Social Impact Campaigns, end to end.

A Social Impact Campaign (SIC) is a time-bound, public-facing fundraiser hosted under Rekonect’s 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsorship. You set up the campaign with a goal, a deadline, and a public donation page; donors visit, give a tax-deductible donation, and watch the campaign progress in real time against the countdown; you request disbursements out of the fund balance when the campaign ends (or along the way, depending on your structure).

In plain terms: it’s a way to run a real campaign-style fundraiser without forming your own nonprofit — same fiscal sponsorship as a CSF, but with the urgency and structure of a deadline-driven push.

SICs work well when the cause has natural urgency or a clear endpoint:

• Capital projects — building campaigns, equipment drives, renovation funds with a real end-state.
• Emergency response — relief efforts after a disaster, illness, or sudden community need where speed matters.
• Milestone campaigns — anniversary drives, matching-gift drives, end-of-year asks.
• Time-pressured causes — anything where “by [date]” makes the ask more compelling than “ongoing.”
• Matching-gift moments — a major donor’s matching commitment that you want to leverage publicly with a countdown.

If your cause is ongoing without a natural deadline, a Community Support Fund is the right structure instead. If your cause is specifically educational scholarships, an Education Opportunity Fund is the right tool.

All three are BrightLeaf programs, but they’re built for different jobs:

• SIC — many donors, time-bound. Public campaign page with a goal, a deadline, a countdown, and built-in donation-matching mechanics. Sponsored by Rekonect.
• Community Support Fund (CSF) — many donors, ongoing. Same fundamentals as a SIC but without the countdown — public donation page that stays live indefinitely for any charitable cause that isn’t a scholarship. Also sponsored by Rekonect.
• Education Opportunity Fund (EOF) — one donor, scholarships only. You set up the fund as its donor, fund it yourself, and recommend students. Sponsored by Yeshiva Giving Fund (a separate 501(c)(3)).

SICs and CSFs share the same fee schedule and the same payment methods. The difference is structural: a CSF says “we’re always raising for this cause”; a SIC says “we’re raising $X by [date]” — and the countdown is part of the ask.

Rekonect is a 501(c)(3) public charity registered in New Jersey that specializes in fiscal sponsorship for community causes. They act as the legal fiscal sponsor for every SIC — donations go to Rekonect, Rekonect issues tax receipts, and Rekonect holds the legal responsibility for approving and disbursing fund balances to the recipients you specify.

This structure is what makes the donations tax-deductible without you needing your own nonprofit, and what keeps the campaign compliant with the rules that govern charitable fundraising.

SICs can support any charitable purpose that fits Rekonect’s mission as a 501(c)(3) — emergency relief, capital projects, religious programs, community initiatives, advocacy campaigns. Same scope as CSFs, just structured around a deadline.

Things a SIC can’t do:

• Award individual scholarships — that’s what an EOF is for.
• Pay political candidates or campaigns.
• Direct funds to the campaign manager personally for non-charitable use.
• Fund activities that primarily benefit a single private individual without a charitable purpose. (You can raise for a family in crisis; the charitable purpose is the relief.)

If you’re unsure whether your cause fits, message us before applying.

The application lives on the Social Impact Campaign service page. It’s a single form covering your campaign’s purpose, your goal and deadline, your donation page setup (including AI-assisted copy and a hero image), your dollar-to-outcome breakdown, your identity verification, and a short onboarding call to walk through approval.

Start your SIC application →

The application asks for:

• Campaign name and purpose — what you’re raising for, in plain language.
• Purpose category — which broad charitable bucket your cause fits in.
• Campaign goal and end date — your target amount and your deadline. Both will be public on the campaign page.
• Deadline narrative — why this deadline matters. Donors give more to campaigns that explain why the countdown is real.
• Dollar-to-outcome breakdown — e.g. “$50 buys X, $250 buys Y, $1,000 buys Z.” Lets donors see what their gift actually does.
• Program description and image gallery — the public-facing copy and visuals on your campaign page. AI-assisted draft generation is available.
• Disbursement estimates — directional, helps Rekonect anticipate payout volume.
• Whether you’ll disburse internationally — different reporting requirements apply.
• Your identity — name, email, phone, citizenship, SSN, and primary address. Rekonect needs this for fiscal-sponsor recordkeeping.
• An onboarding call — a short Google Meet to walk through the application and confirm setup.

Typically 1–2 business days after your onboarding call. Rekonect reviews each new SIC for fit with their fiscal-sponsorship policies before activating donations. Once approved, your campaign page goes live with the countdown active and you can start sharing immediately.

Both are set in the application. Pick a deadline that’s far enough out to give donors time to give, but close enough to create real urgency — most successful SICs run 30–90 days. Pick a goal that’s ambitious but plausible for your community’s size and giving capacity.

You can update both after launch, but big changes mid-campaign can dilute urgency — better to set them carefully upfront. Message us if you want a second opinion before submitting.

