This page displays previous policy updates informing users in advance of important changes to the PayPal Giving Fund policies.
Policy updates
AMENDMENTS TO NONPROFIT CERTIFICATION POLICY
Effective Date: Sept 10, 2025
We amended our Nonprofit Certification Policy to:
- Refer and link to our donor terms of service and donation delivery policy.
- Reflect that we use information from public sources (via Candid and directly from the IRS) to maintain all our charity profiles.
- Clarify that eligibility for PPGF programs requires equivalence to a public charity, and provided a source of help for charities that need more information.
- Update the text on reassigning funds to more accurately summarize the donation delivery policy.
- Provide more clarity and flexibility for PPGF in the language on grant restrictions and monitoring, since we occasionally issue restricted grants.
AMENDMENTS TO COVER REQUIREMENTS OF CALIFORNIA REGULATIONS
Effective Dates: Dec 11, 2024 - January 1, 2025
We amended various policies to reflect compliance with the requirements of new California regulations, published pursuant to the Supervision of Trustees and Fundraisers for Charitable Purposes Act:
We amended our Privacy Policy to cover the treatment of personal data of people undertaking fundraising being shared with benefitting charities, when those people consent to such sharing.
We amended our Donation Delivery Policy to show that we will grant funds to unenrolled charities no later than 45 days of the end of the month following each donation, starting January 1, 2025. Donations received before January 1, 2025 will be granted within 90 days of the date of donation.
We amended our Nonprofit User Agreement to state:
- That users must be properly authorized to enter the agreement (2b),
- how and where the solicitation information provided by charities is used by PayPal Giving Fund and partners (3a),
- in more consistent language how our grant making works (4d),
- how charities can use personal donor/fundraiser information if a donor/fundraiser opts to share that information (4e and definition 11),
- that charities will have the ability to opt out of individual partner programs via a dedicated partner page, or to opt out of all our programs (4h), and that fees will be disclosed on the dedicated partner page (6a), and
- that charities are able to withdraw consent to our user agreement but continue to benefit from funds raised, with access only to limited information (9b).
We also amended our Donor Terms to:
- Update the language around PPGF’s identity as a sponsoring organization of donor advised funds and a public charity, and to simplify other phrasing and references to defined terms,
- Clearly prohibit indirect benefits to our donors from their recommendations or grants, and clarify that all recommendations are non-binding and advisory only,
- Better explain the status of Donor Accounts in which funds may be held pending recommendations (currently only applies to some corporate donation programs), and
- Update the language requiring disputes to be settled through arbitration.
AMENDMENT TO DONATION DELIVERY POLICY AND DONOR ACCOUNT POLICY
Effective Date: August 13, 2024
We amended our donation delivery policy and donor account policy to state that donated funds are kept in a secure, dedicated bank account and removed the statement that such accounts will not earn interest.
NEW POLICY ON DONOR ACCOUNTS
Effective Date: March 15, 2024
We published a new policy, specifically governing donations in those cases where PPGF has received a donation and awaits a recommendation from the donor. The policy:
- Clarifies that all DAF funds are donations to PPGF and governed by our donor terms and donation delivery policy,
- Sets out a process for companies to authorize individuals to make recommendations,
- Highlights that our grants are unrestricted unless otherwise agreed with the charity, and
- Asserts our right to cancel grants when we can’t follow a recommendation.
We also require that:
- At least 5% of funds in each account must be recommended for distribution each year.
- Funds will be deemed inactive, and eligible for distribution by PPGF, if no recommendations are made for 3 years. The donor will be contacted after 1 year of inactivity.
AMENDMENTS TO THE DONATION REFUND POLICY
Effective Date: March 15, 2024
We made minor updates by way of clarification. In particular, we:
- Updated our general statement about the delivery of funds to more clearly include unenrolled charities and refer to our Donation Delivery Policy,
- Explained that when donors choose an incorrect charity to support in error, the donor should contact us to request that the funds are reassigned to the correct charity, and
- Updated some of the descriptions of our major partner programs.
AMENDMENTS TO THE DONATION DELIVERY POLICY
Effective Date: March 31, 2022
A summary of changes follows:
- We added language to clarify that we may elect to offset cancelled donations against future grants, rather than requesting that charities return funds already granted.
AMENDMENTS TO THE NONPROFIT USER AGREEMENT
Effective Date: March 3, 2022
A summary of changes follows:
- We removed language referring to charities' eligibility to sell items on eBay, which is now managed by eBay.
- We clarified that, in granting permission for us to use your charity's name to identify you as a charity that will benefit from donations to PayPal Giving Fund, you also grant permission for us to use your name as part of commercial co-ventures that we engage in with our partners.
- We updated the language to more accurately reflect how charities become enrolled with PayPal Giving Fund and complete their Nonprofit Profile.
AMENDMENTS TO THE NONPROFIT CERTIFICATION POLICY
Effective Date: November 5, 2021
A summary of changes follows:
We added a sentence that as part of its ongoing review and monitoring process, PayPal Giving Fund removes charities from its directory that are found not to be in good standing with individual US states, such as California.
AMENDMENTS TO THE DONATION DELIVERY POLICY
Effective Date: October 12, 2021
A summary of changes follows:
- We made minor updates to sentences describing the timetable for granting funds to enrolled charities: 'in nearly all cases within 10 to 40 days' and to unenrolled charities: 'within 90 days with few exceptions'.
Amendments to the PayPal Giving Fund Nonprofit User Agreement, effective May 10, 2018
A summary of changes follows:
- PayPal Giving Fund will now formally operate a Donor Advised Fund, which not only allows donors to recommend charities they wish to benefit from their donations (as they always have), but also allows donors to recommend a new charity in the very rare case that PayPal Giving Fund is unable to deliver donations to the originally recommended charity.
- As a Donor Advised Fund, PayPal Giving Fund can no longer allow Private Non-operating Foundations and Supporting Organizations, as identified by the IRS, to participate as enrolled charities.
- We have updated our logo usage provision to enable PPGF to feature your charity's name and logo in marketing campaigns and emails directed at prospective donors.
- We have updated our definition of PayPal Giving Fund "Services" to better illustrate the suite of products and services we already offer to enrolled charities.
- We have updated our definition of "Donors" to better illustrate the scope of platforms and services where donors are already able to make donations utilizing our Services.
Amendments to the Donation Delivery Policy, effective May 10, 2018
A summary of changes follows:
- PayPal Giving Fund will now formally operate a Donor Advised Fund, which not only allows donors to recommend charities they wish to benefit from their donations (as they always have), but also allows donors to recommend a new charity in the very rare case that PayPal Giving Fund is unable to deliver donations to the originally recommended charity.
- We have updated our terms to illustrate the process for reassigning funds in the rare event that a donation must be reassigned, but the donor does not recommend a new charity.
Amendments to the Nonprofit Certification Policy, effective May 10, 2018
A summary of changes follows:
- We have updated our terms to more accurately describe the steps nonprofits must take in order to be eligible to enroll with PayPal Giving Fund, and to describe information we may receive about registered charities through our partnership with GuideStar.
- We have made updates to demonstrate our ongoing efforts to determine if and when charities should be removed from our platform due to regulatory requirements or for violation of our or our partners' terms.