Your Giving Wallet is your personal Donor Advised Fund, or “DAF.”
A DAF is an account maintained and operated by a 501(c)(3) organization, which is called a “sponsoring organization”. The sponsoring organization that Spotlight uses is the American Online Giving Foundation (“AOGF”). Each DAF account holds contributions from specific individual donors. Once AOGF receives a donor’s contribution, AOGF has legal control over it, the donation cannot be refunded, and the donation must be distributed (eventually) to one or more IRS-qualified public charities. Because the money must eventually be distributed to charity, the donor can generally take a tax deduction right away. However, the donor retains advisory privileges with respect to the distribution of funds in the account. In other words, you the donor have the power to direct when and how much of the money in your DAF is distributed to whichever IRS-qualified public charities that you care about.
When you load funds to your Giving Wallet on Spotlight or click any donation button on Spotlight, you are making a tax-deductible contribution to your DAF at AOGF and recommending that AOGF make a grant of your donation to the nonprofit that you have selected, or that you will select. (Note: Spotlight does not give tax advice; please consult your tax advisor to determine tax deductibility and tax treatment.) AOGF verifies that the donation recipient meets all necessary qualifications for approval. Once approved, the donation amount is deducted from your DAF account, and the money is sent to the recipient.
AOGF retains authority and control over individual DAF accounts and may refuse a donor’s recommendations for any reason. In rare situations, AOGF cannot grant donated funds to the Spotlight Draft Policiesp. 4 of 17Draft September 2022recommended nonprofit when, for example, such nonprofit falls out of compliance with a federal or state regulatory authority. If AOGF cannot grant the donation to the nonprofit that you have recommended, AOGF may in its sole discretion select an alternate recipient nonprofit or contact you for a different recommendation.
Credit card payment processing services on Spotlight are provided by Stripe, Inc. ("Stripe") and are subject to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, which includes the Stripe Terms of Service (collectively, the “Stripe Services Agreement”). As a Platform Spotlighter, you agree to be bound by the Stripe Services Agreement, as may be modified by Stripe from time to time. As a condition to Spotlight enabling credit card payment processing services through Stripe, you agree to provide Spotlight accurate and complete information about yourself and your business, and you authorize Spotlight to share any such information with Stripe, as well as transaction information related to your use of the Stripe payment processing services. In all cases, standard credit card or other third-party processing fees apply in addition to any Platform Fees. We are not responsible for the performance of any third-party credit card processing or third-party payment services. For more on pricing and fees, see the <pricing page>.
Any individual over 18 years of age may open a Giving Wallet and become a Spotlighter.
Fees are set forth on the <pricing page>.
All Spotlight DAF accounts require an initial one-time contribution of at least $1. After that, Spotlight’s minimum donation is $1.
To create a DAF account, a Spotlighter must provide certain personal and financial information. No bots, no bullshit is our motto here. Additional information may be required to authorize transactions depending on the transaction size or its nature.
Spotlighters may access their accounts at any time by logging into the Spotlight Platform. Spotlighters are responsible for reviewing their accounts to ensure their accounts are secure. Spotlight is not responsible for any losses resulting from account fraud, theft, or any other unauthorized activity.
Contributions to a Spotlight account are held in an account that may be named by the Spotlighter, though Spotlight reserves the right not to approve a name for a Spotlight account. Spotlight assigns each DAF account a unique fund number. Contributions remain in that Spotlighter’s DAF account until the Spotlighter recommends a donation or until the account is terminated.
As part of the Service, you may be charging your customers for donations and holding the funds for a period of time before transferring them to us. Amounts that your customers pay to you with respect to the portion of the subscription or merchandise purchase that the customer elects to treat as a charitable donation (e.g., a percentage of sales) shall be paid to you on behalf and for the benefit of AOGF, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. You shall hold such amounts in trust for the benefit of AOGF, and promptly remit those balances to Spotlight, as AOGF's agent, as soon as commercially practicable, but in no event shall you hold those funds more than 30 days. Until the receipt of such amounts by AOGF, AOGF shall have a security interest in such amounts and may, at its discretion, evidence such security interest by filing one or more financing statements (e.g., Form UCC-1) in favor of AOGF. You will take such steps as we reasonably request in order to perfect that security interest.
Donations are paid to Spotlight as agent for AOGF. Spotlight holds donations received from you in trust for AOGF for no more than 30 business days before remitting them to AOGF. As a donor-advised fund, AOGF is obligated to regrant those donations to the intended recipient U.S. nonprofit organization(s). If it is unable to do so after making reasonable efforts, it will regrant those funds to a U.S. nonprofit with a similar mission.