Frequently Asked Questions

Can I donate to any charity?

You can donate to any charity on the United States' IRS list tax-exempt nonprofits under Section 501(c)(3). If you can’t find a charity but believe it should be there, please contact us at info@givingmultiplier.org.

Are donations tax-deductible?

Yes, your donations are fully tax-deductible in the U.S.. You will receive a receipt for all of your donations from our partner Every.org. While donations are currently only tax-deductible in the U.S., you can donate from anywhere in the world.

Important: The email confirmation from Giving Multiplier is NOT a tax receipt. Instead, please make sure to use the email you receive from Every.org. For tax purposes, the charity is Every.org (rather than the specific charities to which you donated).

Can I donate from outside of the United States?

Yes, you can donate from anywhere in the world. However, you can only donate to charities that are legally recognized in the U.S. Note that many international charities have a branch in the U.S., in which case you can donate to them.

Your donations are fully tax-deductible in the U.S. but not yet in other countries. That said, your donation, in particular into our matching system, could still be incredibly useful, no matter where you're donating from.

How do you identify highly effective charities?

We rely on research by experts at GiveWell, Animal Charity Evaluators, Founders Pledge, and Open Philanthropy. More generally, our thinking is informed by effective altruism — a philosophy and social movement that uses reason and evidence to figure out how to do the most good. The research that informs effective altruism points to charities working in three broad areas: global health and poverty alleviation, animal welfare, and global catastrophic risks.

We do not claim that our selected recommended charities are the only highly effective charities in the world. The selection of recommended charities is our attempt to present you with a short, but inexhaustive, portfolio of charities that are considered highly effective according to the principles of effective altruism. We plan to review our list annually based on our expert charity evaluators' recommendations. You can learn more about effective charities here.

Do my matched donations have an impact?

If you make a split-donation through Giving Multiplier, you can expect to have an increased impact. However, your multiplier impact may be different or more indirect than you might expect. The matching funds added to your donation is pre-paid and therefore not fully counterfactual. Despite this, you can have a counterfactually increased impact. On our transparency page, we explain how our matching system works in greater detail. 

What if I already donate to one of your super-effective charities?

The goal of Giving Multiplier is to encourage new donors to give more to super-effective charities — donors who wouldn't necessarily give to super-effective charities before visiting Giving Multiplier. If you are already committed to supporting super-effective charities, you could do more good by supporting our matching system.

Where do the matching funds come from?

Matching funds are generously provided entirely by individual donors. People looking to maximize their impact by introducing others to our super-effective charities may be particularly interested in donating to our matching system.

What happens to my donation if I donate into the matching system?

If you donate into our matching system, all of your donations will eventually be donated to charity. Your donation into the matching system will be used to match a proportion of other people's donations for the charities they selected. Overall, more will go to effective than less effective charities. This is a strategy to motivate more people to give more to highly effective charities. We strive to use your donations optimally, maximizing the total amount given to effective charities. Any matching funds that are unused after 12 months are automatically donated to the effective charity that you chose. In case you didn't choose an effective charity, we will consult with experts to choose an effective charity that would best utilize the unused matching funds.

How are the matching rates determined?

The matching rates are assessed quarterly based on the amount of funds available in the matching system. The more funds available in the matching system, the higher the matching rate we are able to offer.

Why do the matching rates change when I shift my donation allocation between the two charities?

In order to encourage donations to our super-effective charities, matching rates increase when you give a greater proportion of your donation to the super-effective (vs. favorite) charity. Historically, the matching rates have had a range as low as 3% to 30% and as high as 9% to 90%. Please check the donation flow on the homepage to see the current matching rates.

Do you charge a fee or overhead costs?

No, we take no fees or overhead from our donors. Instead, our organization is generously supported by grant from EA Funds and Founders Pledge, as well a few individual donors.

Donations made with credit or debit cards incur transaction fees from our processing partners to reach the nonprofit you'd like to support. However, you can also donate via bank transaction without any fees, which means that 100% of your donation goes to charity. 

How are donations processed?

Donations via Giving Multiplier are processed by our trusted partner Every.org. Every.org is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit that allows donors to easily give to multiple charities. Each donation you make via Giving Multiplier goes first to Every.org. They will issue you a receipt for your donation and forward your donation to the charities you have selected during the next monthly billing cycle. While donations are typically forwarded to charities at least once per month, in rare cases it can take up to three months.

Are my donations secure?

Absolutely. Your donation transactions are secured through Every.org. Your connection to both GivingMultiplier.org and Every.org is encrypted.

Do you share my information with anyone?

No, we will never share your information with anyone else, unless you give us explicit permission to do so. The only party that will receive information from us is our trusted partner Every.org. They will process your donation and will not share your information with anyone else without your explicit permission.

Can I donate through a donor-advised fund (DAF)?

Yes, this is possible. To donate through a DAF, please first make a donation to our donation-processing partner Every.org by following the instructions here. Once Every.org has received your donation, you will have it available as a credit on Every.org. Make sure that you are logged in on Every.org. You can then go the Giving Multiplier website (https://givingmultiplier.org) as usual and make a normal donation. At the payment stage, you will then be able to assign your credit to the charities of your choice (or alternatively assign the credit into our matching system). Please contact us if you have any questions.

Can I set up monthly recurring donations?

Not yet. However, you can already set up monthly recurring donations into our matching system.

My employer offers donation matching. Can I do this with Giving Multiplier?

Yes. If your employer uses Benevity, you can find us on their platform. (Please note that donations made through Benevity take 2-3 months to process.)

I’m interested in making a large donation and would like to speak with the team. How should I get in touch?

For donations above $5,000, we are happy to provide personalized donation advice. Please complete this brief form or send an email to our Executive Director Matt Coleman (matt@givingmultiplier.org).

How can I get in touch?

Email us at info@givingmultiplier.org.

For press, partnerships, speaking, and corporate giving inquiries, please email our Executive Director Matt Coleman (matt@givingmultiplier.org).