Frequently Asked Questions
Are donations to Friends of Sharon tax deductible?
Donations to individuals in need are treated as gifts rather than charitable donations by the IRS and are therefore not tax deductible. On the upside, donations in the range Sharon needs do not incur gift taxes. Also, neither Sharon nor Veronica will be required to pay income taxes on the funds we raise, so they will receive the full benefit of each and every gift.
If you have any questions about how your donation affects or is affected by taxes, please send an email to friendsofsharon97@gmail.com.
Why DonorBox?
We have chosen Donorbox, a platform specifically designed to support fundraising by nonprofit organizations, to handle donations on this website. In addition to making it easier for our team, and Sharon and Veronica, to thank you for your gift, Donorbox supports donors who wish to set up smaller, recurrent donations. To use Donorbox, simply click the GO TO DONORBOX link on our DONATE page. The resulting dialog box will walk you through the steps.
However, we also gratefully accept donations by check or through the payment systems Zelle and Venmo. Please refer to our DONATE page to access the appropriate links and information.
How does Donorbox keep payment data secure?
Donorbox uses a payment processing system called Stripe to securely handle donors’ financial data. Stripe is certified as a PCI Service Provider, Level 1, which is the most stringent level of certification available in the payments industry.
TWhat this means is that when you input your payment information, Donorbox employs Stripe’s tokenization method to encrypt the data before initiating the charge. Saved cards and bank accounts for recurring donations are also tokenized. As a result, Donorbox maintains no unencrypted record of donors’ financial information.
In addition, all transmissions — between donors, the Donorbox form, and Stripe — are fully encrypted, using 256bit SSL/TLS, the most secure encryption key available.
For Donorbox’s statement about security, visit this page.