FAQS Page 13

FAQs

Before I begin, I have a few questions

How is Common Change structured, legally speaking?

Common Change is a registered DBA of Relational Tithe, Inc a 501(c)3 Not-For-Profit corporation registered in California.

Does Common Change make its financial statements available to the public?

We make our annual IRS 990 reports available to the public through GuideStar.org.

How do I become a member of Common Change?

There are two ways to become a member: either by creating your own giving group or joining an existing group.

After creating your personal account on Common Change, you'll have the opportunity to design your own giving group. Your group will be unique, and you'll be able to write a group description and statement of commitment that reflects who you are. Each member of your group, before joining, will be able to read and accept your shared hopes. All that's left to do, is to invite others - friends, family members, co-workers, etc - fund your group account, and then share, discuss and support need requests.

Who started Common Change?

Following the 2002 Jubilee Celebration in New York, Darin Petersen and Shane Claiborne began asking what the daily practice of collaborative giving could look like. Relational Tithe, Inc was launched in January 2005 as an experiment among people desiring to live a more adventurous, relational and passionate faith. What began as an experiment among 17 people within the US has grown to include people over the globe with a hunger to participate. Since 2005, that small group of friends has expanded, touching the lives of over 1000 families and individuals in over 15 countries and distributing over $600,000 directly to people in need. In 2011, Relational Tithe began development on Common Change - an online tool for groups all around the world to connect people and their resources to people in their lives.

Where is Common Change located?

Common Change is headquartered in Oakland, CA but we have members and groups in 36 States and 9 countries including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada and Cuba.

What’s the benefit of using Common Change?

Common Change has done all the work for you! It is certainly possible to set up a bank account and have multiple signatories on the account to be able to maintain fiscal accountability, and then make and respond to needs either in person or via email/text/calls and we know of several groups who have done so. As folks began to express interest collaborative giving over the years we heard people saying that it would be easier for them to do shared giving without having to do all the administrative work that goes into it. We created Common Change as a tool to facilitate giving - creating an easy toolkit for contributing funds, managing finances, making and responding to requests and getting quarterly or annual reports on your sharing. Plus your donations to your Group Fund are tax deductible.