Frequently asked questions

Root Funding is built for individuals and organizations who want to raise money for a cause. Causes come in different shapes and sizes, such as: large and small nonprofit organizations, youth sports teams, and relatives who need help paying for medical care.

Root Funding is also a great way for charitable people to get involved with causes they care about. So even if you don’t have your own cause, you can help others. That’s what makes the world wonderful.

If you aren’t sure whether Root Funding is right for you, send us a note at support@rootfunding.com and we’ll help you figure it out.

The short answer: it depends.

Our financial relationship is with causes, so Root Funding is free for donors, and free for supporters who launch campaigns on behalf of causes.

For causes, we offer a few different pricing plans, even a free plan, depending on your needs. They’re all quite affordable. You can read all about them on our Pricing page.

For starters, Root Funding enables causes and individuals to increase funding effectiveness — a.k.a., raise more money. We do this by helping reach more people who are willing to help because they are contacted by friends, family members, and colleagues. It’s a fundamentally different way to approach fundraising because it takes into account the most common reason people give to a cause — because they are connected to it in some way.

Check out what makes Root Funding special.

Nope! All you need is a cause, which can take various forms. While many causes that use Root Funding are official nonprofits, other causes are individuals and local groups looking to do something amazing!

Root Funding increases the effectiveness of your online fundraising by taking a network-based approach. If you want to increase your online fundraising results, or you don’t do online fundraising yet, you should consider Root Funding as a way to spread the word about your cause and manage donations.

Root Funding can also nicely complement your existing fundraising efforts. If you have questions about how to integrate Root Funding into your current activities, email support@rootfunding.com or call 888-766-8386. We love to help!!

We do it with a network-based approach to donating. Your supporters use Root Funding to connect with their personal networks of friends, families, and colleagues (i.e., people who care), and in turn those people can easily spread the word to their networks, and so on. Why are they willing to spread the word? Because the cause came to them through someone they trust. In this way, Root Funding can give your campaign exponential reach as people continue to distribute your message on your behalf.

We’ve worked hard to make Root Funding extremely affordable, we even offer a free plan. See our pricing page for the exciting details.

We suggest using a combination of broadcast messaging (e.g., social media) with more direct requests (e.g., email and texting). This way, people feel personally approached, while also seeing others get involved. You should interact with people as you typically would... even speak to them :)

Stripe is our payment processor. They are the leading payment processor for modern applications, used by many of the largest brands you know.

You can choose to process your donations in the following currencies:

AUD, BGN, BRL, CAD, CHF, CNY, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HRK, HUF, IDR, ILS, INR, ISK, MXN, MYR, NOK, NZD, PHP, PLN, RON, RUB, SEK, SGD, THB, TRY, USD, ZAR

To set your cause's currencies just contact us at support@rootfunding.com.

We accept major credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Diners Club and JCB. We also supports a range of additional payment methods, depending on your country.

Donations are processed through Stripe, our payment processor. Money raised through Root Funding will be deposited to your Stripe account immediately. Transfers are then sent from your Stripe account to a designated bank account on a two day rolling basis (your first transfer from Stripe can take up to seven days).

We know successful fundraising takes a willingness to try different approaches, so we designed Root Funding to play nicely with other efforts you may already have in place. We recommend adding Root Funding to the mix… you will see how well it performs. We’ve found that different fundraising efforts can complement each other and fuel more donations. Teamwork!

If you need advice, contact us anytime at support@rootfunding.com.

Upon making the decision to use Root Funding, we encourage you to send out an initial message to your supporters, using any communication methods available: email, social media blast, direct mail, word of mouth, etc. If the message is electronic, include a link to your cause’s page, because from there, it takes your supporters just a few minutes to start a campaign on your behalf.

Once your supporters start their campaigns, people in their network will have the opportunity to get involved by setting up their own branch campaigns.

Yes! You can set up a campaign that enables donors to contribute on a recurring basis - we call these Cash Flow Campaigns. We can also help you track these donations against specific monthly goals.

