Is this article for you? It covers information for donors giving through Give Lively pages/forms.
Is this article for you? It covers information for individual/team fundraisers who collect donations on behalf of Give Lively member nonprofits.
Is this article for you? It addresses donating through Charity Navigator’s Giving Basket.
Is this article for you? It addresses donating through Charity Navigator’s Giving Basket.
Is this article for you? It covers information for nonprofits learning about Give Lively.

How do I apply for Give Lively membership?

The Give Lively membership application process can be completed in four easy steps. You will only need a few minutes, provided you have a few essential details right at hand. 

To set you up for success, this page contains important information about the process. Please read it carefully so that you can make easy progress toward leveraging our powerful, practical and free fundraising software, including unlimited access to smart digital fundraising pages, peer- and event-based campaigns, the power of text-to-donate, mobile-first payment methods and much more.

Unsure about membership? Here's why you should sign up to become a Give Lively member.

Before you begin

This is the full application process. You are on step one in the APPLY phase, which is fully explained below.

IMPORTANT: Give Lively nonprofit membership is only open to U.S. nonprofits that are public charities (not private foundations) with 501(c)(3) status.

If that is the case, keep the following in mind:

Apply early.

We manually screen all applications. Although filling out the application is a quick process, the usual review period is 7-10 business days from the moment you connect your Stripe account to Give Lively (more about this below). 

Is your timeframe tighter than that? Complete your application and then, in the appropriate section, let us know if you’re facing a time crunch. 

Our values are a central membership pillar. 

One reason for manually reviewing all applications is to ensure alignment with our value statements, because our commitment to nonprofits goes beyond buttressing fundraising efforts.

We check that all of our members will not use our platform or products to:

  • discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation or military status in any activities, programs or operations;
  • advocate against or deny the rights of women;
  • advocate against or deny the rights or existence of anyone on the basis of their sex, gender, gender expression or sexual orientation, including transgender and gender nonconforming people;
  • advocate against or deny the rights of historically underrepresented groups, including Black, brown, AAPI and Indigenous people;
  • advocate against or deny environmental or social sustainability practices, especially with regard to renewable energy; land, water and air rights and use; and the growing climate emergency;
  • advocate for the sale, ownership and/or civilian use of assault weapons, weapons of war, high capacity magazines, automatic weapons or any mechanism that can convert a firearm into an automatic weapon; 
  • disseminate hate speech or dangerous speech, promote or incite violence online or offline.

Sign-up overview

Sign-up Step 1: Find Your Nonprofit

This part is easy. We ask you for existing donor account details (if you have one) and your 501(c)(3) nonprofit’s EIN so that it can be located in the IRS databases we reference.

First, we provide the option to log in to an existing Give Lively account only if you already have Give Lively User Portal access – established after donating through Give Lively technology – and wish to associate that user account with your nonprofit’s membership application. For faster membership approval, the email address should match the nonprofit’s website; otherwise, be prepared to verify your association with the nonprofit. Note that the email address cannot already be on record as an admin user of another approved member nonprofit. You cannot use an email address for more than one nonprofit account.

Whether or not you log in to an existing account, you should have your nonprofit's EIN at the ready. This will be used to confirm your organization's information in the IRS databases we reference. Remember: Membership is only open to U.S. nonprofits that are public charities (not private foundations) with 501(c)(3) status and good standing with both the IRS and the California Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts.

Sign-up Step 2: Provide Your Contact Information

We ask you to tell us about the account holder: their role and work phone number.

If you already logged in to an existing account, it’s a quick process.

If you are creating a new account, the information we gather will be used when communicating with you about your application. If your application is approved, the email address and password will serve to establish your admin user account on Give Lively.

In both cases, you will only be able to log in to Give Lively’s Nonprofit Admin Portal if your application is approved. Once you log in, you can add additional admin users.

So that there isn’t any confusion, please collect the account details you will need of the person who will oversee the Give Lively account. Note that, for faster approval, the email address for a new account should be associated with the nonprofit’s website; otherwise, be prepared to verify the account holder's association with the nonprofit.

Sign-up Step 3: Tell Us About Your Organization

We ask you to tell us about your organization: your online fundraising goal for the next 12 months, the Give Lively product you are most interested in and how you heard about us. 

The dropdown options in each question allow you to breeze through this step.

Keep in mind that by clicking the NEXT button here, two things happen:

  1. You agree to Give Lively’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Master Service Agreement. Please take time to review them in advance.
  2. An email is automatically sent to the email address you shared in the previous step. The subject of this email is Give Lively: Connect with Stripe and the email contains the same information and actions outlined in the next step (step 4). This is done in case you are not ready or able to connect with Stripe right away.

Sign-up Step 4: Connect a Stripe Account

We ask you to connect a Stripe account to Give Lively. If you have a Stripe account, you will need to log in and connect it. If you do not have a Stripe account, you will need to create one – Stripe can sometimes take a few days to complete this action – and connect it. 

We use Stripe to securely manage financial transactions between you, your donors and your bank. Without a Stripe account, you will not be able to receive donations, so we don’t review applications until a Stripe account has been identified and connected to us. Learn more about Stripe and why it is necessary to connect with Give Lively.

If you are unable to connect with Stripe right away, we’ve automatically sent an email to the email address you shared in the previous step. The subject of this email is ‘Give Lively: Connect with Stripe’ and the email contains the same information and actions outlined in this next step. Use it when you are ready. Learn more from Stripe about creating and connecting a Stripe account.

It is upon completion of this step – once your activated Stripe account has been connected to Give Lively – that our 7- to 10-business day application review period begins.

Also note: At the end of this step, if you have an event or fundraiser launching within 7-10 days, you can provide details that will help us consider your request for an expedited application.

That’s it! We look forward to supporting you and the incredible work you do.

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