Virtual Cash
In this document, we primarily discuss Venmo, but the same process and policy applies for CashApp, Zelle, and other similar apps.
Expenses
Raft â›” does not â›” pay expenses via cash or Venmo.
If you need to send funds to someone who is unbanked, please contact us, and we will see what we can do.
Income
In general, Raft ⚠️ strongly discourages ⚠️ the collection of cash or Venmo donations. Small donations should generally be made via credit card on Open Collective, and for larger donations, see Information for donors.
For certain projects, however - in particular mutual aid groups working directly with their community - accepting cash and Venmo contributions is essential, and we can make an exception. We only make this exception when there is quite a strong need - if you just want a QR code for an event, make one for your Open Collective donate page :)
Venmo Donations
Unfortunately Venmo’s “charity profiles” do not work well with our systems, as it is close to impossible to keep track of whose donations are whose, so we do not make Raft’s venmo profile available for donations.
Approval by Raft team
To receive cash or Venmo donations, first our team must approve your project to do so. Please contact us to request approval, and then we will send you the link to our cash donation form.
Receiving funds
Who can receive the funds
Only Raft members (i.e., Project Leads or Project Committee Members that have signed our fiscal sponsorship agreement) may accept cash or Venmo funds on behalf of the project, and only after the above approval by the Raft team. Other volunteers that have not officially signed up with Raft cannot do so.
$250 limit
Individual donations of $250 or more, and all donations where the donor would like an acknowledgment letter, must be through Open Collective or one of our other broadly-supported donation methods.
Reporting funds and sending them to Raft
All funds received in this way must be sent to Raft.
Approved projects will receive access to a form they can use to both 1) submit the required information to Raft and 2) send Raft the funds they received.
Bake sale income (etc.)
If you do some sort of sale - for example, a bake sale or plant sale - please submit that income separately from any pure-donation income. You may submit the form as many times as you like.
Allocation of funds in Open Collective
Raft team will make reported funds available on Open Collective on a weekly basis.