Effective date: October 25, 2026

Last updated: October 25, 2026

Thank you for giving! Every gift on Sent to Serve helps send people out to serve. This policy explains how donations work, where your money goes, and what to do if something goes wrong.

It is part of our Terms of Use, which define words such as "Organization," "Fundraiser," "Individual Fundraiser" and "Recipient." Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your information.

1. Where your gift goes

Your gift goes straight to the Recipient.

When you donate, your payment is processed by Stripe on the Recipient's own Stripe account.

The money goes directly into the Recipient's own Stripe account.

Sent to Serve does not receive, hold or control donated funds. The only money we receive is our 1% platform fee, which Stripe sends to us from each gift.

The Recipient is the merchant of record. Your payment is a transaction between you and the Recipient, and Sent to Serve isn't a party to it. The Recipient is responsible for receipts, refunds, disputes and tax acknowledgments.

How funds are used. Sent to Serve doesn't oversee, verify or guarantee how any Recipient uses donated funds, and isn't liable for how funds are used.

Who you are giving to. Each Fundraiser shows who receives the gift: an Organization, such as a church, ministry or nonprofit, or an individual (an Individual Fundraiser). Fundraisers must be for Christ-centered missions or ministry commitments, and political fundraising isn't allowed. At launch, only Recipients based in the US with a US Stripe account can receive donations. You can give from anywhere.

Individual Fundraisers: a Fundraiser may instead be run by an individual raising money for their own Christ-centered mission or ministry purpose, such as a mission trip. It's clearly labeled: "Personal fundraiser. Gifts go directly to Jane D. and are not tax-deductible." (with the organizer's name in place of "Jane D.") Your gift goes to that person's own Stripe account, not to a church, charity or Sent to Serve. See our Fundraiser and Recipient Terms Part C.

Your card statement and receipt.

You'll pay on Stripe's secure checkout page.

Your card statement and any Stripe receipt will show the Recipient's name or statement descriptor, not ours.

2. Fees

Our platform fee.

Sent to Serve keeps a 1% platform fee, rounded to the nearest cent, from each donation to help run the Site.

It comes out of your gift. You pay exactly the amount you enter, and the fee is deducted from it. It isn't added on top.

Stripe's processing fees.

Stripe charges the Recipient its own card-processing fees, deducted from the Recipient's Stripe balance.

This means the Recipient receives your gift minus Stripe's fee and our 1% fee.

Example. A $100 gift on a standard US card:

Stripe's fee: about $3.20, at Stripe's published standard rate of 2.9% + 30¢, which can vary. Cards issued outside the US usually cost the Recipient more in Stripe fees.

Our platform fee: $1.00.

The Recipient nets about $95.80.

Covering fees. There's currently no option to add an extra amount to cover fees.

3. Who can donate, and how

Account required. You need to be signed in to a Sent to Serve account with a complete profile to donate. If you're under 18, you need your parent or guardian's permission to donate.

Payment method and currency. Donations are made by card, in US dollars. If your card is in another currency, your bank or card issuer may charge conversion or foreign-transaction fees. Those fees are between you and your bank.

Amounts. Each donation must be between $1 and $10,000.

When you can give. You can only give to Fundraisers that the Sent to Serve team has approved, that are still open, and whose Recipient's Stripe account can accept payments.

Recurring gifts. Recurring donations are not offered at this time.

4. Tax-deductibility

Gifts to Organizations.

Whether a gift to an Organization is tax-deductible depends on that Organization's own tax status.

If you pay tax outside the United States, your gift may not be deductible where you live, even if the Organization is a US charity. Check with a tax advisor.

Sent to Serve never guarantees that a gift is tax-deductible. We don't verify any Organization's tax-exempt status (adding an EIN is optional for Organizations), and we don't issue tax receipts.

Please contact the Organization directly for any acknowledgment you need for tax purposes, and consult your tax advisor.

Gifts to individuals (Individual Fundraisers).

Gifts to Individual Fundraisers are NOT tax-deductible. Each one is labeled "Personal fundraiser. Gifts go directly to Jane D. and are not tax-deductible." (with the organizer's name in place of "Jane D.")

Your gift goes to the person named on the Fundraiser, into their own Stripe account. It does not go to a church, a charity or Sent to Serve, even if the Fundraiser names a sending church or organization.

The individual is solely responsible for refunds, taxes and how the funds are used.

These gifts are not tax-deductible.

Our confirmation. After every successful gift, we send you a confirmation email and an on-site notification ("Thank you for your gift") with the amount and the fundraiser. It's a confirmation from Sent to Serve, not a tax receipt. Sent to Serve doesn't issue tax receipts or confirm any Recipient's tax-exempt status. For a receipt, an acknowledgment or tax-exemption details, please contact the organization you gave to directly. Gifts to Individual Fundraisers are not tax-deductible.

Receipts. Depending on the Recipient's Stripe settings, Stripe may email you a receipt on the Recipient's behalf. It's a payment receipt, not a tax receipt. To claim a deduction for a single gift of $250 or more, the IRS generally requires a written acknowledgment from the charity. Ask the Organization for one.

5. How your gift is used

Responsibility. Each Recipient is responsible for its own Fundraiser and for how it uses the money it receives.

Purpose. Each Recipient agrees to use donations for the purpose described in its Fundraiser (see our Fundraiser and Recipient Terms).

What our review covers. The Sent to Serve team reviews every Fundraiser before it goes live. We cannot guarantee how a Recipient uses donated funds or that a mission or project will take place as described.

