Donations go directly to people in need
LightWaterLife Global Relief’s donation policy ensures that 100 percent of all designated contributions for specific programs or emergency responses are used only on expenses related to supporting that program or response.
By clarifying that LightWaterLife Global Relief may use your contribution wherever most needed, you allow the organization to strengthen the long-term sustainable aid distribution that is vital to vulnerable people around the world and respond to emergencies that do not receive widespread attention. LightWaterLife Global Relief commits to spending your money in the most productive, efficient way possible.
If you wish to restrict the use of your donation only for a specific purpose or area, LightWaterLife Global Relief will honor that wish or tell you that it cannot and offer to return your contribution. LightWaterLife Global Relief has not and will not collect money for what may appear to be a specific incident or purpose with the intention of using it for other purposes.
LightWaterLife Global Relief funding
Unlike many other nonprofit organizations, LightWaterLife Global Relief does not rely on any funding from government grants. Support comes primarily from private individuals, associations, foundations, and businesses who entrust LightWaterLife Global Relief with resources so that it can fulfill its humanitarian mission.
Program and emergency response funding
LightWaterLife Global Relief’s policy ensures that 100 percent of all designated contributions for specific programs or emergency responses are used only on expenses related to supporting that program or response. This policy applies to all of LightWaterLife Global Relief’s disaster responses.
LightWaterLife Global Relief believes this is appropriate for honoring precisely the clear intent of generous donors who responded to these tragedies and to preserve the maximum benefit for the survivors for whose benefit the funds were entrusted to LightWaterLife Global Relief.
LightWaterLife Global Relief practices have long recognized the importance of enabling donors to communicate their intentions regarding donations and explaining how the organization carefully accounts for and uses designated contributions to honor the donors’ intentions. LightWaterLife Global Relief takes several steps to ensure that both donors’ intentions and the organization’s use of contributions are clear.
Ensuring donor intent
To ensure that donors have the ability to communicate their intention regarding a gift, LightWaterLife Global Relief’s online donation page allows people to provide instructions for how a donation is to be allocated among LightWaterLife Global Relief’s various program activities, including specific emergencies. Other methods of contributions, such as by check or wire transfer that include a notation in the check memo line or accompanying correspondence also will be considered as an instruction to restrict the gift for particular program activities.
Detailed accounting for emergency funds
An internal fund is created with all designated contributions, and all expenditures related to emergency response are recorded for both internal management and external reporting purposes. LightWaterLife Global Relief will share current information on its website as events unfold regarding programmatic activities and expenditures.
What restricted funds may be used for
Emergency contributions will be used only for emergency-related programmatic costs and administrative expenses directly related to the emergency response activity. Programmatic costs include those related to purchasing, storing, transporting, and distributing essential humanitarian aid supplies to affected areas and the costs of programmatic staff and related travel for emergency relief-assistance functions. Directly related administrative expenses include credit-card processing fees associated with the receipt of emergency contributions; accounting fees associated with managing emergency funds; postage related to issuing receipts to emergency donors; banking fees related to wire transfers of emergency donations; warehousing and packaging of medical material; and IT support costs that are necessary to conduct emergency-related programmatic activity (such as inventory management of medical material being provided in the relief effort).
General, unrestricted financial support is essential for LightWaterLife Global Relief to fulfill any of its deeply compelling humanitarian activities, including being able to respond rapidly to any emergency. Such unrestricted contributions always are needed, deeply appreciated, and enable LightWaterLife Global Relief to assist people in many places and situations that do not make the news.
However, LightWaterLife Global Relief is obligated to—and will always—honor the intent of a donor-designated financial contribution. If a donor were to make a clearly restricted gift for a purpose or with a restriction that LightWaterLife Global Relief is not able to fulfill or comply with, LightWaterLife Global Relief will advise the donor of this situation and inquire if other uses may be permitted. In the event that a donor’s intent cannot be met by LightWaterLife Global Relief, the organization would offer to direct the gift to another nonprofit that would be able to fulfill the donor’s intent or return the gift.