Yes.  The United States Internal Revenue Service designated Photo Perspectives as a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization.  You can view our official designation letter here.  Such a designation exempts Photo Perspectives from having to pay federal taxes on its mission-related income (e.g., donations) while  allowing the donation be tax-deductible for the donor.  E-mail documentation of every donation made through our site is provided to the donor as well as an ability to access one’s donation history at the end of the tax year.

We don’t.

Neither does the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS, a United States Federal Entity,  granted Photo Perspectives 501(c)(3) designation as a charitable organization.  One benefit of such designation is that donations are tax deductible for the donor.  

State Attorney Generals, however, may care a great deal.  State laws dictate whether a nonprofit organization must register, and pay applicable fees, in order to solicit donations from residents within each State.  Photo Perspectives is incorporated and registered to solicit charitable donations in the State of Maine.  As of July 2021, the following States do not require nonprofits to register in order to solicit donations: Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. (Other documentation requirements may exist).

There is no national solicitation registry.  Registering in all 50 states is cost prohibitive for many smaller nonprofits.  The matter is further complicated by States that categorize simply having a donation link on one’s website as a solicitation of that State’s residents.  Other states are guided by the so-called “Charleston Principles” which define solicitation as more of a directed activity than an incidental contact.

Either way, Photo Perspectives holds no interest running afoul of States’ Attorney Generals and Regulations.  As a policy, we do not intentionally engage in solicitation outside the States above.  Yet, depriving anyone of the free educational opportunities that will be available at Photoperspectives.org, or one of our social media accounts, is inconsistent with our mission.  

Should a non-solicited out of State donation be received, it will be accepted and a receipt issued for tax purposes of the donor.  Other than to say thank you, no further relationship building with the donor will occur until proper registration requirements have been met or research reveals that the State in question otherwise permits applicable donor relations (e.g., requires minimum donor levels to require registration requirements).  Donations from non-Maine residents will trigger the researching of the applicable State’s requirements and a report given at the next scheduled Board meeting so appropriate discussion and resolutions may be adopted.

That is absolutely fine.  You will notice on the donor form only the first name field (right above the e-mail field).  If you leave your last name blank there, only your first name will be listed.  If you do not wish to have your name associated with your donation on the Recognition Wall at all, simply click the checkbox to remain anonymous.  You will still get a receipt for your donation and you will still be able to retrieve your donation history at the end of the year as well.

Absolutely not.  Photo Perspectives uses Stripe Merchant Card Services as our credit card processor for online sales and WePay (Chase) for online donation processing.  The donation form will show powered by Aplos which is the accounting system we use.   We do not maintain credit card information on our website nor do we sell or share your information with outside parties.  Stripe may keep credit card information on file to process refunds, conduct recurring billing for those who choose to donate in that manner, and other ways specified in their privacy policy.  Our business transactions processed by Stripe are downloaded (without card information) for offline reconciliation with our business records for accounting purposes.  If you choose to subscribe to our newsletter, we share your e-mail address collected with our Newsletter provider, Mailchimp.  Mailchimp privacy policies can be found here.