ReDonate is a service for 'voluntary recurring donations'. What this means in simple terms, is that we allow you to set up recurring donations to a service, without ever making an automatic charge.
ReDonate works much like a calendar application - every month, you'll receive an e-mail reminding you of your pledge. The e-mail will include donation links, so that you can make the donation you pledged, straight away.
If you want to skip a month or even unsubscribe from a donation campaign, that's fine! There are no hoops to jump through, no cancellation periods, and no other kinds of hassle involved.
Basically, it's recurring donations how they were intended - as a voluntary periodic contribution to a campaign. No automatic charges, no subscription lock-ins, no other nasty things.
Right now, your options for recurring donations are extremely limited. Only a few payment processors offer options for this, and all of them automatically charge your account, and do not allow you to offer payment methods from competitors.
Donations are intended to be voluntary, not automatic or forced. ReDonate exists to provide recurring donations for everyone without a catch, without fees, and without lock-in.
You need an e-mail address, a username, and a password. That's it. Since we do not actually process any payments ourselves (after all, we just act as a reminder service), there are no regulations for us to comply with. Further requirements depend on what payment methods you use.
Any method you wish. We're serious.
Certain payment methods and processors are already integrated, such as PayPal. Want to use a payment processor that isn't listed? Just enter the name and your address, account number, or other information that people need to use that processor, and it'll be shown on the donation page. No matter what processor it is.
Over time, we will be looking at the most commonly used 'custom' payment processors and methods, and properly implement them.
It's not our job to police the internet. We only act as a 'gateway' and reminder service, so there's really nothing we can be held accountable for. If the payment processor or method you are using allows what you're doing, then we don't see a reason to block you out.
That said, if you disagree with what a ReDonate campaign is collecting donations for, then please take it up with the campaign administrator or the payment processor(s) they are using. Don't bother complaining to us about it - it's not our business.
Because of the way ReDonate works, we don't always have reliable data to work with. We can only, for example, collect donation statistics about payment processors that we've explicitly implemented. For other payment methods and processors, every donor is asked whether they chose to donate or not. Since there's no way to check whether a donor gave an honest answer, the data is not very reliable.
The purpose of the statistics we collect is to give you a ballpark idea of what's going on with your campaign. If you want 100% reliable statistics, you will have to get the data from the payment processors that you use.
The possible inaccuracy of the statistics is not a problem - as we don't process any payments ourselves, the statistics only serve an informational purpose, and are not critical for operations.
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: One of the reasons for the existence of ReDonate, is to make it more feasible to use donations as a sole source of income. Advertising has incredibly damaging effects on society - most of them hidden - and we do not wish to support this.
If you want to support ReDonate, you can donate to us via our own ReDonate campaign.
No, absolutely not. ReDonate is an entirely non-profit project and will remain non-profit. We have no interest in making a profit, getting bought out, or any other commercial goals.
First things first: even if ReDonate were to stop existing, there would be no risk for you. We don't hold any funds, so there's really nothing to lose.
That being said, ReDonate is supported by the Cryto Coding Collective, a non-profit developer collective that has been successfully running services for the past two years. ReDonate uses very little resources, and is trivial to keep running.
We collect two kinds of data: operational data, and statistical data.
Operational data includes all data that is necessary for proper functioning of the service. Think your e-mail address, payment processor information, login details, and so on.
Statistical data consists of data that is used for providing statistics to campaign administrators, and to ReDonate administrators. In the latter case, the purpose is to make the service work better.
Statistical data includes pageloads with IP addresses and session IDs (don't worry, no browser fingerprinting or supercookies), subscription logs, donation logs, and similar data.
All IP addresses are scrubbed after 30 days, and are only used to determine 'unique' visitors.
As safe as it's going to be with anyone on the internet that has no interest in selling or spreading it.
Since ReDonate is a non-profit project with minimal operation costs, we have no reason to sell your data or otherwise use it for commercial purposes.
On the other hand, you should never assume that your data is 100% safe with anyone. Even the organizations that you trust most, are most likely using your data for purposes you don't agree with.
When in doubt, use TOR, and a fake identity. We don't require you to use a real identity.