ChangingThePresent.org is the website of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Important Gifts. Our EIN is 38 3729086. Our tax letter is here. You can find more information on the About page of this website.

All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. Please check with your tax professional for details. We email receipts for all orders, and you can also print out a receipt during checkout. If you sign up for a free username and password, then you can also view your order history and print receipts at any time. Please note that the purchase of greeting cards are not tax-deductible.

ChangingThePresent.org makes it easy to keep track of your donations. We will email you a receipt with a detailed breakdown of your donations and greeting card purchases. If you join the site, then you can also see your order history and receipts at any time.

Visitors to ChangingThePresent.org make donations to ImportantGifts, Inc., a nonprofit organization qualified by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity. Donors may recommend that ImportantGifts grant that money to a specific nonprofit organization or school listed on the website. If ImportantGifts is unable to fulfill that request for any reason (for instance, if it discovers that the organization has lost its nonprofit status), it will ask the donor to choose an alternative nonprofit.

ChangingThePresent.org passes the entire donation through to the nonprofits, less only a standard credit card transaction fee of 2.4% and 30 cents (this is about the same fee nonprofits pay when you make a donation directly on their website) and less a 5% transaction fee to help cover the cost of providing this website and service. That 5% is far less than most nonprofits spend on fundraising.

We fund the nonprofits and schools directly to their bank accounts via ACH.

In the case of donations to teachers, we create an account for them and charge that account for the retail cost of the resources they request from us from any of dozens of vendors. Those items are officially deemed to be donations to the schools, earmarked for that specific teacher's use.

We distribute grants at the end of the month following the month of donation. This distribution is subject to delays for such reasons as credit card company holds or charge-backs.

All nonprofits displaying charitable gifts on ChangingThePresent must agree to the following:

1. All donation gifts must be goods or services or costs that are currently part of the nonprofit’s programs, and that it intends to continue.
2. If a nonprofit ceases to provide the goods or services or otherwise knows that it cannot spend in that way at least as much as it raises from the web site, it must deactivate the item.
3. The description and photo must accurately reflect what the nonprofit is currently doing.
4. The price must reflect the cost of providing that good or service, including the Transaction Fee of three percent (3%) of the amount of the donation, plus thirty cents (30¢), but not unallocated general overhead.
5. Participating nonprofits will endeavor to use donations they receive from ImportantGifts/ChangingThePresent.org in accordance with the directions of the donors. They may use those website donations to provide additional goods and services. Since we do not seek to control how they spend other funds, they may shift that amount of other funds from these uses to others. For instance, if a nonprofit planned on spending $100,000 for books for children and raises $10,000 through this website for that purpose, it may elect to spend $110,000 for books or shift up to $10,000 of funds that it would have used for that purpose to other uses. We want to avoid a situation wherein nonprofits spend less in total for a good or service than they raise for that purpose through the website. Of course, we recognize that needs change, so if, for instance, polio is eliminated, we do not insist that a nonprofit spends the money on vaccines that are no longer required. We also realize that there is sometimes a lag between the time of donations and the time the money can be spent.

Yes. Just send a note to bulk [AT] ChangingThePresent [DOT] org, and we will take care of you.

Yes, we do. Gift cards are tax-deductible, and they let the recipient choose their own charitable gift(s) on this website.

If you would like to buy gift certificates in bulk (they make a great corporate gift), please contact us at bulk [AT] ChangingThePresent [DOT] org.

When you make a donation in a friend's name, you can order a beautiful, personalized paper greeting card to make it feel like a truly memorable gift.

The cards are 5 x 7 inches and cost $2.95. Postage is 49 cents.  

For the cover of the card, you may select a photograph and write a caption. The inside of the card will display a photograph and description of the charitable gift and your personal message. Greeting cards do not state the amount of the donation.

The card comes in a quality envelope. Your name and address appear as the return address. That and the recipient name & address are printed on the front (no impersonal mailing labels). The envelope will have a first class stamp (no impersonal postage meters).

We can send greeting cards directly to the person's in whose name you donated, or you can opt to have the card sent to your own address, to pass along to your friend or loved one.

Yes. Our greeting cards and envelopes contain at least 30% post-consumer recycled fibers. They are completely biodegradable and recyclable, and they are elemental chlorine-free.

Not yet, but we will soon.

Your donation is tax-deductible, but the cards are a purchase, and so they are not deductible.

Greeting cards ordered by 5pm Saturday are mailed out on the following Monay. Please allow additional time for delivery by the U.S. Postal Service. We will soon increase the frequency of printing.

No. We do not show your friend the amount.

We and our Board of Advisors went through a lengthy nomination, review and selection process to find the first 400 outstanding nonprofits in each cause category.

Nonprofits were chosen based on the following criteria:

-A clear mission, vision, and sustainability strategy;

- A replicable model that could effect systemic change;

- Measurable goals and outcomes consistent with their mission;

- Transparency and a commitment to accountability to stakeholders;

- 501(c)(3) status (or equivalent, for international organizations);

- A mix of international institutions or programs, along with U.S.-based ones;

- A mix of large and well known organizations with others that are smaller or less well known; and

- A balanced approach to issues, geographical ranges, and goods or services provided.

We then heard from many nonprofits, asking to be added, and from many donors, who said they wanted to support their favorite nonprofits. We are therefore inviting all 501(c)(3) nonprofits. For information, please see https://changingthepresent.org/pages/for-nonprofits

To sign up as a nonprofit, please email nonprofits [AT] ChangingThePresent [DOT] org

You can donate to support any 501(c)(3) nonprofit and send a greeting card to give it as a gift. You can also add any nonprofit to your wish list. See https://changingthepresent.org/collections/support-any-favorite-nonprofit-school-or-teacher

You can donate to support any school or teacher in the United States. Please see https://changingthepresent.org/pages/help-schools-and-teachers

You can also add them to your wish list or registry.

Yes, we do.

No. We do not identify the honoree to the nonprofit.

If you receive an error during checkout, please make sure that the address, security code, name, and credit card number are typed correctly.  

Yes, we send email receipts for all donations and greeting card orders. If you do not receive email confirmation soon after placing your order, please check your email's spam (junk mail) folder. To prevent receipts from ChangingThePresent.org appearing in your spam folder, please add changingthepresent.org to your list of safe email addresses.

If you receive an error after submitting your order, and you do not receive an email receipt soon after you placed the order, please contact us at Support [AT] ChangingThePresent [DOT] org to confirm that we received your order.

A Charitable Wedding Registry is similar to a traditional gift registry, except that the couple asks guests to fund specific donation gifts to specific nonprofits, schools, or teachers, instead of (or in addition to) purchasing towels, china, toasters, or other conventional gifts.

Yes. There is no charge for creating a Charitable Wedding Registry on ChangingThePresent.org.

You can browse gifts by cause or price range or search for specific nonprofits using the search box in the upper right hand corner of each page. When you reach a page with a donation gift or nonprofit that you would like to add to your registry, click on [Add to Wishlist to add it to your wedding registry.

Yes. Just contact us at weddings [AT] ChangingThePresent [DOT] org, and we will take good care of you.