Groundswell is a workplace giving and volunteering platform. Using Groundswell, companies can create gift and match programs to engage employees in charitable giving through their Groundswell Personal Giving Account. Employees can contribute funds to their account, companies match those funds, and then the funds can be donated to their chosen nonprofits. Companies can also organize volunteering events, manage volunteer matching programs, and encourage employees to create their own volunteer events.
Groundswell accounts are powered by a donor-advised fund, or a DAF. This provides you and your employees with a better experience compared to traditional workplace matching programs that require donation receipts and often include long delays. With Groundswell, you can easily send employees gifts and quickly match their contributions. This also means the Groundswell platform ensures anonymity of employee donations: you're supporting your employees, not their individual donations. The DAF infrastructure enables a single consolidated tax receipt at year-end. You can learn more about DAFs here.
A Groundswell account is theirs forever - even if they leave their current company. Groundswell makes it easy to centralize all of their giving, not just what their company will match. Rather than tracking individual donation receipts throughout the year, Groundswell gives them an impact report with a summary of their tax-deductible contributions. Hello, easier tax filing! Groundswell also can help them identify worthy nonprofits that align with their interests with our nonprofit spotlights. We've found that users love using Groundswell for all their giving, not just their company matches.
A donor-advised fund, or DAF, is like a virtual wallet with the sole purpose of supporting charitable organizations you care about. When you contribute cash, securities, or other assets to a donor-advised fund, you are generally eligible to take an immediate tax deduction. Then those funds can be invested for tax-free growth, and you can recommend grants to any eligible IRS-qualified public nonprofit. To learn more about DAFs: https://www.groundswell.io/daf
Security is a priority in every feature we build. We've carefully selected vendors like Plaid to meet industry standards and transfer contributions without ever storing user account or financial info on our servers. Moreover, we understand that charitable giving is deeply personal. As part of our workplace giving programs, we ensure employee privacy and never share with employers which specific nonprofits their employees have supported.
The Groundswell app includes over 1.5 million US nonprofits. These are all certified 501(c)3 organizations in good standing with the IRS that are eligible to receive tax-deductible donations. For organizations not listed in the IRS’s database but eligible to receive tax-deductible donations (such as some houses of worship or schools), Groundswell staff conduct due diligence to ensure that the organization meets the IRS’s standards. Groundswell does not process donations to organizations denoted as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
You can also donate to over 300,000 international nonprofits, including every UK, Canada, and Australia nonprofit and additional nonprofits across 83 other countries.
In addition to the more than 1.5 million US 501(c)3 nonprofits, you can donate to over 300,000 international nonprofits, including every UK, Canada, and Australia nonprofit and additional nonprofits across 83 other countries.
Think of a Groundswell account like a virtual wallet for your employees' charitable giving. First, they'll need to contribute funds to their account, then they can choose where to donate those funds using the Groundswell platform. Their donations will go directly to their selected nonprofit within 24 hours of donation. We don't use distribution networks.
Employees can fund their Groundswell accounts via bank account/ACH, split deposits with their payroll provider, and debit/credit card. They also can contribute stock to their Groundswell account with our partner Donate Stock. In the future, they'll be able to contribute crypto as well.
When donating, a minimum amount of $1 is required for each transaction. That said, we recommend a donation amount of at least $5 to help their chosen nonprofit cover administration and processing. There’s no maximum limit, they can be as charitable as they like!
Groundswell takes 1% of donations (domestic and international) to cover the cost of processing. Many companies choose to cover those costs, so employees may not see them when they give. (Of note, we have among the lowest distribution fee across giving platforms with most falling between 3-5%.)
Yes, employees can set up recurring donations to enable them to consistently support their favorite charities, so they can continue their important work. For example, they could donate $50 to their favorite nonprofit on the 1st of every month. Nonprofits rely on regular donors to plan for the future and more accurately forecast their fundraising efforts.
Yes. Employees can contribute funds into their Groundswell account and donate to as many charities as they like throughout the year. In January of the following year, they'll receive a single consolidated tax receipt that shows all of the tax-deductible contributions that they have contributed into their Groundswell account for the previous year. The single receipt makes tax filing a little bit easier!
