Donation, Refund & Disbursement Policy

Every gift is made to Hariom Helps Foundation, a US 501(c)(3) public charity. When you designate a student or school, we treat that as a preference we honour wherever practicable. To keep gifts tax-deductible, the foundation retains final discretion and control over all funds, as US charity rules require.

• Your gift amount — 100% of this reaches the designated student's or school's fee account.
• An admin fee, shown before you confirm, which covers verification, disbursement, and operating costs.
• The payment processor's fee, itemised transparently rather than deducted silently from the gift.

The total is displayed on the donate page before checkout and repeated on your receipt.

A sequential receipt is issued automatically to the email you provide and is available in your donor dashboard. It records the date, amount, designation, and a statement of goods or services received (normally none). We are not able to give tax advice — check deductibility with your own adviser, and note that gifts from outside the US may not be deductible locally.

Refunds are returned to the original payment method, usually within 5–10 business days depending on your bank. A refunded donation voids the associated tax receipt. If a payment was clearly made in error, duplicated, or unauthorised, contact hello@hariomhelps.com — we review those cases regardless of the window.

Monthly gifts are charged on the same day each month until you cancel. Cancel any time from your dashboard; cancellation stops future charges and does not refund past ones, except within the 24-hour window for the most recent charge. Renewals are allocated to the general fund unless stated otherwise, and each renewal generates its own receipt. Failed payments are retried and we notify you by email.

A student's request stays open until the goal is met. If you cover part of it, the remainder is visible to other donors and may be matched from the general fund where funds allow. Nothing is disbursed until the request is ready to be paid to the school.

• Funds are paid directly to the verified school's bursar or fee account. We never pay cash to a student.
• Every payout is accompanied by proof of payment that donors can view.
• Schools must confirm receipt and application of the funds to the named student's account.

If a student withdraws a request after receiving partial funding, we start a refund process. Where funds have not yet been sent, we refund donors who are inside the window and otherwise reallocate. Where funds have already reached the school, the student remains responsible for cooperating until the school returns the unused amount; recovered funds are then refunded or reallocated. The same applies if a student leaves the school after a disbursement.

Where a designation can no longer be honoured — the student is fully funded elsewhere, withdraws, becomes unreachable, or fails verification — and you are outside the refund window, the foundation reallocates the gift to another verified student in line or to the general scholarship fund. All refunds and reallocations are recorded in an internal report reviewed by the foundation's administrators.

You may hide your name from public funder lists at checkout. Your name still appears on your own receipt and in our internal records for tax and audit purposes. We do not sell, rent, or trade donor lists.

You do not need an account to give to the general fund. Donating to a specific named student requires a signed-in, verified donor account — this protects students from targeted or inappropriate contact. General-fund gifts also underwrite challenge prizes and match partially funded students.

Email hello@hariomhelps.com or read the FAQ. Privacy handling of donor records is described in the Privacy Policy.