Information for Organizations and Donors

Information for Organizations and Donors

General Information:

CoMoGives is a giving campaign benefitting area 501(c)(3) nonprofits who choose to participate. CoMoGives is powered by the Community Foundation of Central Missouri. We contract with Mightycause to provide the platform. The Foundation takes nothing from the donations to the organizations; donations are disbursed in full to the intended organizations, minus any fees that donors decline to cover.

CoMoGives was established as and remains an online-only campaign (with certain limited exceptions as described in this document) to facilitate the volume of donations with appropriate, automated record-keeping. The Foundation does not have the resources to manage and account for gifts by personal checks and cash nor with a large quantity of checks and must operate within its means in the management of CoMoGives.

Rules for Donations:

Only donations made online (credit/debit card, Venmo, PayPal, etc.) and checks processed through the Foundation as described below will be counted in CoMoGives. However, participation in CoMoGives does not stop an organization from fundraising or from accepting offline gifts, even during the campaign. Please do not advertise direct giving in a way that seeks to draw donors away from CoMoGives, as the intent is to encourage donors to give to multiple organizations in one transaction. You may put a note in your CoMoGives page to the effect that direct giving to your organization is available throughout the year.

We do not accept personal checks as general donations. We do not accept cash.

 Regarding Gifts from Funds:

We recognize that many people desire to give to CoMoGives participants from their IRAs or other funds but cannot do so via online means. CFCM will accept gifts from such funds, provided they follow the rules outlined in this section. CFCM will manually enter these gifts into CoMoGives so that they count toward leaderboard totals as well as challenge grants.

In the following three scenarios, please notify both esappington@cfcmfoundation.org and adminassist@cfcmfoundation.org via email of checks we should be expecting, with as much detail as you can give (amount, purpose, and especially your org name), as some checks show up with little to no clue what they are for. Especially, we will need to know if a check is intended as a matching grant.

1. We accept checks from IRAs (for QCDs or RMDs). CFCM is not permitted by IRS code to split such gifts designated to multiple organizations; to give to multiple organizations the donor must send one check per recipient organization. Such checks must meet a minimum of $500 per recipient organization. CFCM does not have the staff and resources to deal with small checks.
2. We accept donations from Donor Advised Funds if the fund is managed by the Community Foundation of Central Missouri. For these gifts, the donor may request one check to cover multiple donations and provide us with a list showing the recipient organizations and how much is to allocated for each. We will manage the request from their fund to CoMoGives, and no check is required. This is a convenience we provide for those who have a donor advised fund with us.
3. We accept checks from Donor Advised Funds not managed by CFCM, provided each check is written for a minimum of $1,000. The checks must be accompanied by a list of recipients and the amount given to each. Despite donors' best efforts, checks often arrive without information indicating that it's for CoMoGives and/or for a specific organization; the list helps us determine the donors' intent.

Checks meeting one of the above qualifications must:

• Be made payable to Community Foundation of Central Missouri.
• Have written on the memo line "CoMoGives 2025 for (organization name)".
• Be brought or sent to CFCM, 2635 S. Providence Road #104, Columbia, MO 65203
• Be postmarked by Dec. 15 or brought to us by Dec. 18. Late arrivals will be accommodated if at all possible.

Finally, accepted check donations will be manually made to show on the recipient organization’s leaderboard within three working days of receipt of the check, and the full amount of the check(s) will be credit to the recipient org and shown on their leaderboard. We reserve the right to decline check gifts or other offline gifts that do not meet the guidelines.

General Information:

CoMoGives is a giving campaign benefitting area 501(c)(3) nonprofits who choose to participate. CoMoGives is powered by the Community Foundation of Central Missouri. We contract with Mightycause to provide the platform. The Foundation takes nothing from the donations to the organizations; donations are disbursed in full to the intended organizations, minus any fees that donors decline to cover.

CoMoGives was established as and remains an online-only campaign (with certain limited exceptions as described in this document) to facilitate the volume of donations with appropriate, automated record-keeping. The Foundation does not have the resources to manage and account for gifts by personal checks and cash nor with a large quantity of checks and must operate within its means in the management of CoMoGives.

Rules for Donations:

Only donations made online (credit/debit card, Venmo, PayPal, etc.) and checks processed through the Foundation as described below will be counted in CoMoGives. However, participation in CoMoGives does not stop an organization from fundraising or from accepting offline gifts, even during the campaign. Please do not advertise direct giving in a way that seeks to draw donors away from CoMoGives, as the intent is to encourage donors to give to multiple organizations in one transaction. You may put a note in your CoMoGives page to the effect that direct giving to your organization is available throughout the year.

We do not accept personal checks as general donations. We do not accept cash.

 Regarding Gifts from Funds:

We recognize that many people desire to give to CoMoGives participants from their IRAs or other funds but cannot do so via online means. CFCM will accept gifts from such funds, provided they follow the rules outlined in this section. CFCM will manually enter these gifts into CoMoGives so that they count toward leaderboard totals as well as challenge grants.

In the following three scenarios, please notify both esappington@cfcmfoundation.org and adminassist@cfcmfoundation.org via email of checks we should be expecting, with as much detail as you can give (amount, purpose, and especially your org name), as some checks show up with little to no clue what they are for. Especially, we will need to know if a check is intended as a matching grant.

