Benevolent FAQs

Benevolent helps your clients when your organization doesn’t have enough room in their budget to finance those small, unexpected needs. By shining a light on your client’s story, we create an opportunity for donors to step in and personally support them. We want to help you help your client and make a difference in their life

We partner with a wide range of professional helpers who work in nonprofits, religious organizations, educational institutions, and public agencies who serve low-income individuals and families. Some examples of public agencies who qualify are schools, social service officers, libraries, first responders, and other government-led providers of support to low-income individuals and families.

We call them our Validators! To apply to become a Validator, click here.

To become a Validator, fill out our Validator application. After your application is reviewed, you’ll be alerted whether you’ve been approved or we’ll reach out to you if we need additional information about you and your organization.

You can reach out to us at any time during the process if you have any questions. Once you’ve been approved, you can begin posting needs for your clients!

To post needs on Benevolent, you have to become a Validator. As a Validator, you’ll work side-by-side with your client to outline what they need and how meeting this need will help them reach their goals. We have prompts and examples to help inspire you while you’re uploading their story on our platform!

We also ask our Validators to briefly tell your own story––the nature of the relationship with your client and why you feel personally invested in their success.

After you submit your client’s needs, we’ll review it and we might also get in touch with you if we need any other information. Once it’s approved, the need will stay live on our platform for 90 days or until it’s fully funded. If you need to make any changes while the need is live, you can contact us at info@benevolent.net and we’ll update the need to let donors know about it.

If a need on Benevolent doesn’t get fully funded within the 90 days, we’ll reach out and ask how you and your client would like to proceed––you have the choice to extend the need or move forward with partial funding.

When a need is funded, Benevolent will send the donations to you in the form of a grant and you’ll use those funds to fulfill your client’s need on their behalf!

Benevolent is easy to use and works with both web browsers and mobile phones. To get started, click here!

• Needs that will clearly and concretely move the person forward.

Donors are more likely to contribute to needs if they believe their contribution will make a substantial difference in their lives. A clear action plan from your client can show donors how their contribution will help remove a barrier in their life – making donors more likely to offer their support.

• Your client tells a compelling story.

Benevolent will only post needs told in your client’s own words. A strong story helps potential givers understand your client’s real circumstances and goals – which makes donors more eager to help.

• $400 or less!

The smaller the total amount, the bigger the impact a single donor can make. Needs under $400 are more likely to be funded, and to be funded faster!

• Clear photographs people can connect with.

With clear and close-up photos of your client, donors can see the real person that they’re supporting, which makes them more likely to step in and help.

Find a good spot: Well-lit, in front of a solid-colored wall (not a window) to help your client stand out.

Check the camera’s focus: Can they see your client’s face clearly?

Smile! And remember, only your client should be in the picture.

A validation statement is a Validator’s testimony to the relationship with their client. This can provide reassurance for our donors about who they’re donating to and let them know what steps your client has already taken to move forward. It also gives Validators an opportunity to highlight their work with their organization and a chance to describe their personal investment in making a difference.

This validation statement should include how the Validator met their client, how long the Validator has known their client, and how the Validator believes meeting this need will help their client meet their goals.

Validators can post one-time hurdles that cost less than $700 on behalf of their client. This money should go towards a need that would help the client overcome a significant barrier within their life.

Benevolent should not be used for emergency funding. Because we rely on individual donors to support every need, we cannot guarantee that funds are delivered within a specific timeframe.
Additionally, Benevolent will not accept needs to cover court fees.

Benevolent has featured and funded a diverse array of needs – from job training and certification classes for those seeking work, to furniture and household goods for those recently housed, to bus fare and computers for students, and even sewing machines for aspiring tailors. There’s so many small, unexpected things that could stand in the way of someone’s success. Benevolent is here to offer that little bit of assistance that will help your client go a long way!

Validators can post as many needs as they’d like. There’s no minimum or maximum!

However, each of your clients can only have one need listed on their behalf at a time. Once your client’s need has been met or their need is no longer active on Benevolent, you’re free to post another need for them.

To decide how much to ask for on behalf of your client, you might need to do a little research. Find out how much it will cost and remember to include shipping fees, delivery charges, and sales tax. It’s much easier to fund a need under $400, but we’ll post needs up to $700.

We feature needs that range from $20 to $700. We recommend posting under $400, as we have found that needs within this range are more likely to be funded faster! The smaller the amount, the bigger the impact a single donor can make.

Once a need is met, Benevolent delivers the donations raised to the Validator in the form of a grant. The Validator will use this grant to purchase the thing(s) that their client needed on their behalf.

Most commonly, these donations are delivered through prepaid electronic cards, physical prepaid cards, ACH deposit or check, depending on what works best for you, your organization, and your client.

If a specific need isn’t funded to at least 95% by its date of expiration, Benevolent will work with the Validator to determine whether to extend the expiration date, move forward with partial, or allocate the donations to a similar need and let the donors know immediately.

Once your client’s need is met, we will reach out to you and confirm your preferred method to receive the grant (prepaid electronic cards, physical prepaid cards, ACH deposit, or check). After this confirmation, you can expect to receive the funds within 7 to 10 business days.

This can be even sooner, if they choose to receive a digital prepaid card!

Uploading a need typically takes twenty minutes. After a need is approved and posted, the amount of time it takes to get funded can be anywhere from a few days to the full 90 days and not every need gets funded.

Benevolent is a crowdfunding platform and depends on the donations of generous people who are willing to offer their help. While we can’t guarantee that every need will get 100% funded in a timely manner, we do our best to perform outreach and gather donations for them.

When you post a need on Benevolent, they stay live on our platform for up to 90 days or until they’re fully funded.

Under special circumstances, Benevolent can post needs with a needed by date that’s less than 90 days from now. Contact us at info@benevolent.net to find out if your client’s need qualifies. Please note that, because Benevolent relies on individual donations to fulfill each need, we cannot guarantee that funds are delivered within a specific timeframe.

We make it a priority to ensure that everyone who posts needs on Benevolent does so in a way that is safe and comfortable for them. We provide tools to allow or anonymity: clients go by a pseudonym on our site, and clients can opt to use an avatar in place of a photo, if necessary.

If your client is concerned about their privacy or anonymity, we will always work with you to ensure that you feel safe and confident posting on Benevolent. Shoot us an email with any specific requests or questions!

At Benevolent, we take privacy very seriously. When you post a need on our platform, we only publish the following information: your client’s display name (which can be a pseudonym), city, story, and a photograph (which can be substituted for an avatar).

While we collect additional demographic and contact information, we do not publish this on the Benevolent platform.