Policies and Principles for Tax Deductible Donations to Wide Awake Missions, Inc.

 

 

Principles

 

● To maximize the positive impact of Wide Awake Missions ministry through all donations.

● To be knowledgeable of, and adequately compliant with, IRS rules and regulations and known best practices to support the tax deductibility of donations entrusted to WAM by donors.

● To consider restrictions and preferences expressed by donors to the extent allowable and practicable.

● To apply a reasonable balance of serious attention to important and fundamental principles, practical and efficient processes and approaches, and Christian grace to accomplish WAM's ministry purposes.

 

 

Policies (Numbered for Reference Only)

 

1. Standard Statement and Reference. The following statement will be used on all relevant donations and fundraising materials with the reference being to the policies that follow: Wide Awake Missions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Tax-deductible contributions must be irrevocable; therefore, all donations are nonrefundable and nontransferable.

 

2. Qualified Charity. WAM is a non-profit corporation and has been determined by the Internal Revenue Service to be tax-exempt as a 501(c)(3) organization.

 

3. Donations Irrevocable. Tax-deductible contributions must be irrevocable; therefore, all donations are non-refundable and non-transferable.

 

4. Unrestricted and Restricted Donations. WAM gratefully accepts contributions to support our overall ministry and also recognizes the desire by some donors for Adventures to restrict the use of their donations to specified purposes, such as particular mission trips, staff fundraising, relief efforts, or other important causes. Restricted donations are used to support the purpose for which they were originally intended until that purpose has been satisfied. After which, any excess funds are used to further the ministries of Wide Awake Missions. Donations expressing a preference for an individual, who may have made the appeal, are considered to be restricted to the purpose for which such person is currently raising funds. Accordingly, donations expressing a preference for an individual who may have made the appeal are considered to be restricted for the purpose of which such individual is currently involved with deputized fundraising. WAM will use reasonable efforts to consider donor preferences but does not believe its donors would want it to be so detailed in the application of preferences so as to inhibit, or unnecessarily increase the cost of, accomplishing the broader purpose for which the donation was made. Therefore, in the reasonable use and application of donations, numerous practical changes may be necessary. Wide Awake Missions considers this to be consistent with the donor’s intent as long as the overall mission of Wide Awake Missions is appropriately furthered. Examples include, but are not limited to: (1) changes in the timing, routing, or duration of mission trips or the assignment of preferred participants to particular trips, (2) changes in the timing, quantity, costs, or the composition of potential projects, programs or approaches, or (3) other changes in the timing or delivery of intended ministry, services, and benefits. Whether these practical circumstances are reiterated or not, donations are considered to be intended for practically broad purposes even when possible discrete projects, programs, or activities are presented as examples in written solicitation materials or in discussions with donors. If donors’ written requests for restricted purposes or preferences appear to be impractically precise or inconsistent with Wide Awake Missions purposes, Wide Awake Missions may decide it should not accept such donations, although it is expected that such situations will be rare.

 

5. Deputized Fundraising. Wide Awake Missions utilizes the accepted practice called “deputized fundraising” to raise donations to support many of our activities. Individuals, who desire to participate in mission trips, to join Wide Awake Missions staff, or to be involved in other projects, programs or activities (collectively “purposes”), become fundraisers for Wide Awake Missions with the mutual intention of participating, under WAM’s direction, in carrying out the purpose(s) for which they are appealing for donations. It is acceptable practice to agree on and monitor success toward individual and project fundraising goals. However, as the qualified “charity,” Wide Awake Missions must maintain discretion and control over the use of all tax-deductible contributions, without any obligation to directly benefit the fundraiser or any other individual. Accordingly, it is not acceptable for tax deductible contributions raised by a deputized fundraiser to be set aside to reimburse expenses incurred by and applicable only to such individual fundraiser or participant.

 

6.. Deputized Fundraising – Excess Funds. If an individual’s fundraising goal for a mission trip or other purpose is met and the individual participates in the trip/program, their objective, their donors’ objectives, and Wide Awake Missions’ ministry objectives are satisfied. However, for example, if the participant does not participate directly or proportionately in using the donations raised or raises funds above the goal, WAM cannot be expected to give the participant or the donors alternative direct benefits or refunds based on the amount of funds raised and used. This would not be consistent with Wide Awake Missions maintaining discretion and control. Accordingly, consistent with Wide Awake Missions’ overall policy described under Item 4 above, donations in excess of the individual goal for a deputized fundraiser, regardless of the reason for the excess, are used to support the mission trip or another purpose for which they were originally intended until that purpose has been satisfied; after which, any excess funds will be used for other purposes consistent with Wide Awake Missions’ ministries.

 

7. Deputized Fundraising – Reporting. Donations expressing a preference for a particular deputized fundraiser are accumulated in a fundraising summary to communicate progress toward each person’s fundraising goal, as well as the overall goal for the intended trip or another purpose. The fundraising summary is for informational purposes only. Such reporting should in no way be interpreted to indicate that fundraisers or donors may exercise any rights to or control over the gross or net amounts reflected in these fundraising summaries.

