Where Does My Donation Go?

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

Recently, there were articles in the paper that talked about how a nonprofit was not receiving all of the donations they were supposed to receive. In fact, most of the money was going to the company that helped them raise the funds.

As a donor, that can feel really icky. It may make you wonder why you’re donating money at all. Your goal is to help people, but if they aren’t receiving the money, what’s the point of donating?

We would like to tell you that this doesn’t happen often; that most nonprofits get 100% of their donations, but we can’t. What the newspaper article talks about is actually a pretty common practice.

You are a generous person. You are doing what you can to make a difference in the world, and it can be incredibly frustrating and surprising to know that your donation isn’t doing what you thought it would do.

Here at the PVLA, we can’t speak for other nonprofits, but we can tell you where your money is going when you donate to us.

Where Your Donation Goes

The first thing to keep in mind when you donate to the PVLA is that we don’t use a middle man to help us raise funds. We either apply for grants or take donations directly. That eliminates needing to pay an outside source for fundraising services.

There is a bit of a caveat in that statement, however. The only time we may not receive the full amount of a donation is if you donate through our online site. Then, the company that processes your payment will take a small fee. However, you have the option of covering that fee, and then we get 100% of the money you donate.

Once you make a donation, how the money is used depends on whether or not restrictions have been placed on the gift.

When it comes to grants, those are typically allocated to a specific purpose, so the money can only be spent on certain things. This blog post gives more information about grants.

When it comes to donations from individuals or private donors, it’s possible for you to allocate your money to a specific program or endeavor. If you do that, the PVLA can only spend the money according to your wishes.

 
However, if you don’t specify how you want your money spent, then it might go into the General Fund. That means the money can be spent at the discretion of the executive director and/or the board of directors. Your money may be used for cleaning supplies or classroom supplies, potentially even to pay instructor salaries. It will be used where it’s most needed.

The Benefits of General Funds

Hearing that your donation might go into the General Fund might sound disconcerting. You might be thinking that buying cleaning supplies isn’t a good use of your money.

That’s fine. It’s your donation, so if you want it to be used in a specific way, let us know.

However, there are benefits to having money in the General Fund.

Sure, buying cleaning supplies doesn’t sound overly helpful or generous, but it does make a difference. Students deserve to come to a clean learning environment, and money is needed to buy those supplies.

Using General Funds to pay for overhead costs, including salaries or bills, is also beneficial. If bills aren’t paid, then we lose our building. If people aren’t paid, then there’s no one here to run the nonprofit.

General Funds are the lifeblood of what we do. Yes, it’s nice and beneficial to have funding for programs, but we also need to keep the lights on—and that’s what the General Fund does.

Having unrestricted funds is just as important as getting grants. We need money for a variety of expenses that are part of running our nonprofit.

All Donations Welcome

Making a donation to a nonprofit is an incredibly generous thing to do, and it does help others. However, we get that it can be upsetting and disheartening to know that the money isn’t going where it’s supposed to go or that the full amount isn’t making an impact.

However, here at the PVLA, all donations make a difference and make an impact on students—whether they are grants allocated to a specific program or unrestricted gifts that may find themselves in the General Fund.

You don’t even have to donate a huge amount to make an impact. If you read this blog post, you’ll see that even $1 can make a difference.

Again, we can’t speak for all nonprofits. There are places that don’t see all the money they raise, but when you donate to us, we use that money to ensure our students are taken care of in a variety of beneficial ways.