Seeing a friend or family member do good can spark a person’s own desire to get involved by starting their own campaign for the organization — we call this a branch campaign. A supporter can use their branch campaign to tap into their own network, with all the donations flowing back to the organization. Every donation counts toward the total goal of the cause, so branch campaigns are an amazing way for lots of people to come together to support something they all believe in.

Of course we do that! Once you have secured a matching donor (or multiple matchers) be in touch with us at support@rootfunding.com. The match will be displayed on the campaign acting as a magnet for additional donations. All donations and their matched amounts will be reflected in the campaign raised-to-date amount and in the campaign’s donation listing.

Funds raised through Root Funding are sent directly to the cause and do not impact tax deductibility.

Yes, once a donation is processed the donor receives a confirmation via email.

That is up to you! You can specify the cause name that will display on the donor’s credit card statement.

Yes! The donor’s details are available to you because we understand the importance of communicating with your donors.

Yes, you can choose a specific date and frequency for your payouts.

It is up to you! There is an option that you can turn on if you would like to receive email notifications for donations.

Donations can be processed from anywhere in the world. Your cause simply needs to have a bank account in one of the following countries to receive donations:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom or the United States.

If your country is not yet listed, please reach out to support@rootfunding.com.

From us! Just drop us a note at support@rootfunding.com or call 888-766-8386 and we’ll be happy to help.

Not a thing! Our financial relationship is with the cause.

YES! Even if the cause is not yet on Root Funding, you can get started at Launch a Campaign.

Simple! You can create a campaign page by visiting our Launch a Campaign page.

Yes! You can edit your page at any time. Simply log in to your account and go to your campaign. You can click the edit button in each of the sections of the page to update that section.

You can tell people about your Root Funding campaign in a variety of ways, such as email, social media, texting or even face-to-face communication. Need advice? Reach out to us at support@rootfunding.com. We would love to help!

You can search for the cause you want to support on our search page. If you can’t find your cause, no worries, just go ahead and start at Launch a Campaign.

You can track fundraising activity on your campaign page, which is visible to everyone. We find that when people see donations happening, it encourages them to get involved. Donating is inspiring!

It depends on your goals — if you have a single monetary goal, like fixed medical costs for a relative, one-time contributions make sense. But if your cause needs ongoing support, such as a local program, you may want to ask for recurring monthly donations. We would be happy to help you choose the right type of campaign for your cause.

Yes, donors select the frequency of their donation, so they can make a recurring or one-time contribution at their own discretion.

YES. But… we do not recommend that you hassle with cash or checks. Suggest to your donors to simply donate via credit card. Donations collected by cash or check are OFFLINE donations. When you are logged in you can add offline donations by clicking the +Offline Donation button on the campaign page. The amount will be reflected in your total raised-to-date.

Seeing a friend or family member do good can spark a person’s own desire to get involved by starting their own campaign for the organization — we call this a branch campaign. A supporter can use their branch campaign to tap into their own network, with all the donations flowing back to the organization. Donations made to branch campaigns also count toward the total goal of the original (also known as parent) campaign. Branch campaigns are an amazing way for lots of people to come together to support something they all believe in.

You can get help from us! Just send a note to support@rootfunding.com or call us at 888-766-8386 and we’ll be happy to help you get rolling.

You can donate to a campaign by visiting the campaign page and clicking the Donate button. You will be asked to enter your donation amount and payment info, and then, using the magic of technology, your funds go to the cause.

Nope! Donating to a campaign is completely free.

Of course! You can launch a campaign at any time for a new or existing cause using our Launch a Campaign page.

Root Funding makes no guarantees regarding any of the organizations that are listed on our site. It is the responsibility of the fundraisers and donors to make sure that they are helping legitimate organizations, and that the donations are used in an appropriate manner. If you are skeptical about a cause or organization, don’t donate.

Root Funding does not monitor the tax status of the causes on our site. All donors will receive a transaction email from Root Funding to verify that a donation to a particular organization was made on a certain date for a specified amount. If the donation is tax deductible, the nonprofit should issue its own receipt, which can be used for tax purposes.

Yes! Root Funding encrypts all credit card information using SSL certificates issued by a leading provider of Internet security solutions. We do not store any private credit card data; rather, this encrypted data is sent directly to Stripe, a PCI-compliant payment processing company.