PledgeCents is a social enterprise with one mission: to help bring more educational opportunities and experiences to young adults in our communities. Our platform looks to remove financial barriers to educational opportunities by allowing anyone, anywhere to support any need impacting a community nationwide. Anyone who is raising funds for a PreK-12 school, a non-profit, a youth sporting team, or a faith-based need can raise funds on PledgeCents. We allow investors to see exactly where their funds are going and how they will be utilized. You can see our impact here.

One of our greatest benefits is our flexible funding model. Whether you exceed, meet, or do not meet your goal, you don't have to worry about not receiving your funds and having them refunded. Each fundraising page contains a “Backup Plan” for what the money will be used for if the goal is not met. This creates transparency for individuals who are investing in the fundraising page.

Nothing. Creating a fundraising page is completely free. There are no upfront costs, contracts, or subscriptions to worry about. As a social enterprise, we work hard to achieve our social mission.

If the money is contributed to a fundraising page created by a registered 501(c)3, each investor will receive the organization's Federal Tax ID number and will be able to write off the contribution. If a fundraising page has 'verified non-profit' in the title section of the page, then any contribution to that fundraising page can be considered 100% tax deductible.

No. Invest as little or as much as you feel comfortable. Our average investment size is around $75.

Every organization account that is submitted on our site goes through a verification process before it is approved. All the funds are sent via a check directly to the school, not the individual. Once a fundraising page is over, Fundraising Page Creators will post an update with pictures and content to inform investors how the funds were actually utilized. Every time an update is posted, every investor will receive an automatic email with the update. The updates help to build trust between the Fundraising Page Creator and the investor.

We have partnered with Stripe to handle financial transactions, but neither investors nor Fundraising Page Creators need a Stripe account. Investors can contribute to any fundraising page using a credit card or bank account. When fundraising pages are complete, we send a check within 48 hours to their organization and memo it to the Fundraising Page Creator and the specific fundraising page. We do this for a few reasons:

the funds are accountable as they are sent to an organization, not an individual

the funds can be considered tax deductible (if applicable) because they are going to an organization, not an individual

the funds will not be considered taxable income for the Fundraising Page Creator (unlike the scenario with other crowdfunding sites)

PledgeCents is a flexible platform focused on growing educational opportunities for the cornerstones of our community. If you have a need for a school, non-profit, church/faith based, volunteer effort, or a youth sports team, then you can create a fundraising page on PledgeCents. There is no minimum or maximum goal for a fundraising page. Fundraising Page Creators have the flexibility to raise funds for any need from any vendor of their choice. We don't want to put restraints on what you raise or who you purchase from; it's your need, we just want to help.

Every Fundraising Page Creator is given a personalized referral code, which can be found in the Profile section on their dashboard. We have built a Referral tab in the Fundraising Page Creator dashboard that rewards users for referring other users to sign up. For every user who signs up from your referral invitation, you will receive a $1 credit to your account. Click here to read more about our referral program.

PledgeCents is for focused on growing a community for the cornerstones of every community. Our organization’s vision is: ‘Every Community. Every Chance. Every Cent.’

1. 0% platform fees: Unlike other crowdfunding sites that charge 5%-15% (plus 3% for payment processing), PledgeCents has 0% platform fees. Our users receive 97% of the funds raise (3% goes towards payment processing).
2. Keep funds you raise: PledgeCents does not penalize out fundraising pages if they do not meet their goal. Other sites will refund the money directly to people who contributed if the page does not meet its goal. PledgeCents allows our fundraising pages to receive their funds if they do not meet their goal.
3. Accountability: PledgeCents verifies every organization, school, team, church, that creates a fundraising page through our platform. Unlike the majority of crowdfunding sites, PledgeCents does not send the money directly to a person. We send all the funds raised to the organization so it is accountable, reported, and minimizes the liability to potential mismanagement of how funds are used.
4. Streamline tax receipts: If your page is a verified 501(c)3 organization, then we will send tax receipts to your contributors upon their contribution so you don’t have to worry about taking care of that. On majority of crowdfunding sites, your contribution is considered a “gift” and is not tax deductible; on PledgeCents, you are able to receive a tax deduction.

Our team reviews all comments that are posted to ensure they are appropriate. The majority of comments will be approved; however, comments that contain negative or inappropriate language, or appear to be spam will not be approved.

You can set your page to be live for 5-90 days. We recommend between 30-40 days so this allows enough time to share your page with your community while also providing a sense of urgency for people to contribute immediately.

Yes. We partnered with Stripe who is a Level 1 PCI Compliant Service Provider. Stripe uses state-of-the-art cryptographic algorithms during data transmission.

Currently, all international needs would have to work with a US-based organization to raise funds because we will send the funds to the US-based organization who then can distribute to you. We are working on expanding to new countries very shortly.

If you would like a refund for a contribution that you made, you will need to email info@pledgecents.com. Please use the email address associated with your contribution. Also, please include the link to the fundraising page, the amount contributed, the date contributed, and the reason behind the request. Our team will review the request, and when approved, will begin the refund process no more than 48 hours after approval (which may take no more than 48 hours).

If you need to cancel your fundraising page for any reason, please email us at info@pledgecents.com. Please use the email address associated with your account. Also, please include the link to the fundraising page and the reason behind your request. Our team will review the request, and when approved, will cancel your fundraising page within 24 hours. If you have funds contributed to your page, you can either ask for all contributions to be refunded and our team will refund contributions on your behalf.

Since we work with such a variety of different schools (public, private, charter), we allow each school to make the decision based on their respective policy. If you are unaware about your school's policy with this, then we recommend you discuss with your administrator before moving forward.

The answer is 'yes' and 'no'. Through PledgeCents, you have the flexibility to purchase from any vendor of your choosing. But, if your school or district has regulations around certain vendors, please make sure you are abiding by those regulations. In other words, make sure the vendor you choose is also approved by your school or district.

The Preferred Partner Program brings some of the leading and rising EdTech tools directly to our classrooms. Fundraising Page Creators are able to raise funds for an annual subscription (or product) to one of the 60+ EdTech partners. Once you choose which partner you want to raise funds for, a pre populated fundraising page will appear and all you have to do is review the fundraising page and make any edits and submit. You can view a list of partners here.

Once you raise funds for any of our partners, we take care of the rest. We will make the purchase for the subscription (or product) on your behalf and you will receive an email from the partner with your subscription (or product). You and your administrator will receive a confirmation email of the purchase for your records. We take all the headache and extra time off your shoulders.

Yes. Once someone makes an investment, they will receive a confirmation email from our team which will include the Federal Tax ID number for your organization.

Yes. Every person who raises funds will be able to collect the contact information for their investors (aka donors) through their dashboard. We recommend that you reach out before you add them to any newsletter list without their consent.

No. You are able to raise funds for any need(s) that will positively impact your organization and the community that you serve.

Yes. Your fundraising page has to be under an established religious entity (i.e. church, synagogue, mosque) so we can send the money directly to the organization.

No. You are able to raise raise funds for any need(s) that will positively impact your faith-biased community. You can raise funds for structural needs, volunteer efforts, community events, after-school programs, scholarships, etc.

Not at all. We welcome all groups that are working towards the same mission of positively impacting the cornerstones of our communities.

Yes, if you are a youth sports team, you are able to raise funds through PledgeCents. Teams that are made up of PreK-12th grade aged young adults are able to create a page.

Yes. Anyone (including parents) can create a fundraising page to raise funds for the team (or player).

No. You can raise funds for equipment, travel costs, tournament fees, new uniforms, etc.