Thank you if you have donated or are considering donating to Cantiamo through a United Way designation. Please tell us if you make a donation to Cantiamo this way by contacting us at info@cantiamogirlschoir.ca. We have no other way of knowing when this type of donation is made and this will make it easier for us to track.
Here is the summary of the rules and service fees as we currently understand them (as of June 2012).
If you are donating from the Federal Government in Ottawa with deductions coming off in January:
- $12 service fee; amounts to be sent to Cantiamo in August (of same year) and Feb (of next year)
If you are donating via payroll deduction and you are employed by a large company (like Bell, TD, RBC etc.) there is probably a centralized handling of the employee deductions (maybe outside the Ottawa area):
- Either a $12 service fee or no fee at all is charged; timing of when the donation arrives to the charity varies; for Bell for example, the United Way Toronto only sends the money to the charity when it is received from Bell and so donations did not arrive until October (same year) and then May (next year).
If you are donating through a smaller organization in the Ottawa area with deductions coming off in January:
- 20% is charged for something they call “admin fees and pledge loss”. Pledge loss happens because United Way Ottawa pays it out to the charities upfront in August (same year) and Feb (next year) even if they have not yet got the actual $$ from the company collecting. While it is good for the charities, United Way do experience “pledge loss” (I guess when employees are terminated etc. and the pledge amounts don’t materialize). For this reason they add 5% more on the 15% admin fee for a total of 20% (up to a max. of $750 per donation).
If your company is matching in any amounts, then it is well worth while going through United Way as the match amount from the company is bonus money. If there is no match program then consider donating directly to Cantiamo.
Here is a link to the 2012-13 United Way Designation Letter that United Way Ottawa sends to designated recipients along with their February payout.
Your donation is much appreciated!
Charitable Number: 80583 8620 RR0001
cantiamo.ca 