FAQs

CoMoGives’ primary goal is to facilitate year-end giving to a cross-section of Columbia/Boone County and other central Missouri community nonprofit organizations. Donors can select one, two, ten, or more organizations and make a single donation with an easy credit card transaction at the secure www.comogives.com website November 29-December 31, 2022.

As soon as possible! The deadline for all donations is 11:59:59 p.m. CST on December 31. By giving early, however, you will enable the organizations you support to compete more effectively for one of the 23 Challenge Grants they may receive from the Community Foundation (see INFO/Challenge Grants page for details). If organizations feel they are in the running to win, they will work even harder. Challenge Grants are funded by grant dollars from the Community Foundation, the organization that runs the CoMoGives campaign. If you start early you can also run your own Fundraiser campaign on behalf of an organization of your choice (see Fundraiser below).

Yes. Donors will receive an automatic email receipt for each CoMoGives transaction from the Community Foundation of Central Missouri, a 501(c)(3) public charity. All gifts are irrevocable and, unless otherwise noted, unrestricted. See your tax advisor regarding tax implications of your gift, particularly if your gift results in receiving a premium from a participating organization or you want to make a transfer gift from an IRA account.

Donations made through the CoMoGives website are recorded by the Community Foundation of Central Missouri through the CoMoGives.com website as soon as the transaction is complete. The website tracks total donations made per nonprofit on the Leaderboard and the organization donation page after the transaction is fully processed. There may be a brief time lag between donation and Leaderboard update. Matching gifts or RMD (required minimum distribution) and QCD checks from retirement accounts will generally be entered on the Leaderboard within 72 hours of receipt.

Fundraiser campaigns allow a donor to run a sub-campaign within the larger CoMoGives campaign for an organization of their choice. The campaign goal should be measurable and achievable, with the donor then doing something when the campaign goal or challenge is met. The donor running the Fundraiser is responsible for marketing his/her campaign. Donations made to Fundraiser campaigns are made on the CoMoGives Fundraiser pages and appear on the organization’s donation page. A Fundraiser campaign should not be centered around a raffle concept. More information regarding Fundraiser campaigns can be found HERE.

The Community Foundation of Central Missouri is the lead and presenting organization for the campaign. Indeed, CoMoGives is a service provided by the Community Foundation, and CFCM does not receive any percentage of CoMoGives donations other than donations designated for the Community Foundation. Commerce Bank is the campaign’s Signature Sponsor this year. Other generous campaign sponsors are MayeCreate Design (digital media sponsor), KOMU-8 (TV sponsor), and KFRU/KPLA-Cumulus Broadcasting (radio sponsor). Please support these terrific, local businesses! Companies we learn about that provide matching funds may be listed on the CoMoGives.com website.

• provide additional revenue to nonprofits still hard-pressed by the Covid-19 pandemic
• educate the public about nonprofits and their vital role in our community
• excite younger people to get involved in charitable giving
• engage new donors and/or volunteers
• encourage online giving that is fast, simple, and fun
• empower local nonprofits to use social media and online giving
• emphasize the importance of local gifts for local causes
• create a community-wide charitable-giving buzz at the end of the year

The minimum donation for Challenge Grants is $10. Challenge Grants from the Community Foundation are based on unique donors and their total gifts meeting specific metrics. Please refer to the Rules for details related to gifts and Challenge Grants.

With only a few exceptions, the CoMoGives campaign does not accept cash or checks. Sorry; please contact your charity of choice and discuss your other options for end-of-year giving. The exceptions to this rule are a check from a donor’s employer if the check is a company matching gift, if there is a personal online giving anomaly, in which case the donor must contact John Baker, Executive Director of the Community Foundation, at 573-817-5027 or info@cfcmfoundation.org, and explain the anomaly prior to writing a check to receive instructions, or if a check is a transfer from an IRA or other qualified retirement account (please see in the Rules for more information regarding RMDs and QCDs). Such checks must be postmarked on or before December 31 to qualify for Challenge Grants. Contributions made outside of CoMoGives.com (for example, a nonprofit’s independent financial campaign or gifts received for other purposes) will not be eligible for Challenge Grants or count toward nonprofit totals for the campaign.

Yes. You can use one of the special fields on the check-out form to provide a name for a gift in honor or memory. If you want the receiving organization to send a letter to a third party regarding such a gift, you must include the third party’s mailing address during check out. Such letters come from the receiving-end organization, not from CoMoGives.

If you are interested in getting an organization into the CoMoGives campaign for 2023, contact the Community Foundation of Central Missouri, 573-817-5027, or info@cfcmfoundation.org, in February or March 2023.

Local Columbia and surrounding community nonprofit organizations that meet annual IRS 501(c)(3) requirements are eligible to be part of the campaign. Organizations were invited to participate in CoMoGives 2022 and many chose to participate. Other organizations asked to participate. 2022 is the tenth consecutive campaign!