חיChaiRaiser

Straight answers

What ChaiRaiser does, what it never does, and how the honesty is built in.

Does ChaiRaiser collect or hold donations?

No. Campaigns run in pledge mode: a donation is recorded as a commitment, and your organization collects it on its own rails — check, Zelle, charity cards, or whatever you already use. ChaiRaiser never touches, routes, or holds the money, and no fee is taken from it.

What does "as recorded by the organization" mean on totals?

Exactly what it says. Pledged means someone committed; received means your office marked it received. We never claim bank-verified amounts, because we never see your bank.

How do the prize games stay kosher — legally and hashkafically?

Every game runs as a sweepstakes with a real free entry path at the same odds — no donation is necessary to enter or win, stated at every ask. Outcomes are decided server-side and sealed before you play: a commitment hash is published first, and after settling, the seed is revealed so anyone can recheck every result. Donation first, win second — the game is a thank-you, never the product.

What is the free entry (AMOE) and is it really equal?

Anyone may enter free from every campaign page, receiving the maximum entry tier into the same numbered sequence at the same odds as any donor. It is one grant per person per day, and it is not a lesser entry in any way.

What is the War Room?

Your phone room, live: paste a call list, hand each caller a link (the link is their whole login), and claim-next locks each name so two callers can never hit the same donor. The desk types "Reb Shmuel, $500" and it is on the hall screen and in your ledger instantly.

How does the Pledge Ledger help us actually collect?

Every commitment becomes a tracked receivable with due dates, an at-risk queue, expected-cash-by-month, and gratitude-first reminders in a rabbinic register — never "past due", never "invoice". Disciplined follow-up is where recovered money comes from.

What happens with OJC, Donors’ Fund, Matbia, or Pledger gifts?

Gifts recorded on those rails are receipted by the donor’s own fund — so ChaiRaiser issues a thank-you acknowledgment instead of a tax receipt, and nobody can double-deduct. Direct gifts get standard IRS-aligned acknowledgment letters. Review everything with your own CPA — we prepare documents; we are not tax advisors.

Can our gvir see his match working?

Yes. Match terms are signed into a one-page agreement; the public match description is generated from exactly those signed terms; and the matcher gets a private live portal — "your $50,000 has unlocked $137,000 from 288 donors" — plus a framed-worthy impact statement afterward.

Who owns our donor data?

You do. The Donor Book fills itself from your campaigns, and one click exports everything — CSV and JSON — any time, no gates. Records merge only when a human confirms a suggested match; nothing is ever merged silently.

What does ChaiRaiser cost?

Starting a campaign is free, and because the platform never touches your money, there is no percentage taken from it.

Is there an app?

ChaiRaiser installs from the browser on any phone (Add to Home Screen). An Android APK for sideloading on filtered devices is part of the platform roadmap and ships from this site — no app store required.

Who is behind ChaiRaiser?

ChaiRaiser is powered by KolBo, built for the frum community’s real fundraising workflows — the paper, the phone rooms, the funds, and the kavod.