1. We accept checks from IRAs (for QCDs or RMDs). CFCM is not permitted by IRS code to split such gifts designated to multiple organizations; to give to multiple organizations the donor must send one check per recipient organization. Such checks must meet a minimum of $500 per recipient organization. CFCM does not have the staff and resources to deal with small checks.
2. We accept donations from Donor Advised Funds if the fund is managed by the Community Foundation of Central Missouri. For these gifts, the donor may request one check to cover multiple donations and provide us with a list showing the recipient organizations and how much is to allocated for each. We will manage the request from their fund to CoMoGives, and no check is required. This is a convenience we provide for those who have a donor advised fund with us.
3. We accept checks from Donor Advised Funds not managed by CFCM, provided each check is written for a minimum of $1,000. The checks must be accompanied by a list of recipients and the amount given to each. Despite donors' best efforts, checks often arrive without information indicating that it's for CoMoGives and/or for a specific organization; the list helps us determine the donors' intent.

Checks meeting one of the above qualifications must:

• Be made payable to Community Foundation of Central Missouri.
• Have written on the memo line "CoMoGives 2025 for (organization name)".
• Be brought or sent to CFCM, 2635 S. Providence Road #104, Columbia, MO 65203
• Be postmarked by Dec. 15 or brought to us by Dec. 18. Late arrivals will be accommodated if at all possible.

Finally, accepted check donations will be manually made to show on the recipient organization’s leaderboard within three working days of receipt of the check, and the full amount of the check(s) will be credit to the recipient org and shown on their leaderboard. We reserve the right to decline check gifts or other offline gifts that do not meet the guidelines.

Challenge Grants and Other Prizes

Challenge Grants and Other Prizes

• Gifts made online via CoMoGives.com from December 1, 2025 at 12am CT through December 31, 2025 at 11:59:59pm CT will count towards the Grand Prizes and Matching Grants, unless otherwise noted, as will approved checks postmarked by December 15, 2025. Matching Grants (subject to the 'Information for Organizations and Donors' rules listed above) will also count towards Grand Prizes and Challenge Grants.
• Offline gifts will not count towards prize eligibility; only online gifts and qualified checks as described above will count.
• We aim to have prizes and challenge grants settled and published within 10 business days following the close of CoMoGives.
• In the event of ties for prizes or challenge grants, unique donor counts will be used to determine the winner.
• The CoMoGives Challenge Grant pool is provided by the Community Foundation of Central Missouri as a means to incentivize and reward organization participation in the fundraising challenge. In an effort to provide an equitable Grand Prize & Matching Grant pool, there are restrictions on how many prizes can be won by an individual organization. 
• No organization can receive more than one prize of any type. Power Hours and Golden Tickets will be shown on the leaderboard as preliminary winners. If at the end of the campaign a preliminary winner is eligible for a higher-value prize, they will win that instead, and the leaderboard will be updated accordingly.

• Gifts made online via CoMoGives.com from December 1, 2025 at 12am CT through December 31, 2025 at 11:59:59pm CT will count towards the Grand Prizes and Matching Grants, unless otherwise noted, as will approved checks postmarked by December 15, 2025. Matching Grants (subject to the 'Information for Organizations and Donors' rules listed above) will also count towards Grand Prizes and Challenge Grants.
• Offline gifts will not count towards prize eligibility; only online gifts and qualified checks as described above will count.
• We aim to have prizes and challenge grants settled and published within 10 business days following the close of CoMoGives.
• In the event of ties for prizes or challenge grants, unique donor counts will be used to determine the winner.
• The CoMoGives Challenge Grant pool is provided by the Community Foundation of Central Missouri as a means to incentivize and reward organization participation in the fundraising challenge. In an effort to provide an equitable Grand Prize & Matching Grant pool, there are restrictions on how many prizes can be won by an individual organization. 
• No organization can receive more than one prize of any type. Power Hours and Golden Tickets will be shown on the leaderboard as preliminary winners. If at the end of the campaign a preliminary winner is eligible for a higher-value prize, they will win that instead, and the leaderboard will be updated accordingly.

Matches

Matches

Here, we refer to gifts given for matches as "match supports" to distinguish them from "donations" made in response to matches.

The only matches that will count in CoMoGives will be those for which the match support is made either online or via a check that meets the criteria listed under "Information for Organizations and Donors." In the 2024 campaign, offline match supports caused much confusion regarding the leaderboard totals.

We encourage participating organizations to solicit match supports to incentivize donors to give to your organization. Where possible, please have match supports donated online. If the match support can only be made via check, the check must:

• Be made payable to CFCM
• Have written on the memo line "CoMoGives 2025--match for (organization name)
• Be sent or brought to 2635 S. Providence Road #104, Columbia, MO 65203
• Be postmarked by Dec. 15 or brought to us by Dec. 18. Late arrivals will be accommodated if at all possible.

Here, we refer to gifts given for matches as "match supports" to distinguish them from "donations" made in response to matches.

The only matches that will count in CoMoGives will be those for which the match support is made either online or via a check that meets the criteria listed under "Information for Organizations and Donors." In the 2024 campaign, offline match supports caused much confusion regarding the leaderboard totals.

We encourage participating organizations to solicit match supports to incentivize donors to give to your organization. Where possible, please have match supports donated online. If the match support can only be made via check, the check must:

• Be made payable to CFCM
• Have written on the memo line "CoMoGives 2025--match for (organization name)
• Be sent or brought to 2635 S. Providence Road #104, Columbia, MO 65203
• Be postmarked by Dec. 15 or brought to us by Dec. 18. Late arrivals will be accommodated if at all possible.