Your most common questions
In Canada, registered charities are legally obligated to maintain full discretion and control over all resources given to them. It is important that the charity also clearly communicates this obligation to its donors. Charities are permitted to accept recommendations from donors as to what programs or projects they wish their donation supports. The language we use on the RC Forward donation platform is intended to accurately communicate our responsibilities to the Canadians that use our platform.
We review all donation recommendations on a quarterly basis, and make every effort to fulfill every single recommendation. On the rare occasion that we are unable to fulfill a recommendation, we proactively work with the donor to come to a solution.
We encourage you to get in touch with us if you have any questions about your gift. We’re here to help!
Time to time, you might decide you want to support different projects with your gift, or you might want to cancel your monthly gift. We can make any changes or cancel your gift at any time. Just contact us and we will be happy to help.
Our process for processing your gift and confirming the details to issue the receipt can take a few days. It is partially automated, but not fully automated. Usually we send receipts within 2 business days. Look out for an email from [email protected]. Sometimes it may take us a bit longer to send your receipt. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have more questions.
Set up an online bank account donation directly through our website. Just select “bank account” as the payment method. This costs $0.26 per donation. This is the best way to reduce third-party fees, because credit card donations charges $0.25 + 2.05% for Visa/Mastercard, $0.25 + 3.5% for AmEx.
Occasionally, our confirmation emails encounter deliverability issues. These issues seem to be more common with Hotmail addresses. If you did not receive a confirmation email after you donate, and you are concerned that your gift was not successful, just contact us and we’ll confirm your gift on our end.
Our donation form has 2 pages. Sometimes page 2 does not appear after you complete page 1. We suspect this is a browser-specific problem. If this is the case, just contact us with your desired split (e.g., 50% recommended for Charity A, 50% recommended for Charity B) and we’ll update your donation.
Your donation and payment options
If this FAQ does not answer your questions, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help. We love hearing from you and being of service.
Time to time, you might decide you want to support different projects with your gift, or you might want to cancel your monthly gift. We can make any changes or cancel your gift at any time. Just contact us and we will be happy to help.
Yes, we accept cheque donations. Please see our More Ways To Give document for instructions.
Yes! If you are giving online, you can split your gift on Page 2 of the donation form. You can recommend support to up to 6 charities or funds in total.
If giving by other methods, follow the instructions in our More Ways To Give document to split your gift.
Yes! Follow the instructions on our donation form. If you’re giving offline (e.g., by cheque or e-transfer), your gift will be anonymous by default. Keep in mind that if you give anonymously, your recommended charity will not be able to thank you when they receive your support.
Yes, you can set up a recurring donation that repeats monthly. Follow the instructions in our donation form to set this up.
Note that your recurring donation will start the day you set it up.
If you would like to change the recurrence date or cancel your gift, contact us. We will cancel your existing gift so that you can set up a new one on your preferred date.
Set up an online bank account donation directly through our website. Just select “bank account” as the payment method. This costs $0.26 per donation. This is the best way to reduce third-party fees, because you avoid credit card processing fees. Nice! Credit card donations charges $0.25 + 2.05% for Visa/Mastercard, $0.25 + 3.5% for AmEx.
Currently, yes.
RC Forward was 100% fee-free from 2017 to 2020. In order to cover the operating costs of RC Forward, we introduced a 4% operations allocation on February 26, 2020.
By giving through RC Forward, you help us keep operating Canada’s effective giving platform. We serve thousands of donors every year, and direct millions of dollars to high-impact causes each year. Thanks for your support!
Please note that our operations allocation is not charged to your donations made through RC Forward to our partner charities that are registered in Canada or can otherwise receive gifts in Canada (i.e., Against Malaria Foundation, SCI Foundation, and Iodine Global Network).
In 2020 we published a detailed rationale for introducing the operations allocation.
We can’t receive securities donations directly, but we regularly work with trusted third parties to receive securities donations from donors like you.
Our More Ways To Give document shares how to donate securities.
Please see our More Ways To Give document for how to set up legacy giving. Please note we are not lawyers or tax professionals, and what we share is not legal advice.
Yes. Thank you for leveraging the power of employee donation matching to maximize your impact!
If your company uses YourCause
In the YourCause donation portal, donate to “Rethink Charity Foundation” (Registration ID: 793187881RR0001). RC Forward is a project of Rethink Charity Foundation, a registered Canadian charity.
In the “Campaign, project or program” designation, specify your request for your donation’s direction (e.g., “Against Malaria Foundation”). If you would like to split your donation across multiple charities or funds, just specify this (e.g., 50% recommended for ALLFED, 50% recommended for RC Forward Climate Change Fund).
Your official donation receipt will be issued by YourCause.
