The ALODN helps donors find resources for financial support, but now we also have a service to help donors’ recipients provide financial support to their donors without having to worry about all the details.
An ESCROW ACCOUNT is a holding account for administrative purposes. The recipient puts money in the account and ALODF staff distributes the money to the recipient’s donor as needed for legitimate donation related expenses — so travel, lodging, and even lost wages if the recipient can afford to help with those.
The escrow account is a way for recipients to cover donor’s expenses without having to worry about verifying that each and every expense is legally legitimate. The ALODF does that for the recipient. We also try to find cheap or free flights and reduced or free lodging options.
As an option, recipients and donors can also choose to have the ALODF do an online funding campaign where the moneys collected go into the escrow account.
This service requires a $250 payment to the ALODF as a service fee. The $250 pays for banking fees and for the bookkeeper/accountant who helps us with the escrow accounts.
Once the account is set up, recipients can put in as much or as little as they like, but the point is to cover their donors’ donation related expenses so something has to go into that account. It could be a small amount like $500 just to get the account started while ALODF staff starts to look into travel, lodging, and the donor’s lost wages situation. Some donors have disability benefits, so inquires have to be made as to when such benefits kick in and what percentage of a donor’s lost wages are covered. Also, sometimes a donor’s employer can be convinced to pay some lost wages because of the donor’s good deed. Whatever the employment and leave situation, ALODF staff will look into it and help make sure the recipient knows how much it is legal to pay the donor to compensate for lost wages and then pay those lost wages through the escrow account if the recipient can afford to do so.
In each case, how much recipients want to contribute to cover their donors’ donation related expenses is totally up to recipients. Also arrangements can be made to have ALODF staff discuss every draw on the escrow account with the recipient or only certain ones. The details of how the funds are used is totally up to recipients since it is their money as long as the disbursements being considered do no violate the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA). ALODF staff will work closely with recipients who start escrow accounts to make sure their instructions are followed.
Our goal is to make the donation process as financially stress free for both donors and their recipients.
Contact sigrid@ethical-solutions.org