money?
A: Donations may be made via credit card or check. You can also buy a JChoice Gift Card and give it as a gift for lifecycle events, and in honor or in memoriam.
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Q: Is there a minimum donation?
A: Every donation makes a difference. The minimum donation to a Cause or donor group is $5.00. Larger donations are most welcome. At JChoice, we encourage giving in increments of $18 because in the Jewish tradition, the number eighteen is symbolically special because it is the numeric equivalent of the letters that spell “Chai” (Life).
The message at JChoice is the same as the message of Tzedakah: It is not how much you give, but simply the fact that you give something.
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Q: Can I use any credit card to make a donation?
A: JChoice accepts most major international credit cards: VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.
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Q: How much of my donation actually gets to the Cause I select?
A: All of it. 100 percent of your donation goes directly to your cause.
As a public charitable organization, JChoice’s operations are transparent and reported as required by law on a regular basis. For more information, please see our IRS Form 990.
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Q: Is my contribution tax deductible?
A: When a JChoice user deposits money into a charitable giving account, buys a gift card or donates to support JChoice operations, this money is immediately tax deductible and JChoice will issue a tax receipt per transaction.
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Q: How do I track my donations?
A: As a member of JChoice, you can easily track the history of your donations in the “Account” section of your profile.
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Q: Will I receive a receipt for my donation? From whom?
A: When a JChoice user deposits money into a charitable giving account, buys a gift card, gives to a cause or donates to support JChoice operations, this money is immediately tax deductible and JChoice will issue a tax receipt. In addition, our secure third-party credit card processing service also issues a receipt.
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Q: How can I be sure that the money was used for the purposes of the donation?
A: Every JChoice cause will submit an annual report providing extensive financial reporting for the period covered, a narrative description of grant activities, and detailed information on program objectives and milestones consistent with the application the cause originally filed with JChoice. Additionally, visits from JChoice field officers will be scheduled with each grantee so that we may evaluate the use of the funds.
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Q: Does JChoice have any say about how the money received from a donor is spent?
A: All JChoice causes sign a grant agreement with JChoice to use JChoice-allocated funds only in the manner as declared on their Tzedakah application. Any cause that improperly uses funds will be required to repay JChoice any portion of the funds not used for the purposes identified in the Tzedakah application and the grant agreement, including any unexpended funds. All donors who contributed to that cause will be notified and money returned to JChoice will go back into the donor’s accounts for redistribution.
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Q: When do the causes receive funds from JChoice?
A: JChoice will track the amount of funds cleared for distribution to the Cause. When the balance of funds reaches the Distribution Amount (initially $100, and thereafter $500), a distribution by check or electronic transfer will be made to the Cause within the next calendar month. The cause receives 100 percent of the allocated amount.
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Q: How is JChoice Funded?
A: JChoice’s administrative expenses are funded by a group of philanthropists who want to enable the next generation of contributors, and believe that a lifetime of giving should start early in life. These costs include the evaluation of JChoice causes, credit card and transaction fees (which can run as high as 7.5% of total donations), web hosting, maintenance and content, financial reporting, development and implementation of Jewish values education and community engagement programs, building content, and support of staff.
When donating to a JChoice cause, donors may also choose to donate an optional 10 percent directly to JChoice to help defray expenses.
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Q: Does JChoice take donations? How will the funds be used?
A: Absolutely! The vision of our founders is to create a JChoice endowment, the income of which will be used to pay any and all of our administrative expenses. We believe that by limiting our administrative costs and judiciously applying our future donations, we will be able to make their dream a reality.
We don’t charge our members an administrative fee to donate their money to charity. 100% of each donation goes to the designated cause.
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Q: Are there ways that I can give in a non-monetary way?
A: There are many ways to help us advocate for Tikkum Olam without spending money.
Are you on Facebook? We started a jchoice.org fan club. You could join with one click and invite your friends in a few minutes. In this simple act of support, you will bring more attention to our new social network. Since we just launched, every positive word about us really helps.
Also, joining JChoice.org is free. You can open a profile and network with others in the community who share your passions.
Each cause has ways to get involved on their page as well. As you find the causes that you care about, you are welcome to contact them and reflect about it on your profile, too.
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Q: Is JChoice.org PCI compliant?
A: When you make a contribution on JChoice.org, your credit card information is collected and processed by our secure third-party credit card vendor First Data. No data is stored on JChoice.org servers.
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Q: Is JChoice a Donor Advised Fund?
A: A JChoice gift account is a donor-advised fund. JChoice policy and certain legal rules govern the use of assets placed in donor-advised funds. Please read the Charitable Giving accounts section of our legal matters page to learn more.
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Q: Is there a minimum contribution to open my JChoice giving account?
A: No.
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Q: What happens to the money in my giving account if I don’t recommend a donation to charity?
A: Unlike some other donor-advised funds, our job is only half done when money goes into a giving account. We want to see money turn into good works. Therefore, if a giving account remains inactive (failure to either contribute to or distribute from your account) for 12 months, JChoice may act to take away the account holder’s power to recommend charitable grants. JChoice in its sole discretion may elect to transfer the assets from inactive accounts to the JChoice Charitable Pool. Once a year, funds placed in the JChoice Charitable Pool are donated to charity in accordance with the recommendations of the Charitable Allocation Committee of the JChoice Board of Directors. Holders of inactive accounts will be notified 90, 60, and 30 days before JChoice transfers their funds to the JChoice Charitable Pool. Any account activity before such transfer will return the account to active status.