Generally, donations made through YourCause will be granted out to Rethink Charity Foundation on a monthly basis. Once your donation is received by us, it will start moving through the international regranting process.
If your company uses Benevity
In the Benevity donation portal, donate to “Rethink Charity Foundation” (Registration ID: 793187881RR0001). (RC Forward is a project of Rethink Charity Foundation, a registered Canadian charity.)
In the ”Note” designation, specify your request for your donation’s direction (e.g., “Against Malaria Foundation”). If you would like to split your donation across multiple charities or funds, just specify this (e.g., 50% recommended for ALLFED, 50% recommended for RC Forward Climate Change Fund).
Your official donation receipt will be issued by Benevity.
Generally, donations made through Benevity will be granted out to Rethink Charity Foundation monthly, on the 21st of the month following the gift. Once your donation is received by us, it will start moving through the international regranting process.
Follow the instructions on our online form to enter your business information on page 2.
Our system is not fully automated for issuing business receipts, so if we make a mistake and issue yours incorrectly, contact us and we’ll fix the error.
Your official donation receipt
Usually we send receipts the first or second week of the following month after we have reconcile our books for the month the donations was made. Look out for an email from [email protected]. Sometimes it may take us a bit longer to send your receipt. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have more questions.
You will receive your tax receipt via email, to the email address you provided to us. We do not issue paper receipts.
If you can’t find your receipt, please check your Spam or Junk folder for emails from [email protected]. If that doesn’t work, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Your donation will be received by Rethink Charity Foundation, a Canadian charity with CRA registration number BN 79318 7881 RR 0001. Rethink Charity Foundation will issue you an official donation receipt.
In compliance with CRA regulations, Rethink Charity Foundation maintains complete independent discretion over direction of the gifts it receives. However, Rethink Charity Foundation will make every reasonable effort to fulfill your wishes for gift direction.
The charities or funds you request that your donation support will also be clearly indicated on your receipt. Here’s an example:
1. $1,000.00 CAD recommended for Ought.
2. $234.00 CAD recommended for Cool Earth.
If your receipt does not indicate the charities you selected, have no fear! Please rest assured we have received your recommendations, it’s just a glitch with our receipting process. To receive a reissued receipt, please contact us.
Your other questions about RC Forward
Our team reviews all donations 4 times per year, shortly after the end of each financial quarter. During our donation review we evaluate all donor recommendations we have received in the previous financial quarter. Then we plan our intended grants based on these recommendations. After that, the last step is to make each intended grant. When we make the grants, we also share analytics with our contacts at each project. These analytics include all fee information, as well as all donor information that we have permission to share.
All in all, it generally takes 5-6 months from the date of your donation to the date that we complete our next round of grants. Sometimes it can take longer than this, due to external factors outside of our control.
As always, don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have questions.
RC Forward is a charity-run donation platform that connects Canadians with high-impact charitable projects. With RC Forward you can easily support a range of high-impact causes, to do more good with your charitable giving.
RC Forward was launched in 2017. So far, Canadians have donated over $21 million to high-impact charitable projects on our platform.
RC Forward is a project of Rethink Charity Foundation, a registered Canadian charity with the registration number 793187881 RR 0001.
In compliance with CRA regulations, Rethink Charity Foundation maintains complete independent discretion over direction of the gifts it receives. However, Rethink Charity Foundation will make every reasonable effort to fulfill your wishes for gift direction.
RC Forward is a project of Rethink Charity. When you donate through RC Forward, your receipt will be issued by Rethink Charity Foundation, a registered Canadian charity with the registration number 793187881 RR 0001.
All charitable projects featured on RC Forward meet at least one of the following five criteria:
- The project currently is or recently was recommended by a well-respected, unbiased, evidence-based charity evaluator, for example GiveWell or Animal Charity Evaluators.
- The project has been identified by a third-party expert in the charitable sector as implementing extremely cost-effective interventions in its particular cause area.
- The project is itself a well-respected, evidence-based charity evaluator or incubator.
- The project serves to educate and build a community around concepts like high-impact and cost-effective charity.
- The project’s intervention is as of yet unproven, though evidence reviewed by the experts mentioned above suggests the intervention is especially promising.
If you have more questions, you are welcome to get in touch.
Our default is to share your name and donation total with the charities you recommend support to. When you are completing your donation, you have the option to customize your information sharing preferences.
The 4% operations allocation is a fee deducted from most gifts made to RC Forward. We are a small charity, and this fee has been essential to supporting the maintenance of our platform and the costs of running our charity and operations. The fee supports staff compensation, the costs of working with external partners who provide services essential to running our platform, as well as technology, accounting, and legal costs. We deeply appreciate your support!
