| The following information has been received from the Fundraising Institute of NZ 6 September 2022: “Notification to all Charities with donors who use Mastercard to contribute regular recurring gifts. Mastercard has announced changes to the requirements on charities who receive recurring donation payments via their Mastercard credit or debit card. These changes were to take effect on 15 September but the deadline has been extended to 21 March 2023. Rules may yet change (see comments below) but our understanding as of today is that the following must apply from 21 March 2023: Upon receipt of a first payment (irrespective of the method of sign-up – Face-to-face, web-site, etc), you must send the donor an electronic confirmation of receipt of payment that includes the date received, amount donated, Terms and Conditions, frequency of payment and ‘opt out’ options and contact details. Following every transaction, users of Mastercard must receive notification of the transaction date and amount received (this does not need to be a formal receipt). You may offer donors the option of ceasing to receive these notifications after every transaction. You do not have to follow this step if you do not have an email address for your donor. Every transaction acknowledgement must include reference to how a donor can cancel, whether it be a link or a simple ‘to change/cancel your donation please call’ message, etc. You can choose to send formal donation receipts after every transaction or to send an annualised donation receipt. If you are unsure of the impact of these changes on your charity, contact your payment gateway and/or your CRM provider (Blackbaud, Salesforce, etc) for advice. This is a global requirement that impacts all recurring payments of a subscription nature. FINZ was notified of these upcoming requirements on 26 August. FINZ is working in concert with the Fundraising Institute Australia (FIA) to clarify exactly what is required. This has resulted in evolving changes in our understanding of the rules over the past week. This explains the delay in transmission of this notice. There are also significant negotiations underway to persuade Mastercard to exempt charity donations as they have exempted Utilities payments (power, insurance, tele-communications). We will update you on any further developments.” |
Administration
Changes to charity regulations
The following is taken from a media-release issued by Seed the Change | He Kākano Hāpai on 3 October 2023. We are publishing it here as the information is of general interest/importance to NZ Charities. Read more…