Give wisely. Please give to people and Organizations you trust. If something seems wrong, tell us at Senttoserve.help@gmail.com.

6. Refunds

Who decides. Donations are gifts. Refunds are entirely the Recipient's responsibility. Sent to Serve never issues refunds, holds funds or decides refunds.

Who handles refunds. Because the money goes directly to the Recipient's Stripe account, refunds are issued by the Recipient through its Stripe account. The Recipient makes its own refund decisions. Every Fundraiser shows this notice: "Refunds and disputes: Your gift goes directly to Example Church through Stripe, its payment processor. All refund requests and disputes are handled by Example Church and Stripe, not Sent to Serve, so please contact Example Church first. Sent to Serve doesn't issue refunds and doesn't guarantee any refund or how gifts are used. See our Donation and Refund Policy." (On each Fundraiser, the Recipient's own name appears where this example says "Example Church.") On Individual Fundraisers, the notice also says: "Gifts are not tax-deductible." A Recipient may also describe its own refund approach on its Fundraiser, but doesn't have to.

If you want a refund, for example because you made a mistake such as the wrong amount or a duplicate gift, contact the Recipient first.

Your card issuer. You may also contact your card issuer.

Tell us about problems. If you think a Fundraiser is misleading or misusing funds, you can tell us at Senttoserve.help@gmail.com. We may remove the Fundraiser, but we can't issue refunds or recover funds for you.

If a mission, trip or project is cancelled or changes significantly. This is entirely the Recipient's responsibility. The Recipient must tell its donors promptly, and decides whether to refund gifts or redirect the funds. Contact the Recipient first; you may also contact your card issuer.

Our platform fee on refunds. When the Recipient refunds a gift while its Stripe account is connected to Sent to Serve (that is, as long as the Recipient hasn't disconnected Sent to Serve from its Stripe account), we return our 1% platform fee on the refunded amount to the Recipient. If a Recipient refunds a donation after disconnecting Sent to Serve from its Stripe account, the Recipient or donor can email us at Senttoserve.help@gmail.com and we'll return our 1% fee on that refund. Returning our fee to the Recipient isn't a refund to you: only the Recipient refunds gifts. The Recipient decides whether to refund all or part of your gift.

Timing. Refunds go back to the original card. They usually appear within 5–10 business days, depending on your bank.

Disputes (chargebacks).

If you dispute a charge with your bank, the Recipient responds through Stripe, and your bank decides the outcome. Sent to Serve isn't involved.

Please consider contacting the Recipient first. Disputes cost the Recipient extra fees.

7. Fundraisers that close or are removed

When Fundraisers close. A Fundraiser stops taking donations after its deadline day, or when the Sent to Serve team closes or removes it. We may remove any Fundraiser we flag or consider unsuitable, in our sole discretion. A Fundraiser that hasn't received any donations can also be deleted by its owner.

After the deadline. A Fundraiser can't be reopened once its deadline has passed; the Recipient must start a new one, which we review again. It leaves public view 7 days after the deadline and stays archived for the Recipient and the Sent to Serve team, and is deleted 7 years after the date it was archived if it received donations, or 3 years after that date if it didn't (see our Privacy Policy §8).

Removed Fundraisers. We may remove any Fundraiser, including an Individual Fundraiser, at our sole discretion. If we remove a Fundraiser, gifts already made stay in the Recipient's Stripe account. Sent to Serve has no duty to recover those funds. The Recipient remains responsible for them, including any refunds; contact the Recipient first, and you may also contact your card issuer.

Stripe setup. A Recipient can't submit a Fundraiser until its Stripe account can accept payments, and we check again before every donation. If Stripe later turns off payments on the account, or the Recipient disconnects Sent to Serve from its Stripe account, while a Fundraiser is live, donations stop. The Fundraiser stays up and closes on its end date.

8. Your donation records

Your history. You can see your donations on your My Donations page, including refunds and disputes recorded while the Recipient's Stripe account is connected to Sent to Serve (see §6). For anything after that, contact the Recipient or Stripe directly.

How long we keep them. We keep donation records for 7 years, even if you delete your account sooner. After that, we remove your personal details and keep only anonymous amounts and totals (see our Privacy Policy §8).

What the Recipient sees. On Sent to Serve, the Recipient sees your name, the date, the amount, the fees and the status of your gift, and our donation-received email to it includes your name. It never sees your email address from us.

Giving anonymously. You can tick "Give anonymously" on the donate form. You choose this before you donate, and it can't be changed after you give. Sent to Serve then hides your name from the Recipient and other users and marks your gift as anonymous: the Recipient sees "Anonymous donor" in its Donations log and My Fundraisers page, and "An anonymous donor" in our email. Our own team can still see your name, and we keep it with your account details in our donation records for 7 years (see above). Please note: your payment is made through the Recipient's own Stripe account, so Stripe still records your transaction details, which usually include your name and email, and the Recipient can see them in its Stripe account. Sent to Serve doesn't control that; the anonymous option only controls what our Site shows. Recipients agree to respect your choice (see our Fundraiser and Recipient Terms §8). If a Recipient doesn't, please tell us at Senttoserve.help@gmail.com and we may act on it, but we can't control what Recipients do outside our Site.

Stripe's record. Stripe also gives the Recipient its own record of your payment, which may include your email address and your card's brand and last four digits.

More information. See the Privacy Policy.

9. Questions

Email Senttoserve.help@gmail.com. We're happy to help.