When I log into the Disbursement Portal, why doesn't it show some of my donations?
The Disbursement Portal displays all donations processed and disbursed through Network for Good’s Donor-Advised Fund (also known as the DAF) - this also includes donations made through some of our professional partners.
However, the Disbursement Portal doesn’t display donations that were processed and disbursed by Bonterra Payments – those disbursement reports are generated directly within Donor Management.
This might also explain why you see some donations – likely “anonymous” donations – in your Disbursement Portal, but you aren’t able to generate a comprehensive list.
Why are some of my donations appearing as “anonymous?”
One benefit that our platform provides is the ability for donors to make their contributions anonymously – we want donors to be able to give to their favorite causes, even if they haven’t been solicited directly by an organization.
It’s possible that a donation shows up as being from an “anonymous” donor because your donor has chosen not to share any further identifying information. (Don’t worry – in these situations, the donor will still receive a tax receipt with their donation details.)
What if my disbursement is missing a donation I was expecting to receive?
If you notice that there is a missing donation that you expected to receive in your disbursed donations, there are a couple of things you can check to try to locate those funds.
You’ll first want to check that the date of the donation aligns with the correct disbursement period. For organizations using the DAF, all donations disbursed on the 15th of the month should have been made in the prior calendar month. For organizations using Bonterra Payments, all donations should be disbursed on a five-business-day-rolling basis.
If the dates are correct, you’ll also want to confirm that the donation isn’t part of a modified disbursement schedule.
Lastly, you’ll want to be sure that your organization is eligible to receive disbursements.
There are a few reasons why an organization might not be eligible – but most often, it’s because the organization isn’t considered as being “in good standing” with the IRS.
That’s not the only reason, though! It can also happen if an organization has “opted out” of donations made through GuideStar, if an organization has failed to cash multiple previous disbursement checks, or if an organization simply has requested to not receive grants from the DAF.
If you find yourself still looking for the donation after verifying all the above information, please reach out to our Support Team so they can help troubleshoot further.
How can I make sure I’m “opted in” to receive donations with GuideStar?
You can check out this helpful resource from GuideStar on how to make sure you’re opted in!
What happens if (for whatever reason) you can’t send us our donations?
In some instances, we may receive donations on behalf of a nonprofit organization and not be able to properly disburse those funds to that nonprofit.
There’s a variety of reasons that this can happen, but the most common we see involves an organization’s status with the IRS – or simply means that the organization has taken measures to not cash checks (or even block donations) disbursed by the DAF.
When this happens, we do our best to contact the organization for which those donations are intended. If we’ve done our due diligence to reach out, and still haven’t been able to disburse those funds, we’ll instead identify a similar organization and “redirect” those donations to the similar organization instead, via a grant.
Why did my organization receive a redirected grant?
Like we mentioned above, in some cases we’re unable to disburse funds to organizations and we will instead redirect those donations to an organization with a similar mission or location. Your organization was eligible to receive these funds, and we believe it makes sense to distribute those funds where they can be used to unleash generosity instead of sitting in limbo.