Answers to Common Fundraising Questions
Getting Started
HelpACop makes it easy to raise money online for important causes. In less than a minute, you’ll be able to personalize your fundraising campaign and share it with the people in your life.
With HelpACop, the money you collect goes directly to you. There are no deadline or limit requirements – each contribution you receive is yours to keep. Raising money for yourself, a loved, or a co-worker has never been easier.
You can use HelpACop to raise money for yourself, a friend or co-worker during life’s important moments. This includes things like medical expenses, volunteer programs, technological advancements, funerals & memorials – even legal costs.
Unlike other crowdfunding platforms, we at HelpACop will support first responders without you having to wonder if we’ll delete your campaign. Give us a try, you won’t be disappointed!
Your HelpACop campaign features the very best in secure payment encryption technology. Not only are your donors’ online payments safe, your money is stored securely until you’re ready to request a withdrawal via Stripe, check or ACH payment.
Once your fundraising campaign begins receiving online donations, you can easily request a withdrawal. Don’t worry, withdrawing money does not affect the progress meter that’s displayed on your HelpACop campaign. Simply click the ‘Withdraw’ button inside your HelpACop account and follow the on-screen instructions. You can withdraw your balance directly to your bank account.
Most withdrawals take between 7 and 10 business days.
While it’s free to create and share your online fundraising campaign, HelpACop will deduct a 3% fee from each contribution that you receive. Since our fee is deducted automatically, you’ll never need to worry about being billed or owing us any money. A small processing fee of about 3% will also be deducted from each contribution.
Please see Pricing & Fees for more info.
Beware of other services that claim to be 100% Free – they’ll actually charge your donors instead. You’ll still be responsible for a 3% processing fee.
Absolutely not. Other sites might charge your donors without you knowing it, but we would never do that. Donors are charged only the amount they choose to donate to you and that’s it.
Nope. With HelpACop there are no deadlines or time-limits. Your campaign can remain live indefinitely or until you choose to stop accepting contributions, based on the ‘Campaign End Method’ you choose.
Fine with us. With HelpACop you’re able to keep every single donation you receive. Unlike other crowdfunding sites, we understand that every penny makes a difference. Reaching your goal is NOT required.
Need to extend your campaign? Not a problem. Simply email us at support@helpacop.com with your new end date and your campaign link and we’ll gladly create your new end date! Just make sure to email us from the campaign creator’s email address.
In addition to getting closer to your goal and receiving an email, your campaign’s ‘Backer List’ will populate with the name and contribution of your new backer!
Yes. HelpACop is a site that requires authenticity and transparency. Because we must maintain the integrity of the campaigns on our site, it is best if you connect with Facebook to aid in the approval process.
Because of the nature of crowdfunding, your campaign will be visible to those you share your link with. However, you can request that we not feature your campaign on the front page.
Those in your life will be the primary supporters of your campaign. This includes friends, family, coworkers, etc. Once you’ve received support from those people, request them to share your campaign. Then you’ll see the support begin to grow, even from strangers who support your cause!
Sharing your campaign with friends and family is a part of what makes HelpACop work. Not only will the people in your life support your campaign, but they will also help spread the word to their friends as well. HelpACop users should not EXPECT to receive support from strangers, although it may happen.
Although it isn’t required, connecting to Facebook and other social media platforms make sharing your campaign super-easy and will help spread the word. It will also speed up the approval of your campaign!
Receiving Donations
HelpACop is based in the United States and will be expanding to users from other countries in the future. For the time being, we may only approve campaigns based in the USA.
Absolutely, you are able to accept donations from supporters worldwide.
Yes. The mobile version of your HelpACop campaign will load for those visiting your campaign from their phones. Your campaign still looks great and it’s very easy for donors to complete their donations from their mobile device.
Sure. Anyone can choose to donate anonymously by checking the “Anonymous” box before completing their payment.
Once your fundraising campaign begins receiving online donations, you can request a withdrawal every 14 days and/or at the completion of your campaign (whichever comes first). Don’t worry, withdrawing money does not affect the progress meter that’s displayed on your HelpACop campaign. Simply click the “Withdraw” button inside your HelpACop Dashboard under “Campaigns” > “Payments” to request the funds be sent to the account associated with your Stripe Account. You can also contact us with your Payment Information for ACH Payments or wait to receive a check in the mail.
