Is the Janus Charity Challenge still a part of the Ironman race series?
How much does it cost to register for the Janus Charity Challenge?
How can I participate in the Janus Charity Challenge program?
What are the fundraising minimums?
What are the requirements for selecting a charity?
What is a 501(c)(3) IRS tax determination letter and why does Janus need it?
Why is my international charity not eligible for the program?
Do I have to use the Janus Charity Challenge Blackbaud web system for my fundraising?
I’m having technical problems setting up my website. How can I get help?
I don’t have the contact information for my charity. Can I use my name, address, phone and email for my charity during the registration process?
Why are fees taken out of online donations?
What are the fees taken out of online donations?
Is my full contribution tax deductible?
I need to make a change to my fundraising site (update copy, modify an offline contribution, change the design). How do I do this?
How do I manage my offline donations?
My name is not showing up in the januscharitychallenge.com search. What should I do?
When will my charity receive the funds from my online fundraising?
If I am collecting checks, who should they be made out to?
How often should I send my offline contributions to my charity?
Should I bring my donation checks with me to the race to complete my registration?
One of my donors made their check payable to the Janus Charity Challenge. Is this okay?
May I still fundraise for my charity on Blackbaud after the race?
How are matching gifts handled?
Is the Janus Charity Challenge still a part of the Ironman race series? Unfortunately, no. Janus' sponsorship of Ironman ended in 2010. However, we are very excited to offer this program through the renowned Life Time Race to the Toyota Cup Triathlon Series.
How much does it cost to join the Janus Charity Challenge? Nothing! There is no fee to participate in the program.
How can I participate in the Janus Charity Challenge program? All athletes who are registered in one of our participating races in 2012, including the Life Time Minneapolis Triathlon, Life Time Chicago Triathlon, Herbalife Los Angeles Triathlon and Toyota US Open in Dallas, TX, are eligible to participate in the Janus Charily challenge as long as:
1. They are already registered in the race itself;
2. They are not employed by their charity;
3. The charity has 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
What are the fundraising minimums? There are no fundraising minimums to participate.
What are the requirements for selecting a charity? Your charity must hold 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS, and your charity must approve that you are fundraising on its behalf.
What is a 501(c)3 IRS tax determination letter and why does Janus need it? The Internal Revenue Service provides this letter to your charity at the time they are given tax-exempt status. The letter verifies that they are legally recognized as a charity and contributions are considered tax deductible.
Why is my international charity not eligible for the program? The IRS does not recognize international charities as 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations and, therefore, we are not able to make international contributions.
Do I have to use the Janus Charity Challenge Blackbaud web system for my fundraising? Although you must register using our system, you do not have to raise funds through this online technology. But you MUST record all donations from any source, including cash and checks you receive, on your Blackbaud Participant Headquarters site in order for these funds to count in the program.
I’m having technical problems setting up my website. How can I get help?
Please contact januscharitychallenge@janus.com.
I don’t have the contact information for my charity. Can I use my name, address, phone and email for my charity during the registration process? NO- if you enter your personal information as your charity information, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE AN ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTION FROM JANUS AND IT WILL DELAY RECEIPT OF ONLINE FUNDS RAISED BY YOUR CHARITY.
Why are fees taken out of online donations? Our web service provider, Blackbaud, must cover their costs for operating the site and processing payments (which includes paying the credit card company fees).
What are the fees taken out of online donations? Blackbaud will withhold $1.76 per transaction for processing plus 2.59% in credit card processing fees from all donations made online.
Is my full contribution tax deductible? We use a third party administrator, Blackbaud, as our fundraising website partner. The transaction and processing fees that are taken out of online contributions is not considered tax deductible. However, Blackbaud was chosen as a partner as they have some of the lowest fees in the industry.
I need to make a change to my fundraising site (update copy, modify an offline contribution, change the design). How do I do this? You have the ability to make all these changes from your personal website. Simply log into your Participant Headquarters to make any necessary changes.
How do I manage my offline donations? Once you log in to your Participant Headquarters, under My To Do List on the right hand side of the page, click on "Enter Offline Donations". From here, click on "Enter Pledge" and record your donation. These offline donations will be listed as pledges. The system will keep these donations listed as pledges and they will not show up on your fundraising total until Janus staff access the system and marks these as paid. We will do this on a weekly basis.
My name is not showing up in the januscharitychallenge.com search. What should I do? It takes up to 72 hours for athlete names to be added to the search function. If your name is not showing after this time, be sure that you have entered all of your information properly when you registered. If you have not completed all of the required fields, your name may not show up in the search. If this has been done, email januscharitychallenge@janus.com and detail your problem. Someone will follow up with you as soon as possible.
When will my charity receive the funds from my online fundraising? One check, from Blackbaud, will be sent to your charity within 3-4 weeks following the race. Janus’ additional contributions will be announced following the completion of the verification process and sent to the charity.
If I am collecting checks, who should they be made out to? All checks should be made out and sent directly to your charity.
How often should I send my offline contributions to my charity? This is something that you should determine with your charity. It is always best to get the money to your charity as soon as you receive it so there is never any confusion about the handling of funds. Both you and your charity should make sure you track these contributions to aid in the verification process.
Should I bring my donation checks with me to the race? No. All checks should be sent directly to your charity. No money is ever collected by Janus.
One of my donors made their check payable to the Janus Charity Challenge. Is this okay? No. All checks must be made out directly to your charity. If a check was erroneously made payable to the Janus Charity Challenge, a new check must be issued.
May I still fundraise for my charity on Blackbaud after the race? People may donate money to your charity through your site for up to 7 days following your race. At that time, Blackbaud will close the JCC website and no additional contributions will be accepted. Please note that your name will no longer appear on the Janus Charity Challenge website following your race so you must direct your donors to the address of your personal web page in order for them to make a contribution. A reminder: Any donations made after the close of the Race Expo the day before your race do not count toward the final Janus fundraising results.
How are matching gifts handled? All funds must be received by your charity within 7 days following the race, even funds being received via a matching gift program. Because all online donations are held by Blackbaud until approximately two weeks following the race, it is impossible for companies to account for these donations in their matching gifts programs within the necessary time frame. Therefore the best way to have any donations matched is by having these contributions made by check and sent directly to your charity. There are many different matching gift administration processes, and any forms needed by a company to make a match must be sent directly to your charity, not to the Janus Charity Challenge. If your company is able to submit the matching gift payment to the charity within two weeks following the race, this can be included in your fundraising total and should be entered into your Blackbaud Participant Headquarters as an offline donation.
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