 

8. Deputized Fundraising – Shortfalls from Goals. For each mission trip or another purpose for which Wide Awake Missions employs deputized fundraising, goals for individual participant/fundraisers are set and communicated well prior to trip launch. Even though these goals might sometimes be referred to as the price or the cost of a trip, they do not constitute a traditional contractual relationship. Nonetheless, Wide Awake Missions believes the individual and the other trip participants have the right to expect each participant to use all reasonable efforts and means to achieve both the agreed upon benchmarks and the ultimate goal. In those cases where a participant leaves or completes a trip without reaching either the proportionate or full goal, Wide Awake Missions expects the participant to continue striving to raise funds until their goal is fully met. Wide Awake Missions reserves the right to terminate a participant from a trip or other activity for any purpose in its sole discretion.

 

9. Reporting to Donors. Donors will receive acknowledgments during the year confirming the amounts and dates of gifts, as well as calendar year-end tax receipts documenting such gifts as deductible contributions for income tax purposes in the United States. Each donor is advised to consult his or her personal income tax advisor for the applicability of such contributions in his or her own circumstances.

 

10. Tax Deductions for Short-Term Trip Payments. It is not unusual for missions organizations to not provide tax receipts for very short-term trips (such as a week or less) where a church or an individual makes payments for the missions organization to lead the trip and to pay a certain portion of the expenses, but with the participant or participating church paying certain expenses directly, such as airfare or other transportation costs. Generally, such payments (versus donations) apply to Wide Awake Missions Short Term Missions. Wide Awake Missions and reputable authorities believe, however, that individual taxpayers should be able to receive tax deductions for payments to Wide Awake Missions for their participation in such trips because we lead them in a manner to be consistent with our tax-exempt purposes. Also, we believe a taxpayer may claim a charitable contribution deduction for travel expenses necessarily incurred directly by them while away from home performing charitable services in connection with such Wide Awake Missions trips if there is no significant element of personal pleasure, recreation, or vacation in such travel. The deduction should not be denied simply because the taxpayer enjoys providing such services. Therefore, Wide Awake Missions provides calendar year-end receipts verifying the payments made to Wide Awake Missions by such donors/participants. Obviously, Wide Awake Missions does not have information related to payments made directly by participants and cannot provide either tax receipts or information regarding any element of personal pleasure, recreation, or vacation related to such payments made directly by participants, so such adjustments, if any, are the sole responsibility of the taxpayer.

 

11. Reporting Goods or Services Provided. Normally, Wide Awake Missions mission trips and other activities do not involve providing any goods or services to donors in partial return for the donations. In those cases where there might be token takeaway items, such as tee shirts or journals, that are intended primarily for use on a trip, the fair market value of such typically used items is considered by Wide Awake Missions to be insubstantial with the donations being 100% tax deductible. In any case, where Wide Awake Missions provides goods or services that have value to the donor in excess of that year’s IRS token exception rules, such estimated value will be disclosed by separate communication or together with the calendar year-end receipt.

 

12. Donations by Donors Located Outside the United States. Adventures is incorporated and qualified as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States. Therefore, Wide Awake Missions year-end tax receipts are intended to confirm tax-deductibility only as it applies for U.S. income tax purposes. Deductibility of donations or contributions varies in other countries based on local laws, treaties with the U.S., etc. Therefore, donors based outside the U.S. should consult with a qualified advisor regarding the tax or equivalent rules covering deductibility in their applicable non-U.S. jurisdiction.

 

Privacy Policies

 

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

When you use our Products or Website, you may be asked for personally identifiable information such as your name, address, email address, and telephone number.

 

By giving us such information, you will need to consent by using it in the manner described in this policy.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by emailing us at go@wideawakemissions.org. We will return or destroy your personal information within five days of receipt of your withdrawal of consent.

COOKIES

 

Cookies are small data files that a website you visit may save on your computer or handheld device that usually includes an anonymous unique identifier. Our Websites and those of our Products may use cookies for user authentication, keeping track of your preferences, promotional campaigns, tracking our audience size and traffic patterns, and in certain other cases. We may include small graphic images in our email messages and newsletters to determine whether the messages were opened and the links were viewed.

 

SECURITY

All security on our Website is treated seriously. Where applicable, we undertake security steps, including the use of SSL technology, on our back-end systems that store customer account information and to protect data transmissions. However, this is not a guarantee that such data transmissions cannot be accessed, altered or deleted due to firewall or other security software failures.

 

If you have any further concerns about security, please email our Customer Service team at go@wideawakemissions.org

 

Terms of Use

 

Welcome to our website. If you continue to browse and use this website, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions of use, which together with our privacy policy govern Wide Awake Missions's relationship with you in relation to this website. If you disagree with any part of these terms and conditions, please do not use our website.

 

The term 'Wide Awake Missions' or 'us' or 'we' refers to the owner of the website whose registered office is 1551 Ambrosia Ct Ft. Collins, Colorado 80526. The term 'you' refers to the user or viewer of our website.

 

The use of this website is subject to the following terms of use:

1. The content of the pages of this website is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice.

2. This website uses cookies to monitor browsing preferences. If you do allow cookies to be used, the following personal information may be stored by us for use by third parties.

3. Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.

4. Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.

5. This website contains material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.

6. All trade marks reproduced in this website which is not the property of, or licensed to, the operator are acknowledged on the website.

 

Unauthorized use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offense.