Unfortunately, we’re unable to provide specific tax advice since everyone’s situation is different. While this is by no means a guarantee, most donations on HelpACop are simply considered to be ‘personal gifts’ which are not taxed as income in the US. Additionally, only donations made to a legally registered non-profit or charity may be considered eligible for donors to claim as a tax deduction. Again, every situation is different so please consult with a tax professional in your area.
Running A Successful Campaign
If you’re raising money for something that you strongly believe in, chances are that the people in your life will be eager to support you. HelpACop gives you easy-to-use features to share your story with your family, friends, loved ones and community. Every Campaign Organizer should connect their Facebook account, use a high-quality campaign photo or video and clearly explain why they’re raising money. Sharing your campaign on Facebook is the single most important thing you can do.
Almost. Here’s where common sense comes into play. DO raise money for personal causes that are purposeful, exciting and inspiring to others. DON’T break any local, state, or federal laws, expect strangers to buy you stuff or promote inappropriate content. Inappropriate comments and campaigns will be deleted. One thing we WILL allow and PROMOTE is raising funds for legal representation for any active first responder. Almost ALL other crowdfunding sites will not allow this for law-enforcement or other First Responders, except in very specific cases. We will NOT PREVENT you from protecting yourself!
Every HelpACop campaign is given a unique link that’s easy to share with others. Sharing your fundraising campaign is easy using HelpACop’s built-in features like email invitations, Facebook posting, and Tweeting!
The best way to get into the spotlight is to pursue your own local media first. The good news is that your local newspaper and TV news stations are starving for interesting stories like yours. Once your campaign begins to really pick up steam, you’ll begin to see success!
HelpACop’s ‘Update’ feature is a great way to add fresh information to your campaign. In doing so, you can choose to share the post with your current supporters and donors – you can even share the Update on Facebook to attract more support. Update messages can also include photos or videos.
While signed in to your HelpACop account, simply click “View” on a recent donation and you will see your donor’s email address. Craft your email to thank each donor individually.
If you’d like, you can choose to capture the mailing addresses of your donors. This is useful in the event you’re shipping an actual item like a thank-you card or t-shirt.
Other Common Questions
Once your campaign is complete, friends and family can immediately search for your campaign in our Public Search Directory, and anyone who has your link can access it.
If you’d like to ensure that your campaign shows up in the public search directory, follow these steps:
- A valid and authentic Facebook account must be connected to your HelpACop campaign. Facebook accounts that seem to be purposely anonymous will not be accepted (e.g., no photo or unusually low amount of friends). TIP: You can ‘refresh’ your Facebook info at any time by visiting the Facebook tab within your ‘Account Settings’ and clicking ‘Refresh my info.’
- Your campaign must include a photo or video. Clip art, graphics and logos won’t be approved.
- Request your campaign to be featured on the Home Page.
- Sign in to HelpACop: www.helpacop.com/my-account/
- Send an email to support@helpacop.com with your Campaign Title and Feature Request in the title. Let us know why you should be featured, and we’ll consider it.
Your campaign will be manually reviewed by a member of the HelpACop Team. Since your campaign is not made available for review until the above criteria are met, it may take up to 24 hours for your campaign to get approved.
With the number of campaigns available, it’s not feasible for HelpACop to investigate the claims stated by each Campaign Organizer. Rather, we provide visitors with the tools to make an informed decision as to who they choose to support. While HelpACop and its payment partners do provide a number of safeguards to deter fraud, we must insist that visitors only donate to people they personally know & trust.
HelpACop has major operating expenses like any popular internet service including technology, infrastructure, payroll & benefits for our dedicated team of employees. We have purposely created a business model that allows users to sign-up and launch their campaign for free. Visitors to our users’ campaigns are greeted with a frustration-free giving experience, void of advertisements and other distractions – helping our users raise even more money.
HelpACop operates on only a 3% fee deducted from each donation received. Most platforms either charge an automatic “tip” of 10% to contributors or a 5% platform fee, making us the lowest cost in crowdfunding.
In short, HelpACop is an incredibly efficient and effective way to provide financial support to those you care about most. Not only can contributors give in an extremely targeted way, but more money goes directly to the intended recipients.