Once approved, three things happen:

1. Your campaign page goes live at a public URL with the countdown running and the goal meter at zero — you’ll share that link with donors through email, social, WhatsApp, your website.
2. Your dashboard fills in with your campaign balance, real-time donor activity, the countdown, goal progress, and the tools to request disbursements, update your page, manage matching gifts, and message us.
3. You can start raising immediately. The campaign page is fully functional from the moment it’s live.

Every approved SIC gets a public campaign page at its own URL. You share the link; donors visit, see the countdown and the progress meter, choose an amount and a payment method, and complete the gift in one flow. They receive an immediate emailed tax receipt from Rekonect, and the donation appears in your dashboard and updates the goal meter within minutes.

The donation page supports one-time gifts, monthly recurring gifts (which continue past the campaign deadline if the donor wants), and pledges.

From the donation page, donors can give via:

• Credit or debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay — 3.5% processing.
• ACH (bank transfer) — 1% processing. The cheapest method; encourage this for major gifts.
• PayPal — same 3.5% processing as card.
• DAFPay — direct from a donor’s Donor-Advised Fund through Chariot or similar. 3% processing.
• Zelle — handled through the campaign page so the gift is recorded and receipted automatically with no off-system surcharge.

Wire donors should give by ACH instead. Mailed checks aren’t accepted; eCheck is discontinued.

Any of the above processed through the campaign page is in-system. The exception is gifts that arrive completely outside the platform — a Zelle sent directly to your personal account, a check the donor mails on their own initiative, a wire to the wrong place. Those carry an 8% surcharge.

Yes. Rekonect is a recognized 501(c)(3) public charity, and every donation receives an immediate tax receipt from Rekonect for the full amount the donor paid. Fees are what Rekonect spends to process the gift; they don’t reduce the donor’s deductible amount.

Yes. The campaign page integrates with DAFPay, which connects to most major DAF providers (Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, the Jewish Communal Fund, and many smaller sponsors). The donor signs into their DAF, recommends a grant to Rekonect earmarked for your SIC, and the funds transfer.

DAF gifts carry a 3% processing fee. They also tend to be substantially larger than typical donations, since DAF holders are usually doing planned annual giving — DAF outreach can move a SIC closer to its goal faster than most other tactics.

A matcher commits to match incoming donations during the campaign. Specifically:

• A donor offers to match other donations, no current cap on the match amount.
• The match is displayed on the campaign page so other donors see “your gift will be matched.”
• The match runs for the duration of the campaign — until the campaign deadline passes.
• Matchers appear on a dedicated Matchers tab in your dashboard so you can track active matches.

Match commitments dramatically lift conversion rates — donors give more readily when they know their gift is being doubled. If you can secure even one matcher before launch, mention it in your campaign description and watch what happens.

To set up a matcher, message us — we’ll work with you to confirm the match terms and surface them on your campaign page correctly.

Every SIC campaign page includes a small opt-in at checkout where the donor can choose to cover the processing fee, the platform fee, both, or neither. Most donors say yes when given the option.

The four modes:

• Donor covers nothing — donation processes normally; all fees come off the top.
• Donor covers processing — adds ~3.6% to their gift on card, ~1% on ACH.
• Donor covers platform — adds ~7% (or whatever tier applies).
• Donor covers both — adds ~11% on card, ~8% on ACH. Only Rekonect’s fiscal-sponsor fee comes off your end.

This is the single biggest lever for reducing your effective fee rate. Mentioning the fee-cover option in your campaign description (something like “a small box at checkout lets you add the processing fee so 100% of your gift reaches our work”) can lift cover-rates significantly.

The short version:

• Platform fee: 6.5% on donations under $1,000, tiering down to 3.5% at $25,000+ per donation.
• Fiscal sponsor fee (Rekonect): 2% on every donation.
• Card & wallet processing: 3.5%.
• ACH processing: 1%.
• DAFPay processing: 3%.
• Disbursement fee: 2% when you actually pay out to a recipient.
• Off-system donation surcharge: 8% on gifts that bypass the campaign page.
• Disputed transaction: $35 per chargeback (rare).

No setup fee, no minimum, no annual fee. Detailed breakdown and worked examples live on our CSF/SIC fees page — SICs and CSFs share the same fee schedule.

Five practical levers, in roughly the order they matter:

1. Let donors cover the fees — the single biggest lever. Most donors say yes when the option is presented well.
2. Steer donors to ACH — saves 2.5% per donation compared to card. Especially worth doing for major gifts.
3. Cultivate a few large gifts — larger donations pay a lower platform-fee tier. A single $5,000 gift gets 4.5%; $25,000+ gets 3.5%.
4. Don’t trigger the off-system fee — 8% on gifts that bypass the campaign page. Always share the link first.
5. Tap donor-advised funds — 3% processing and tends to attract larger gifts. Often the fastest path to closing a SIC’s funding gap.

No. SICs on BrightLeaf charge once per donation, never on balance. No setup fee, no monthly subscription, no minimum.

