Frequently Asked Questions

The purpose of this document is to revise the FAQs on CataCap, improving the presentation and text, and then combining both versions (group and investor) to improve the UX.

The revised FAQs will be a top nav menu item under About CataCap. And the FAQs page will be accordian-based, yet with a clear delineation between the two target audiences: Donors/ Investors and Groups/ Investees.

For Donors/Investors

Yes! Your donor advised fund (DAF) or foundation is already making investments. Most of it, estimated at 90%, sits in your DAF or foundation and is not being invested as aligned with values. Instead, it is invested in the general stock market – including weapons, oil and gas, fracking, cigarettes, and alcohol.

CataCap offers you the opportunity to recommend those funds into investments that make a meaningful difference in the areas you care about while still growing the charitable assets. The best part is that it’s as simple as making a grant from your DAF or family foundation, just like you do with any other grant. 

By channeling DAF or foundation grants into investments recommended through CataCap, you can combine financial returns with real social or environmental impact.

Well, first legally, it’s a tax-deductible donation that funds a charitable endowment. It’s then used to make impact investments for charitable and financial purposes that can come back to donor accounts to be reinvested or granted out over time.

According to Investopedia, impact investing “involves making investments to help create beneficial social or environmental effects while also generating financial gains. The point of impact investing is to use money and investment capital for positive social results.”

CataCap provides a unique and accessible platform for donors to support impact investments, whether you’re using a donor advised fund (DAF), a foundation, or direct charitable contributions via a check, credit card, stock or bank transfer. While many DAF sponsors don’t allow impact investments at all, or require minimum investments of $25,000+, CataCap allows you to participate in impact investments with as little as $250. Regardless of the size of your donor account, this makes it easy for your donated capital to diversify into a customized portfolio of impact investments.

Impact investing through CataCap may generate returns that come back to your donor account to be reinvested into other ventures or granted out to a DAF or to other nonprofits, thereby creating a continuous cycle of impact.

Impact investing through CataCap offers unique benefits compared to a traditional donation to charity. The following reasons highlight why you might choose to invest in areas like clean technology instead of simply donating to a nonprofit organization: 

  • Long-Term Social and Environmental Impact: Impact investing allows your donation to fund businesses actively working on scalable solutions, such as clean technology, renewable energy, or waste reduction. These businesses generate measurable results while being financially sustainable, allowing your contribution to create long-term change.
  • Potential for Sustainable Returns: With a traditional donation, your funds are used once for immediate impact. In contrast, impact investing through CataCap generates returns that can be reinvested into other ventures and funds, or granted to other nonprofits, creating a continuous cycle of impact.
  • Support Innovation and Market Solutions: Impact investing allows you to support innovative companies working on cutting-edge solutions to global problems. These companies often address challenges in ways that traditional nonprofits may not, contributing to market-driven progress.
  • Diverse Impact Approaches: While donating to nonprofits helps fund programs, advocacy and awareness, impact investing targets practical, scalable solutions within the private sector. By balancing both approaches, you can address social and environmental issues in more ways.
  • Financial Returns for Continued Philanthropy: Through CataCap, financial returns from impact investments remain within the nonprofit framework of CataCap, allowing those funds to be reinvested into future causes. This allows your contributions to have a longer-lasting effect than a one-time donation.

In summary, impact investing through CataCap offers a more sustainable, long-term difference by funding businesses that tackle environmental and social challenges alongside the potential for ongoing financial returns that can be reinvested in future causes.

After you make an investment recommendation on CataCap, it is held until the fundraising goal for that specific investment is met. Once the goal is reached, the investment receives the aggregate funds from all participating donors on the platform, and your pending capital is shifted to an active status.

As a CataCap donor, you can monitor your recommendations and investments. As the investment generates returns, proceeds are credited back to your CataCap donor account so you can recommend reinvestment of the funds into new impact opportunities or direct them to charitable causes that align with what you care about. CataCap keeps you updated throughout the process so you can see the impact you are helping to make.

When you donate to make impact investments through CataCap, you gain several tax advantages:

  • Immediate Tax Deduction: By donating to CataCap, you receive an immediate tax deduction for the full amount of your contribution. This qualifies as a charitable donation under IRS rules, unlike direct investments in for-profit businesses and funds.
  • Tax-Free Growth: The capital you donate is invested in socially or environmentally impactful endeavors. Any returns on these investments flow back to CataCAP, growing tax-free. If you were investing directly, you would need to pay taxes on any gains or income.
  • No K-1s or Investment Documents: Unlike direct investments, which require tax reporting K-1 forms and investment documents, making a donation through CataCap eliminates the need, after the initial donation, for any ongoing tax reporting. Once you make the donation, and get your tax deduction, there are no further tax documents or implications to manage.
  • Reinvestment or Grants: The returns generated by the investments can be reinvested into other impact ventures or granted to charitable causes, continuing the philanthropic cycle. 

