SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- PipeVine, a major backend processor of online donations and workplace giving campaigns ceased operations this week amid questions about its financial practices and accounting procedures.

We want to share with our community the standards and practices Groundspring adheres to in the management of funds donated to Groundspring.org on behalf of our nonprofit DonateNow users. As Groundspring Executive Director Dan Geiger said, "Not only do we have a solemn pledge to our users that we will never use monies collected on their behalf to cover our operating expenses, but we have very clear policies and procedures that ensure this can't happen."

It may be helpful to understand several things about Groundspring's financial strategy, operations and accounting practices:

• All donations collected online via DonateNow are kept in organization-specific funds, and are strictly segregated from Groundspring's operations fund. Donations received are distributed to DonateNow nonprofit users on a monthly basis.
• Nonprofit DonateNow users are notified via email about each online donation made on their behalf. DonateNow users can also download their donation history on demand, and receive a monthly accounting of all donations with their checks.
• Groundspring is a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization that is striving to build a financially sustainable enterprise by charging reasonable fees for the services we provide. Our sustainability will increase as we increase the number of users of our systems.
• To assist us in building our sustainability plan, we are fortunate to enjoy strong support from the foundation community. At this time, our operations expenses are significantly subsidized by support from major national foundations such as Carnegie Corporation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Ford Foundation, Omidyar Foundation, and Surdna Foundation.
• Our financial statements are audited annually by the firm of Fontanello, Duffield & Otake, LLP. Audits are available upon request.
• The Tides Foundation also provides general financial oversight, including monthly reviews of our bank reconciliation, and advice on procedures and controls. Groundspring.org is a member of the Tides Family of Organizations, which has a history of rigorous adherence to the highest standards of accounting and financial management practices. See www.tides.org.
• Groundspring has a healthy balance in our operations fund accounts, and is securing increasing support from the foundation community in light of our recent acquisition of ebase from TechRocks, Inc. and other planned developments. We do not anticipate any operational funds shortfall, and in fact have been expanding our operations infrastructure to accommodate recent acquisitions and new projects.

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