The Builders is SAY Detroit's only giving club, representing our donors who commit to giving throughout the year on a recurring basis. Contributions are made automatically via a credit card or bank account (through a debit card.)
Any donor who makes a recurring donation to SAY Detroit is enrolled into The Builders and receives its benefits. You can learn more about the benefits here.
Immediately after completing a donation form, you will receive two initial emails confirming that 1) a monthly donation schedule has been created and 2) your first donation in that schedule has been made. This is explained below. You will receive a short tax receipt by email each time your card is charged, and an annual tax receipt for your records.
Within the first week, you will be welcomed to The Builders, and then receive special emails and newsletters throughout the year. Please see below if you'd like to change your communication preferences.
When you sign up to become a member of The Builders, you will receive two emails from our payment processor — but rest assured, your card has only been charged once. The two emails are:
We recognize that the emails are nearly identical, but it is an unfortunate limitation of our current software that the confirmations are triggered by both a recurring donation schedule and a recurring donation payment. Thank you for your patience as we work with our processor to improve it.
Monthly, quarterly, and annual giving provide a steady stream of revenue throughout the year to support SAY Detroit's important programs at the SAY Detroit Play Center, the SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic, Mi-Cycle, and so much more. Recurring giving helps SAY Detroit develop program budgets, determine fundraising goals, and provide a continuity of care that program participants — families and children in need — can depend on.
You can update your information by calling our office at 313-826-0111, which is primarily a voicemail line. However, leave a message and someone from our Development team will call you back. You can also send us an email at info@saydetroit.org.
After each recurring gift transaction (charged to your credit or debit card), you will receive an email acknowledgment summarizing the details of your gift. Also, in February, you will receive another email totaling all donations within the previous 12 months.
We understand that financial situations can change at any moment. You can increase, decrease, pause, or cancel your recurring gift by contacting our office at 313-826-0111 or info@saydetroit.org.
Your recurring monthly gift to The Builders will be charged on or around the date you originally signed up to donate. For example, if you signed up to give on September 1, your next donation will be charged to your card/bank account on or around October 1.
All recurring donations go to the SAY Detroit General Fund. The SAY Detroit General Fund allocates the money to the programs needing additional funds.
If a payment doesn't process due to a card failure at any point during your recurring giving schedule, a member of our team will reach out to you. We will try to connect twice, once via phone and once via email. If we are unable to connect, we will retire your recurring schedule with SAY Detroit and send you a letter with this information.
In the “giving world” we throw around a lot of “lingo.” Here are some definitions:
Acknowledgement: A tax receipt / thank you message outlining your gift
Credit card failure: When we are unable to process your credit card and fulfill your gift schedule. Failure can be due to a new card (with a new number and expiration date), insufficient funds, etc.
Development: Our fundraising team
Recurring donation / recurring gift: Any gift that automatically renews via a credit card or bank account (via debit card) on a monthly basis
Recurring donation payment: Each individual donation in the schedule
Recurring donation schedule: The timing/sequence you choose to make a recurring gift to SAY Detroit — i.e. monthly. This grants SAY Detroit — and our payment processor — permission to charge your card on a recurring basis, like a subscription.