Understand how Give Lively uses UTC for donation receipt times and dates

By default, Give Lively uses UTC to note the time and date of a completed donation. Donors' receipts will use either the default UTC timezone or the donor’s chosen timezone, if the donor has set a definitive timezone within the User Portal.

Notably, nonprofits also have the ability to set a definitive timezone in the basic information section of the Core Profile. This will affect all data in the Reports Portal. 

What is UTC?

UTC, which stands for Coordinated Universal Time, is used as the 24-hour time standard across the entire planet. UTC today is what people referred to as Greenwich Mean Time (or GMT) up until 1972, when GMT became the name of a time zone, not a time standard.

The local time anywhere on the planet can be calculated against UTC. For example, Eastern Standard Time (EST) in the U.S. is always UTC-5 (or UTC minus 5), meaning 16:00 UTC is 11:00am EST.

Why is this important?

In some cases, donors may have been attempting to complete donations before a tax deadline – such as before midnight on December 31. If the time and date are shown in UTC, the receipt may not immediately look like the deadline was met, but it is accurate in UTC and can be confirmed with a tax expert or accountant as a valid donation made within the timeframe of the donor’s actual location.

For example, a donor based in San Francisco who has not selected a preferred timezone and completes a donation at 7pm PST on December 31 will see it as having been completed at 03:00 UTC on January 1. That is not a mistake. Since PST is UTC-8, the UTC time is 8 hours later, or 3am. But the receipt, although it shows it in UTC, accurately reflects a donation time of 7pm on December 31 for a person located in Pacific Standard Time.

What will nonprofits see in the Reports Portal?

The following Line Items use UTC timezone as the default unless an address is specified by the IRS databases we reference; Give Lively member nonprofits may also set a definitive timezone in the basic information section of the Core Profile:

Line Items (All) on-screen report

• Order Date (timezone) — date and time of the order

Downloadable Line Items (All) CSV report

• Order Date (timezone) — date and time of the order
• Receipt Sent Date (timezone) — date the receipt was sent to the donor (or most recent receipt, if updates were made)
• Payment Platform Donation Date (timezone) — date the payment was captured by the payment processor (Stripe/PayPal)
• Dispute Date (timezone) — time that a dispute was initiated by the donor, if applicable
• Transfer Date (timezone) — date the Stripe transfer succeeded (or most recent transfer, if updates were made; Giving Basket only)
• Check Sent Date (timezone) — date the disbursement check was mailed (or most recent check, if a replacement is required; Giving Basket only)