In short, investing through CataCap via a donation offers significant tax benefits, eliminates ongoing tax reporting, and allows capital in the charitable endowment to grow tax-free, all while supporting impactful businesses and charitable causes.

On CataCap, it is both possible and legal to recommend investments with a donation. Here’s how it works:

When you make a donation to CataCap, it qualifies as a tax-deductible charitable contribution. These funds are then managed by CataCap, which can use them to make impact investments that align with charitable purposes. The investment is made by CataCap, not by you personally, which ensures compliance with tax and charitable giving laws, as well as disconnects you from needing to be an accredited or qualified investor (since you are not the investor!).

The key difference is that the investment is aimed at advancing a social or environmental cause, with any financial returns flowing back to CataCap, not directly to you. These returns can then be reinvested into additional impact projects or granted to other charitable organizations. This structure allows you to support impactful investments while continuing to grow charitable capital.

When you make a contribution to fund investments on CataCap, it qualifies as a tax-deductible donation because the funds are directed to a 501(c)(3) public charity. CataCap then uses these funds to make impact investments that fund environmental and social causes.

In short, you’re making a tax-deductible donation to a nonprofit, which then invests in funds and companies that align with philanthropic goals—providing both financial returns to the nonprofit and meaningful societal impact.

A donor advised fund (DAF) is a charitable giving vehicle that allows you to make a tax-deductible donation and recommend how those funds are distributed to qualified nonprofit organizations or impact investments. Essentially, it’s like having a personal foundation through which you can support causes while benefiting from an immediate tax deduction when you make the original donation to create the DAF.

When you use a DAF to fund your investments on CataCap, your contributions are held by CataCap on its nonprofit balance sheet or DAF, and you can recommend those funds into impact investments listed on the CataCap platform. This allows you to grow your charitable giving while making a tangible impact through innovative and purposeful investments.

Log in to your DAF provider, or have your foundation initiate a grant:

  • Request to make a grant to the Impactree Foundation (CataCap’s non profit host) in support of the CataCap project just like you would any other grant.
  • Include the Following Details:
    • Donation Recipient: Impactree Foundation
    • Project Name: CataCap – [Insert specific project name]
    • EIN: 86-2370923
    • Email: support@impactree.org
    • Address: 3749 Buchanan St Unit 475207, San Francisco, CA 94147

CataCap is a program of the Impactree Foundation, a 501(c)3 public charity, and qualifies as a tax-deductible donation. Donated funds are managed by the Impactree Foundation’s CataCap program to ensure compliance with tax and charitable giving laws.

The key difference is that, with CataCap, the investment is aimed at advancing social or environmental causes, with financial returns flowing back to the Impactree Foundation and to your CataCap donor account, not to you personally. These returns are reinvested into additional impact investments or granted to a DAF or other charitable organizations. 

This structure allows you to support impactful businesses while continuing to grow your charitable capital, all while maintaining the legal benefits of your donation.

In short, you’re making a tax-deductible donation to a nonprofit, which then invests in businesses and funds aligned with philanthropic goals—providing both financial returns to the charitable endowment and meaningful societal impact.

CataCap allows both direct donations and grants from foundations or DAFs. If you prefer to make a direct donation, you can contribute via credit card or bank transfer. A tax-deductible receipt will be provided for all direct donations. 

Alternatively, if you have a DAF or are working through a foundation, you can recommend grants to the Impactree Foundation to support specific investments. Both options give you flexibility in how you engage with CataCap’s projects, ensuring your contributions support ventures aligned with your charitable goals while providing the appropriate tax benefits.

The minimum donation or investment amount on CataCap is $250.00, allowing you to support impactful investments without the large minimums of private investment structure. By donating through CataCap, you can recommend your given amounts into a diverse portfolio of social and environmental impact ventures, making it easy for your charitable giving to fund impact investments.

Once you make a charitable donation to CataCap, you cannot take your money back personally. This is due to it qualifying as a tax-deductible donation (and you get that tax benefit at that time). However, any returns generated from the investments are credited back to your CataCap donor account and can be used to continue supporting impact-driven initiatives. You have the flexibility to recommend that these returns be invested into other investments, granted to any nonprofits in good standing or to a DAF, ensuring that the proceeds from your initial donation or grant continue to make a positive impact. While the initial donation or grant is irrevocable, you maintain input over how the returns are distributed, allowing your charitable goals to evolve as the investments grow.