The CSF/SIC fees page has the full schedule, the tiered platform-fee table, worked examples for a $100 donation across all six payment scenarios, the donor-cover mechanics in detail, and answers to the most common fee questions.

The campaign closes to new donations. The page stays live but shows the final state — final amount raised, final donor count, the goal meter frozen at its end position. Donors landing on the page after the deadline see “this campaign has ended” rather than a donation form.

Your fund balance remains in the account and you can continue requesting disbursements from it. Closing a campaign means closing it to new donations, not closing the fund itself.

You keep what you raised. SICs aren’t all-or-nothing — donations are non-refundable from the moment they’re processed, regardless of whether the goal is met. If you raise 70% of your goal, you have 70% of your goal to disburse.

That said, the public goal-meter shows where you ended up. Falling short of a stated goal can affect future fundraising, so be thoughtful about the number you set in your application.

Yes, but sparingly. From your dashboard’s Update Program Info form, you can push the deadline out and adjust the goal. The system updates the countdown live on the campaign page.

The catch: deadline extensions dilute urgency. If you’ve publicly told donors the campaign closes on a specific date and then push it out, some donors notice. The cleanest moves are either (a) extend before the original deadline passes with a clear public reason (you’re approaching the goal and want to give your community one more weekend), or (b) accept the result and close out.

Yes, substantially — but only if it’s real. Donors respond to urgency, but they sense fake urgency from a mile away. The countdown works when the deadline has a real reason (the building has to be funded by [date] for construction to start, the family needs to relocate by [date], the matching grant expires on [date]). It doesn’t work when “by Friday” is arbitrary.

In your campaign description, explain why the deadline matters. That single paragraph drives more giving than any other piece of the page.

Once you’ve identified a donor willing to match (or several), message us. We’ll confirm the match terms — who’s matching, how much (or that it’s uncapped), what types of donations are eligible — and configure your campaign page to display the match prominently. Matchers appear in a dedicated Matchers tab in your dashboard so you can track each match’s status throughout the campaign.

The single highest-leverage move on a SIC is securing matching support before launch and announcing the match in your opening campaign push. If a major donor is willing to commit, ask them to match — it multiplies their impact and yours.

Your dashboard. “My Social Impact Campaigns” lists every SIC you manage with the current balance, recent transactions, and pending disbursements at a glance. Clicking View Campaign opens the full single-campaign view — current balance, goal progress, countdown to deadline, monthly contribution history, and four tabs of detail: Transactions, Donors, Teams, and Matchers.

The single-campaign view has a Share Campaign Page button that gives you the URL, a copy-to-clipboard shortcut, and pre-formatted message templates for WhatsApp, email, and social platforms. Just paste; the link previews cleanly with your campaign image, the goal meter, and the countdown.

For larger pushes, use Teams (see below) so individual fundraisers can rally their own networks under your SIC.

Yes. Teams let individual fundraisers raise money on behalf of your SIC — each team member gets their own sub-page under your campaign URL with their own personal goal, their own donor list, and their own share links. Donations through team pages count toward your overall campaign total and the goal meter.

Teams work especially well for SICs with broad community appeal — annual campaigns, building drives, relief efforts — where multiple people want to rally their own networks. The Teams tab in your dashboard tracks each team’s progress and lets you message individual team captains.

Disbursements can go to individuals (e.g., the family in crisis you’re fundraising for, vendors providing services), organizations (e.g., contractors, vendors, partner nonprofits), or service providers being paid on behalf of a beneficiary. Every disbursement gets reviewed by Rekonect against your campaign’s stated purpose. Approved disbursements pay by ACH within a few business days.

From your dashboard’s single-campaign view, click Request Disbursement. You’ll fill out a short form covering the recipient’s name and contact, the amount, the purpose (how this fits your campaign’s mission), and the recipient’s payment details (ACH info, or contact info so we can collect it from them). Submit, and your request goes to Rekonect for review. Most disbursements are approved within 1–2 business days.

If the recipient hasn’t been paid from a Rekonect-sponsored fund before, they’ll receive a brief intake email to confirm their identity and provide ACH details. Most recipients complete it in under 10 minutes.

International disbursements are possible but require additional documentation. If your SIC will be making international disbursements, flag that in your initial application so we can set up the right process upfront. Otherwise, message us before submitting your first international request.

From the single-campaign view, Update Program Info opens a form where you can revise the description, hero image, dollar-to-outcome breakdown, deadline, and goal. Changes save immediately and the campaign page updates live. Big changes to the campaign’s purpose or structure require Rekonect to re-review — message us first in that case.

Yes. SICs can be closed before the deadline — the remaining balance stays available for disbursement, the page goes to “campaign ended” state, and new donations stop. Reach out and we’ll walk through it.

Donations are irrevocable once received — they’re already Rekonect’s, not yours — so “closing” means closing to new donations, not refunding existing donors.

If you’re already logged in, the Message Us button is in your dashboard sidebar and on every campaign page. If you’re not logged in or you’re a prospective campaign manager, use the contact form. We answer in business hours, usually same-day, and there’s no upcharge for support.