Gifts returned to your Impact Account

Occasionally, the gift amount you send to charities, Giving Groups, or friends on Charitable Impact may be returned and deposited back into your Impact Account.

If a gift is returned, you will be able to see this reflected in your Impact Account:

On the web: On your Home screen, select your Impact Account. In the Impact Account overview, you’ll see the label “gift returned” under Account activity. You can also filter through your Account activity to view by transaction type (i.e. gifts returned)
On the mobile app: In your Transaction History, you’ll see the label “gift returned”.

Reasons why a gift might be returned

There are a few reasons why a gift might not be sent to others and is then returned to your Impact Account. Some of the most likely reasons are outlined below:

The charitable dollars you sent to a friend were not claimed

When you send charitable dollars to a friend who does not have an Impact Account, they have 30 days from the date you sent the money to sign up for an account and claim the charitable dollars. If the charitable dollars you sent are not claimed within 30 days, the gift amount is returned to your Impact Account.

A charity’s charitable status has changed

If the Canada Revenue Agency updates a charity’s charitable status and they are no longer eligible to receive donations, Charitable Impact won’t be able to send money to that charity. If this happens, your gift to the charity is returned to your Impact Account. If you’ve set up monthly gifts to be sent to the charity from your Impact Account, the monthly gifts are cancelled and are no longer sent to the charity each month.

A Giving Group that you’ve given to has closed

A Giving Group might be closed if the group has completed their fundraising efforts and is no longer accepting gifts, or if the group has become inactive. In these cases, gifts you send to the group will be returned to your Impact Account. If you’ve set up monthly gifts to be sent to the group from your Impact Account, the monthly gifts are cancelled and are no longer sent to the group each month.