Genesis exists because of people like you who care about and contribute to our mission to provide safety, shelter and support for women who have experienced domestic violence, and to raise awareness regarding its cause, prevalence and impact. We are immensely grateful to receive the generous support of our community year after year.

At Genesis, we share your commitment to the safety, shelter and support of the women and children we serve and strive for excellence in those services and in every aspect of our organization. In doing so, we adhere to best practices in fundraising and nonprofit management such as using encrypted platforms to accept online donations, conducting an annual independent audit, abiding with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles), and much more. To achieve our mission and continually expand our services, Genesis explores every funding opportunity possible – this allows us to provide continual, no-cost services to domestic violence survivors and keep the doors open 24/7!

There are some types of fundraising we do not do though, like going door-to-door asking for donations. We also do not conduct telethons or call/text people at random asking for money. In other words, if a request for donation seems like an odd thing coming from Genesis, it likely is. With so many humanitarian causes and critical needs in our world, making a donation might get confusing and we must be alert to scams. While we are not aware of any specific scams related to Genesis fundraising, we do know that these types of activities exist and persist around the world.

Knowing this and for the good of our community we wanted to share some of the recent fundraising scam tactics that we’ve learned about, such as:

  • Emails requesting bank account information or a wire transfer
  • Crowd funding pages for causes and charities you are not connected to or familiar with
  • Suspicious websites, links and redirects to other pages or websites when attempting to make an online donation
  • Donation requests from strangers either at your home or in a public place
  • Messages from fake/suspicious email addresses or social media accounts
  • Spam calls/texts asking for money of any kind

You might also check out the helpful advice from the FBI on avoiding fundraising scams and vetting charities: https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/charity-and-disaster-fraud

All that is to say, when you give to Genesis we safeguard your information, your donation and your privacy. The safety of our donors is as critical to us as the safety of our clients. Here are just a few of the ways that Genesis ensures you can give safe and stay safe:

  • Genesis contracts with specific vendors that we have fully vetted as qualified to safely accept and process online donations. You can link to Genesis donation pages directly at https://www.genesisshelter.org/donate/
  • All email addresses from Genesis staff use our website domain: @genesisshelter.org. For example, my email address is: mmacmullin@genesisshelter.org. Even if an email claims to be from Genesis if it doesn’t have an email address using the genesisshelter.org domain, it is not from Genesis. It is best practice to never open or click on links from email senders you do not know.
  • Our official social media handles are available on our website. If you want to connect with Genesis on social media, use the icons at the bottom of our homepage to ensure you are linking with one of our official pages.
  • We maintain organizational profiles with agencies that have vetted our charitable status and performance such as GuideStar, Charity Navigator, and Excellence in Giving. These vehicles offer transparent information about Genesis leadership, financial reporting, and charitable status and are the industry standard information sources for charitable organizations.
  • Genesis is certified by the Center for Nonprofit Management in Dallas, Texas ensuring that we use valid procedures for data collection, analysis, and reporting, make data-driven decisions, continually improve our programs and engage stakeholders in our mission.

Genesis strives for the exceptional every day in every way with safety being our number one priority for everyone involved. And that includes you!

If you suspect fraudulent fundraising activity on behalf of any charity, you can report it to the FBI at https://www.fbi.gov/tips

You are welcome to contact Genesis to verify any request for donation from Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support by calling 214.389.7700 and ask to speak with a member of the Fund Development Team.

Written by Maria MacMullin, Senior Director of Major Gifts

Posted in Domestic Violence