Giving & Donations Terms

Plain-language summary

• When you give online through your church's Oikos site, your gift goes to the church. Oikos is the software; Stripe processes the payment.
• The church — not Oikos — is the charity you're giving to. The church is responsible for your tax receipt / year-end giving statement and for whether your gift is tax-deductible.
• Recurring gifts continue on the schedule you choose until you cancel.
• Oikos does not give tax advice, and giving statements the software produces are records, not tax opinions.

1. Parties and roles

• Donor: the individual making a gift.
• Church: the organization receiving the gift. The Church is the merchant of record and, where applicable, the tax-exempt organization to which the gift is made.
• Oikos United LLC ("Oikos"): the technology provider of the Oikos Church platform. Oikos does not receive, hold, or control donated funds and is not the recipient of any gift.
• Stripe: the third-party payment processor that processes card and ACH payments and settles funds directly to the Church's connected account.

2. How online giving works

• Gifts are processed by Stripe. Card/bank details are collected and stored by Stripe (a PCI Level 1 provider) under Stripe's terms and privacy policy; the Service is designed so Oikos does not receive or store full card or bank-account numbers (SAQ-A posture).
• Funds settle directly to the Church. Oikos is not a party to the payment, takes no custody of funds, and (per the platform's design) charges no platform fee on gifts. Stripe's processing fees are deducted per the Church's Stripe agreement. [CONFIRM fee model with Paul: any Oikos fee — ref tickets/.]
• Donor fee-cover (optional). The giving flow may offer a "cover the processing fee" option. If you select it, your charge is increased by an estimate of the processing fee (so the Church receives approximately your intended gift amount); the button shows the full amount you will be charged before you pay. The gross-up is a good-faith estimate, not an exact fee pass-through — actual fees may differ slightly, and any difference stays with or is borne by the Church. The full amount you are charged, including the fee-cover portion, is your gift to the Church (the Church uses part of it to pay processing costs) and is treated as part of the contribution on your receipt.
• The Church is responsible for its Stripe Connect account, for agreeing to Stripe's Connected Account Agreement, and for its own compliance, payouts, reserves, and tax reporting.

3. Recurring giving (authorization)

• If you set up a recurring gift, you authorize the Church (through Stripe) to charge your selected payment method on the schedule you choose (e.g., weekly/monthly) until you cancel. Your electronic setup of a recurring gift is your electronic authorization for these charges (valid under the E-SIGN Act/UETA); for bank/ACH recurring gifts, Stripe's/NACHA authorization terms also apply.
• You may change or cancel a recurring gift at any time from your giving profile or by contacting the Church. Cancellation stops future gifts; it does not reverse gifts already processed.
• If a scheduled charge fails, the platform may retry per the Church's settings and notify you.

4. Fees, refunds, and disputes

• Refunds: Gifts are generally intended as completed charitable donations and are not automatically refundable. If you believe a gift was made in error, contact the Church — refunds are at the Church's discretion and are processed by the Church through Stripe. Oikos cannot issue refunds because Oikos never holds the funds.
• Chargebacks/disputes: payment disputes are handled by Stripe between you, your card issuer, and the Church. Oikos is not a party to and disclaims liability for donation disputes, chargebacks, failed payouts, holds, or reserves.
• Quid pro quo (two separate IRS rules — do not conflate): if a "gift" includes something of value in return (e.g., an event ticket, item, or dinner), only the amount above the fair market value (FMV) of what you receive may be deductible.
• IRS §6115 (the $75 rule): for any quid-pro-quo contribution over $75, the Church must provide a written disclosure statement — in connection with either the solicitation or the receipt — that (a) tells the donor the deductible amount is limited to the excess of the contribution over the FMV of the goods/services received, and (b) gives a good-faith estimate of that FMV. Failure carries IRS penalties under §6714 ($10 per contribution, up to $5,000 per event/mailing). This obligation is the Church's; the platform assists by showing a good-faith FMV estimate at the point of solicitation on campaign pages and can include it on receipts, but the Church is responsible for the estimate's accuracy.
• This is separate from the §170(f)(8) $250 acknowledgment rule in §5 — a $100 fundraiser-dinner ticket can trigger §6115 without triggering §170(f)(8), and vice versa.

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5. Tax receipts and deductibility — READ THIS

> The Church, not Oikos, is responsible for your tax receipt and for whether your gift is deductible. Oikos Church can generate giving statements and year-end summaries as a convenience, but these are records produced from the data the Church entered — they are not tax advice and not a guarantee of deductibility.

