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Frequently Asked Questions

Fundraising can be tough, but you’re not in this alone! Click or tap the frequently asked questions below to see the answers. If you don't find the information you need, call us at 212-727-4990 or send an email to fundraisinghelp@covenanthouse.org

Q: Can anyone join the DIY Fundraising program?

A: Yes, anyone is eligible to be a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) fundraiser for Covenant House. Each fundraiser is required to accept the terms and conditions of the program, which are included in a waiver at the time of registration. If you are under the age of 16, we suggest you have a parent or guardian review your campaign before going live with it.

 

A: Nope! We suggest you set a realistic fundraising goal for yourself and consider increasing your goal each time you meet it. Covenant House values donations of every size and no effort goes unnoticed or unappreciated. Your campaign will default to a $1,000 fundraising goal, and will remain at that number unless you choose to change it.

 

A: No. This program is exclusively for fundraising. We’ll use the funds you raise to meet the immediate needs of homeless youth. When those needs are met, our young people can start their journey to a brighter future. If you wish to discuss in-kind donation options, please call us at 212-727-4990.

 

A: Yes! We encourage you to solicit cash and check donations too, because some people are not web savvy or credit card donors. Offline donations should be mailed following the instructions below, and will be manually entered by the Covenant House team upon receipt.

Please include YOUR NAME and DIY Fundraising in the memo line of each check. Mail to Covenant House, Attn: DIY Fundraising, 461 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10001.

If you host an event where a majority of funds raised are in the form of cash, we highly recommend depositing the money and either making out a check or money order for that same amount or making a credit card donation to your page. In this case, we will not be able to track the individual names of your donors, and therefore, we can not issue tax receipts unless you provide supplemental detail about the donors and their contributions. Please do not mail cash to Covenant House.

 

A: The short answer is yes. But, matching gifts are marvelous and marvelously complicated to track! For this reason, please help us help you reach your goal with matching gifts by following these steps:

  • Encourage your supporters to submit for matching funds from their companies. What an easy way to double their gift!
  • Ask (ok, beg) them to tell you when they submitted to the company and if they can, to provide a copy of the matching paperwork to you which you can then provide to us.
  • There may be multiple entries for Covenant House when submitting matching gift applications online. Please use Covenant House, 5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001 so that we can process the matching gift promptly.
  • Log the matching gifts and share the information with us by email at FundraisingHelp@covenanthouse.org or mail so we can attribute it to your fundraising page.
  • Check in with us if you do not see the amount of the matching gift added to your page within a week of sending the paperwork to us.

Why is this so complicated? Matching gifts are processed by companies and then sent to Covenant House often with little documentation explaining what the employee’s original gift was for, let alone the employee’s name. As you can imagine the documentation rarely relates back to our DIY Fundraising program, and 99.9% of the time, will not reference you, as the gift is associated with your friend, the employee! In other circumstances, the company sends a cumulative check representing various matches they are making on behalf of their employees, and the documentation will not include any individual employee names. Covenant House (gladly and gratefully) deposits the check but we often have no way of tracking that it is connected to your fundraising efforts.

 

A: Donations raised by fundraising campaigns directly support our core services designed to bridge the gap of support in the lives of homeless kids and prevent them from entering the cycle of chronic adult homelessness. Covenant House provides a wide array of in-house programs to provide our young people with a holistic approach to leaving the streets and achieving independence. Learn more about these programs.

 

A: No. If your personal goal includes supporting a local group or special project that is not a part of Covenant House, we encourage you to fundraise separately for that program. We are unable to redistribute donations to other organizations.

 

Q: Can I use the Covenant House logo on signs and flyers about my campaign?

A: Email us at fundraisinghelp@covenanthouse.org with “logo request” in the subject line. If you know the format of the logo (jpeg, eps, psd) needed, please include it in your email.

 

A: To minimize costs, we don’t order a surplus of apparel and products for fundraising campaigns. We love to see fundraisers who create or order their own swag and apparel, though, so get creative! We’re happy to send you a logo (see question above) and we encourage you to use the colors blue and gold to represent Covenant House.

 

A: Yes! You are always welcome to take a tour of one of our sites. If you are not located near a Covenant House, consider visiting us on a business or personal trip. Find the site nearest to you

 

A: We’ve seen a lot of amazing campaigns, and the most successful ones begin in the same way. Use our step-by-step guide to jumpstart your fundraising.