CataCap aggregates lots of smaller donations and grants into one large pool of assets, providing a cost structure to donors as little as $250. CataCap passes these savings on to its community, providing access to capabilities typically reserved for large charitable vehicles making larger investments.

Here is the fee structure for donations and grants, charged as funds inflow to CataCap:

  • Credit Card Donations: A 4% processing fee applies to all credit card donations (this is charged by the processing company).
  • ACH Payments (or bank transfer): A 2.55% fee applies to ACH payments, with a cap of $25.
  • CataCap Fees: 1.25% per year (deducted for the first four years, equalling 5%) covers all costs.
  • These fees are deducted from your net CataCap donor account balance, but you still get the gross donation as the tax-deductible amount.

Please note that tax-deductible receipts are issued for credit card and ACH/bank transfers at the original donation amount, before any fees are deducted.

For Group Leaders

Groups are a community of donors brought together by a leader(s) or an advisor to pursue a portfolio of aligned investments. Groups can also be corporations and their employees. They can be thematic, geographic and/or relationship-based.

A Group Leader is a networked person or entity committed to champion a cause. The job of the Group Leader is to organize networks for collaboration and donations to fund a portfolio of impact investments.

Investments are actual companies or funds into which the donations can be invested. All Investments have designated people that are managing them. A Group Leader might be curating one Investment or many. They might be organizing a portfolio, for example, that is theme-based (focused on a cause like climate solutions) or place-based (like the Pacific Northwest).

Great question. The criteria is a willingness to gather people around an Investment portfolio at enough scale to fund the underlying Investments (generally CataCap seeks to deploy Investments of $50,000+ each).

No. We have corporations engaged with CataCap that coordinate portfolios into which their employees can participate. It allows them to do four positive things simultaneously:

  • To support philanthropic investments into important environmental and social causes
  • To grant their employees exposure to impact investing and a new type of engagement
  • To generate returns into the charitable endowment, thus extending the power donated capital
  • To qualify for a tax-deductible donation up front

Group leaders can also be other kinds of organizations with a purpose and a network of potential donors.

Accepting capital from charitable endowments offers unique advantages for impact companies and funds. Here are some of them:

  • Untapped capital: There is roughly $2 TRILLION in philanthropic capital in the US, almost all of which is not allocated to impact investments.
  • Patient, flexible capital: Since donors to DAFs or foundations receive a tax deduction, their focus shifts away from personal financial gain, allowing them to provide capital that prioritizes long-term execution and impact.
  • Higher risk tolerance: Charitable endowment should be willing to take on higher risks compared to traditional personal capital, as personal returns are already secured through tax benefits and the whole context has shifted to creating positive impact in the world.
  • Impact-first investments: Donated capital can be directed toward investment structures and terms that align with the values and causes donors care about, providing strong purpose-based financing that puts the impact it seeks to create first, even ahead of risk/return considerations.

Group Leaders are motivated to create positive impact by aligning capital with a particular purpose. Ideal Group Leaders are individuals and entities with strong networks of potential donors or grantors and a thoughtful, experienced POV.

We do! Check out Empower Her, doing fabulous work to support female-led impact businesses.

Yes! The CataCap team will provide support to you through best practices and tools.

CataCap has a simple form to engage as a Group Leader. Thanks for your interest!

For Investments

An Investment on CataCap is any fund or company willing to accept an impact investment sourced from donors. It can have any focus, yet frequently targets some combination of the overarching themes of climate solutions, racial equity, gender equality and/or poverty alleviation.

Donated capital is contributed to a nonprofit, foundation or donor advised fund (DAF) for philanthropic purposes. These funds can then be used for impact investments. Unlike regular angel, VC, or friends and family investors, primarily motivated by financial returns, donated capital may operate from different motivations:

  • Tax deduction or grant benefit: The individuals or organizations donating capital (via foundations or DAFs or personally) receive an immediate tax deduction or grant credit. As a result, they may not be focused on maximizing risk adjusted financial returns, but rather on creating social or environmental impact.
  • Untapped capital: There is roughly $2 TRILLION in philanthropic capital in the US, almost all of which is not allocated to impact investments.
  • Patient, flexible capital: Since donors to DAFs or foundations receive a tax deduction, their focus shifts away from personal financial gain, allowing them to provide capital that prioritizes long-term execution and impact.
  • Higher risk tolerance: Charitable endowment should be willing to take on higher risks compared to traditional personal capital, as personal returns are already secured through tax benefits and the whole context has shifted to creating positive impact in the world.
  • Impact-first investments: Donated capital can be directed toward investment structures and terms that align with the values and causes donors care about, providing strong purpose-based financing that puts the impact it seeks to create first, even ahead of risk/return considerations.

