A donation to Founders Foundation is a voluntary and unconditional gift. You receive nothing in return for it, other than the acknowledgements and tax certificate described below.

Once we receive your donation, it becomes the property of Founders Foundation and is committed to our public benefit work. Donations are therefore not refundable, and cannot be recalled, reversed or reclaimed once made.

As a registered non-profit company and approved public benefit organisation, we are required by law and by our Memorandum of Incorporation to apply all of our income and assets to advancing our stated objects. Funds are allocated to programmes and committed to founders soon after they are received, and we are not free to return them once that has happened.

Please make sure you are comfortable with the amount before you complete your donation.

We will always correct a genuine error. Please contact us within 14 days of the payment if:

• you were charged more than once for the same donation;
• you were charged an amount other than the one you selected;
• your card or bank account was used without your authority; or
• a technical fault on our donation platform caused an incorrect payment.

Write to us at dana@foundersfoundation.org.za with the date, amount and reference.

Where we are satisfied that one of these has occurred, we will refund the affected amount to the original payment method and withdraw any Section 18A certificate issued for it.

This is the only circumstance in which we refund a donation. A change of mind is not one of them.

If you set up a monthly donation, you may cancel it at any time by emailing us or by using the cancellation option in your confirmation email. Please allow 5 business days before your next scheduled collection.

Cancelling stops future collections. It does not entitle you to a refund of donations already collected.

Donations are applied at the discretion of our Board towards our public benefit objects and our social and enterprise development programmes.

If you would like your donation directed towards a particular programme, please tell us before you donate. We will do our best to accommodate a stated preference, but we can only be bound to a specific use where we have agreed to it with you in writing and signed a separate funding agreement.

Programmes evolve, and beneficiaries and timelines change. If a programme you have supported is completed, oversubscribed, discontinued or cannot proceed for any reason, we will apply your donation to another programme as close as reasonably possible to the original purpose, rather than returning it.

We are approved to issue receipts under section 18A of the Income Tax Act.

• Section 18A certificates are issued for donations of R2,000 or more, on request.
• We can only issue a certificate if you give us the full name or registered name, identity or registration number, tax reference number and address required by SARS.
• Certificates are usually issued before the financial year-end of the donor for a qualifying donation.
• A certificate confirms a donation received. It does not guarantee that SARS will allow a deduction in your hands.

If a donation is refunded under clause 3, the related certificate is withdrawn and is of no force or effect. You must not claim a deduction on the strength of a withdrawn certificate, and you are responsible for correcting any return already submitted.

Corporate donations may qualify as Socio-Economic Development, Enterprise Development or Supplier Development contributions. We will provide the supporting documentation you reasonably need for verification.

We do not warrant any particular scorecard outcome. Recognition depends on your own scorecard, your verification agency and the applicable Codes, and remains your responsibility. A donation is not refundable if the recognition you expected is not achieved.

By donating, you confirm that you are 18 or older, that the funds are lawfully yours to give, and that where you donate on behalf of a company, trust or other entity you are authorised to commit those funds.

We may decline a donation, or return it, where accepting it would conflict with our objects or values, expose us to legal or reputational risk, or fall foul of our obligations under anti-money laundering, sanctions or related legislation. Where we return a donation on this basis, no Section 18A certificate will be issued, or any certificate already issued will be withdrawn.