> IRS substantiation is the Church's responsibility — two distinct rules. (1) §170(f)(8), the $250 rule: for gifts of $250 or more, the donor's deduction requires a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the charity (amount, whether any goods/services were provided, and their description and good-faith value estimate). (2) §6115, the $75 quid-pro-quo rule: where the donor receives goods/services in return and pays more than $75, the Church must provide the written disclosure described in §4 — with a good-faith FMV estimate — at solicitation or receipt, subject to §6714 penalties. The Church is responsible for issuing compliant acknowledgments and disclosures and for the accuracy of every giving statement. Oikos does not verify a Church's tax-exempt status and does not confirm that any gift is deductible.

> Donors: consult your own tax advisor. Whether and how much of your gift is deductible depends on your situation and the Church's tax status. Oikos does not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. See the platform's Financial-Advice & Accuracy Disclaimer.

> Church tax-exempt-status attestation. To enable online giving, the Church attests that it is a bona fide religious/charitable organization eligible to receive contributions and is responsible for its own tax-exempt status, charitable-solicitation registrations (where required), and donor acknowledgments. Oikos does not verify or guarantee any Church's tax-exempt status.

6. Accuracy of giving records

The Church is responsible for the accuracy of its funds, designations (restricted/unrestricted/designated), and giving statements. Automated categorization and statement generation are tools, not authorities; the Church must review before issuing statements to donors. Oikos does not audit or guarantee the Church's giving records or their conformance with IRS rules.

7. Donor privacy

Donor identity and gift amounts are sensitive. The platform restricts who at the Church can view individual giving to authorized finance/pastoral roles, tenant-isolated. See the Privacy Policy and DPA. Donor information is never sold or used for advertising, and never used to train AI models.

8. Disclaimers and liability

Oikos provides the giving software; the Church provides the charity and the charitable relationship. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Oikos disclaims liability for: tax consequences of any gift; a Church's failure to issue compliant acknowledgments; refund/dispute outcomes; a Church's misuse or misdesignation of funds; and any loss arising from reliance on a giving statement without independent verification. General disclaimers and the liability cap in the Terms of Service apply.

9. Public campaign giving pages (outside donors)

Churches may share a public campaign giving page (link or QR code). Anyone may give through it — you do not need to be a member of the church or have an account.

• Who you are giving to. The named Church is the recipient of your gift and the charity soliciting it. Oikos United LLC provides the software only, and Stripe processes the payment; neither receives your gift. The campaign description and any goal/progress shown are the Church's statements, and use of funds — including applying gifts to general ministry purposes if a campaign is overfunded or discontinued — is the Church's responsibility and policy.
• These Terms apply. Giving through a public page is subject to these Giving & Donations Terms (refunds §4, tax treatment §5) and the Privacy Policy (§6a — donor privacy for outside donors). The page links both.
• Deductibility statements on the page. Any at-solicitation tax note (e.g., "your gift is tax-deductible" or a quid-pro-quo good-faith estimate) is generated from the Church's configuration of the campaign and is the Church's §6115/§170 responsibility. Deductibility always depends on the donor's own circumstances and the Church's tax status — consult your tax advisor.
• Recurring gifts by outside donors. If you set up a weekly/monthly gift on a public page, §3 applies: your electronic setup authorizes recurring charges until you cancel. Your receipt/confirmation email includes how to cancel; you may also cancel at any time by contacting the Church, which can stop the recurring gift in its giving tools. Cancellation stops future charges; it does not reverse processed gifts.
• Anti-abuse limits. Minimum/maximum gift limits may apply; unusually large gifts should be arranged with the Church directly.

10. State charitable-solicitation registration (Church responsibility)

A public giving page reachable by anyone, anywhere, is online charitable solicitation across state lines. Under the Charleston Principles and state charitable-solicitation statutes, a charity that solicits residents of a state — including via an interactive donation page — may need to register in that state before soliciting. Roughly 40 states require charitable-solicitation registration; many, but not all, exempt churches, and some exemptions require an application rather than being automatic.

• The Church is solely responsible for determining where it must register or claim exemption, and for any required disclosure statements on its solicitations. Several states (e.g., Florida, New York, New Jersey, and others) require specific disclosure language on solicitation materials for registered organizations.
• Oikos's posture: the platform requires the Church's attestation (§5) that it is responsible for its charitable-solicitation compliance, displays the Church as the named recipient on every public giving page, and does not itself solicit contributions. Oikos is a technology vendor, not a professional solicitor or fundraising counsel as those terms are used in state statutes.
• Guidance for churches (non-exhaustive): churches primarily soliciting their own congregation are commonly exempt; a broadly promoted public campaign (community QR codes, social media) increases multi-state exposure. The Church should review registration/exemption in its home state first, then in any state it targets deliberately.