Frequently Asked Questions

The Alpha Foundation reaches into the areas most affected by poverty, neglect, disease, abuse and war. The Alpha Foundation is a privately held 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to humanitarian causes worldwide. It is the vision of the Alpha Foundation and its leadership to significantly impact humanitarian relief efforts and relief organizations around the world with financial assistance, donor management and communications.

TheGive5.org / Alpha Foundation office is located in Ozark, Missouri, USA -- about 3 hours south of St. Louis, Missouri. However, the relief agencies and organizations that we support are active in every corner of the globe!

These organizations were selected based on the following criteria:
 
1.    The organization must be categorized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit humanitarian relief organization directly addressing humanitarian needs resulting from poverty, famine, neglect, communicable disease, human physical or emotional abuse, or human suffering as a result of war or other military conflict.

2.    The organization has a demonstrated commitment to effective organizational management, using generally accepted business practices, thereby realizing maximum impact in their area of service.

3.    The organization has a demonstrated track record of integrity, accountability and stewardship throughout the organization regarding personnel, financial accounting, distribution of goods and services and donor management.

4.    The organization has an established network of volunteers and/or full-time staff .

5.    The organization has achieved a 3-star or above rating with the non-profit rating service Charity Navigator (charitynavigator.org), or has achieved a pre-determined equivalency of accountability and reporting. This equivalency is defined as A) Established relationships with in-country humanitarian relief agencies, B) Established relationships with and support of local government agencies, C) Engaged as a registered non-governmental agency (NGO) for the purposes of micro-finance and/or educational support and provision.

Yes. Every 24 months the ten relief agencies selected are cycled with ten new organizations. TheGive5 plan is designed to help as many humanitarian organizations as possible. The 24-month cycle gives us (and YOU) the opportunity to reach and financially support a broad range of humanitarian relief organizations, from every part of the world. We are currently looking for the next 10 relief agencies.

Depending on the geographic location of the organization, the funds are wire-transferred to their respective accounts, or a check will be distributed to each organization. Things do change often in some countries, so in order to protect the gifts entering high-risk areas, we are in constant contact with each organization to get appropriate instructions.

In this respect, TheGive5 plan works like no other. Of the total gift, over 85% will be distributed to the recieving organizations, which, in the world of philanthropy, is a really high figure. Only 10% is assigned to the administration of TheGive5 campaign and approximately 2% - 5% goes to credit card transaction fees. The administration percentage is kept low due to the streamlined operation of TheGive5, and covers staff payroll, telephone and electricity, office rental, website administration and server fees, promotion and marketing of the project, computer systems, software development, etc.

Here's the formula: $5.00 gifts come in from multiple donors. These gifts are combined into one collaborative gift and distributed evenly among the ten selected organizations. Let's assume that 1,000 gifts of $5.00 come in. That is a total of $5,000. Divide that among the 10, put 10% into the admin fund, pay the credit card transaction fees (average 3%), and each organiztion will recieve $465.00 for that month. This number will go up and down a bit, depending on how the transaction came in, what currency the gift was paid in, what the country of origin was, etc. Additional variants include the type of transaction, whether Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Paypal, Western Union, wire transfer, etc. Okay -- so, that's the distribution number with 1,000 of us giving the minimum of $5.00 per month. What happens if we make that 10,000 donors? Add a zero to the number: the gift becomes $4,650.00 per organization, per month! What if 100,000 people signed up? Well, add another zero... taking us to $46,500! Is this even possible? YES, it is! Imagine how many meals a gift of this size could buy in the third world! Imagine how many orphans could be fed and housed, how many women and children could be rescued from slavery. This is the real deal.

Very. No personal data is saved on our servers and all of the information transmitted online is encrypted with a 128-bit encryption using a Security certificate from Rapid SSL and the legendary security of Authorize.net for all credit card, debit card and (soon) e-check transactions. To find out more about our security, click here.

Yes. We will not release your name, email address, mailing address, or ANY other information to a third party at any time. Currently, however, we are creating a feature that will allow our site users to receive exclusive details and information, straight from the organizations of their choice.

No one. We are working on an option that will allow you to choose the charities you wish to send your email address to.

Yes, you can contact them directly. Each organization's contact information, including a link to their own respective webpages, can be found on their individual information pages within TheGive5.org site.

By default, each user is signed up to TheGive5.org mailing list. This is required so that we can confirm your information and send you a record of your giving each month. Additionally, we will keep you updated with news pertaining to the hard-working 10 Organizations, events and updates to TheGive5.org website.

By all means. The system allows you to give a minimum of $5.00 monthly, every two weeks, weekly or as a one-time donation; however, any greater amount may also be donated at the rate of your choosing. In Step Two of the giving process: after selecting the frequency of your gift, key the desired amount into the provided field and click the "Donate Now" button below.

Unfortunately, the interface for this feature is not yet complete. In the meantime, if you wish to revise your donation amount, simply delete your recurring gift and create a new one with the revised amount. To delete your current donation, go to "My account" in the grey User Navigation box on the right and open the tab "Recurring Gifts" on the far left. From this screen, you have the ability to cancel your current operations.

No; unfortunately, this is a limitation in the Credit Card processor's system. Once you have initiated your monthly gift, your giving schedule is assigned to your account and cannot be changed. One option is to cancel your account and set up a new one with your changes in place.

Simple. If you choose to give a little extra at any given time, simply log into the site and click the red "Give $5 Now" button. The system will automatically take you to Step One; click "Continue" after confirming the login. In Step Two, you can select the frequency of your gift; select "One Time" from the drop-down menu. To the right, enter the amount of your one-time donation and click the "Donate Now" button. From there, you will be taken to a page to confirm your payment information. After this, click on "Review Order," and you will be presented with a page to confirm your information before committing.

After logging into TheGive5.org, click on the "My account" link in the grey User Navigation box on the right, and open the tab titled "Edit." In the default "Account" screen, you have the ability to edit your email address and alter your password.

After logging into TheGive5.org, click on the "My account" link in the grey User Navigation box on the right, and open the tab titled "Manage Credit Cards." In this page, you have the ability to update your credit card information and your credit card billing address. After entering your changes, don't forget to click the "Save new card" button at the bottom!

After logging into TheGive5.org, click on the "My account" link in the grey User Navigation box on the right, and open the tab titled "Edit." Within the three sub-tabs, "Account," "Personal Information," and "Newsletters," you have the ability to change your email address or password, update your email format options, select or change time zones, change the name we have on file, or subscribe to newsletters.

You can use the "ShareThis" button at the bottom of each page to add TheGive5.org to your profile. You can add TheGive5 to the following social networks and websites: Ask, Google Bookmarks, Propeller, Backflip, Kaboodle, Reddit, Blinklist, Link-a-Gogo, Segnalo, Blogmarks, LinkedIn, Simpy, Delicious, Live, Slashdot, Digg, Magnolia, Spurl, Diigo, Mister Wong, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Mixx, Tailrank, Fark, Multiply, Technorati, Faves (Bluedot), myAOL, Twitter, Favorites, MySpace, Yahoo Bookmarks, FeedMeLinks, Netvouz, Yahoo, MyWeb, Furl, Newsvine and Yardbarker.

You sure can. After logging into TheGive5.org, click the "My account" link in the grey User Navigation box on the right. To view your donation history, click on the "Donations" tab. This should bring you to a screen that displays your giving history; to order it by date, donation #, status, product, or date, simply click on the yellow column headers -- once for ascending, twice for decending.