Donated capital works well for investments that create a clear environmental or social impact, where financial returns are expected, yet with the focus of generating positive change. Examples of impact investments that align with donated capital include:

  • Female-led ventures
  • Climate technology companies
  • Companies led by members of the LGBTQ community
  • Businesses benefiting underserved communities
  • Waste reduction and circular economy technologies

The investment terms of CataCap Investments are generally aligned with the terms of any ongoing investment structure, consistent with other investors participating. Key factors include:

  • Type of Investment: CataCap can invest through various structures such as private equity, private debt, venture capital (including convertible notes and SAFEs), loans (or even revenue rights contracts), and more.
  • Time horizon: CataCap and its donors may have a longer time horizon than some other investors, as they are more focused on sustainable impact rather than quick exits.
  • Expected return: While a financial return is expected, donors tend to be more flexible compared to traditional investors. The primary focus is on social or environmental impact.
  • Impact metrics: Donors will be most interested in ventures that have clear, measurable social or environmental outcomes. Impact metrics can be defined as part of the terms and/or reported upon over time.

CataCap simplifies the process of managing multiple small investments by accumulating all donations into a single investment. Rather than having numerous individual investors on your cap table, CataCap consolidates the funds and makes a single investment into your company or fund as an accredited, institutional investor. This means that only one name—representing all the investment recommendations—will appear on the cap table or as a loan.

This structure provides several benefits:

  • Streamlined Process: You don’t have to manage multiple small investments or deal with a large number of Investors.
  • Compliance: It helps avoid complications with unaccredited investors and simplifies legal and regulatory issues.
  • Qualified Investors: The single entity that appears on your cap table is a qualified investor, making the process much easier to manage, while still giving you access to significant capital from a diverse range of philanthropic sources.

CataCap is particularly effective in gathering funding from the following types of investors:

Investors who previously said no:

  • Scenario: These individuals like the mission, but may decline to invest due to financial risk, returns or time-horizon, or other concerns.
  • Pitch: Refer them to CataCap as an alternative option offering a philanthropic approach through tax-deductible donations, or foundation or DAF grants.

Current Investors Looking to Increase Participation Without Using Personal Funds:

  • Scenario: These investors have already invested, yet aspire to expand their involvement without dipping into their personal accounts.
  • Pitch: Encourage the use of philanthropic capital via a tax-deductible donation or grants from their DAF or foundation, to increase investment. This approach allows commitment growth while maintaining their personal exposure.

Category-Focused Donors:

  • Scenario: These donors already give significant amounts to causes within a specific category similar to your investment (e.g., gender equity, climate change, BIPOC communities, racial justice).
  • Pitch: Refer to CataCap as an innovative way to support theme-based investment, thus maximizing the impact of their contributions through cutting-edge, mission-driven opportunities aligned with their philanthropic goals.

Investors Who Want to “Dip Their Toe In” or Invest Smaller Amounts:

  • Scenario: These investors may be interested in contributing, yet are not ready to commit large sums or may find the minimum investment amount too high.
  • Pitch: Offer them the option to participate via philanthropic capital, where they can invest smaller amounts (starting at $250.)

It’s a charitable donation that is then invested for impact and financial returns.

You should use the exact same guidelines, principles, and legal constraints as your normal outreach. In simple terms, you don’t want to make solicitations to non-accredited investors. CataCap can provide some sample language appropriate for outreach to accredited, and separately to non-accredited individuals.

CataCap aggregates lots of smaller donations and grants into one large pool of assets, providing a cost structure to donors of as little as $250. to that of a million dollar DAF. CataCap passes these savings on to its community, providing access to capabilities typically reserved for large charitable vehicles making larger investments.

Here is the fee structure for donations and grants, charged as funds inflow to CataCap:

  • Credit Card Donations: A 4% processing fee applies to all credit card donations (this is charged by the processing company).
  • ACH Payments (or bank transfer): A 2.55% fee applies to ACH payments, with a cap of $25.
  • CataCap Fees: 1.25% per year (deducted for the first four years, equalling 5%) covers all costs.
  • These fees are deducted from your net CataCap donor account balance, but you still get the gross donation as the tax-deductible amount.

Please note that tax-deductible receipts are issued for credit card and ACH/bank transfers at the original donation amount, before any fees are deducted.

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