How money moves

From a gift to a payout

Swipe a Need is a crowdfunding platform for individuals. People share a documented bill or a self-reported everyday need, and others give personal gifts toward it. This page explains how money is designed to move, and what is running today.

At a glance

Each part of the money flow and whether it operates today

Step	What happens	Status
Request review	Our team reviews each request before it’s published.	Planned
Contribution	A donor chooses an amount from $1 and confirms. Card payments are taken by our payment processor, never by us directly.	Planned
Recipient verification	Identity, compliance and payout checks before any money is paid out.	Planned
Settlement	Settled gifts are held for the recipient until payout conditions are met.	Planned
Payout	Paid to the recipient’s verified bank account after a two-person staff approval.	Planned
Direct payment to bill providers	Paying a biller on the recipient’s behalf.	Not available

1. Contribution

• Donors give in the Swipe a Need app, to one request or to several in a single checkout. Guests can give without an account.
• The smallest gift is $1. Swiping never charges you; you see the breakdown and confirm before paying.
• Gifts are discretionary personal gifts to individuals. Nothing is delivered in return. Swipe a Need is not a charity, and gifts are not tax-deductible.
• While you check out, your amount is held for the request for a short time so a request can’t be overfunded.

2. Payment processing

We plan to process card payments through Stripe, subject to Stripe’s review and approval of our business. Card details are entered only with the payment processor; Swipe a Need never sees or stores full card numbers. No payment processing is active today.

3. Recipient verification

• Recipients can create and submit a request before verifying their identity, but no payout will be made until identity, compliance and payout checks are complete.
• Identity is planned to be checked through a third-party identity provider and reviewed by our team. No provider has been selected yet. Payout details are planned to be collected and verified through the payment processor’s onboarding for recipients.
• Identity verification confirms who the recipient is. It does not prove the stated need. Self-reported everyday needs are not independently verified. See Trust & Safety.

4. Settlement

• Each request has a funding deadline. At the deadline it closes to new gifts.
• A processing period of at least 24 hours follows, for settlement, reconciliation and risk checks.
• Settled gifts are held for the recipient until the payout conditions below are met.
• Keep What You Raise: a recipient keeps eligible settled gifts whether the goal was fully or partly met. Not meeting a goal does not trigger a refund, and gifts are never redirected to another request.

5. Payout

A payout can be made only when all of these are true:

• the funding deadline and processing period have passed;
• the recipient’s identity, payout details and compliance checks are complete;
• no dispute, open review, hold or suspension applies;
• two different members of our team have approved it.

Payouts go to the recipient’s verified bank account. Paying bill providers directly is not available.

6. Fees and optional tips

• No mandatory platform fee.
• Donors pay no processing fees.
• Applicable payment processing and payout costs are borne by the recipient and may reduce the amount paid out. Exact amounts aren’t stated yet because they depend on the final arrangement with our payment processor.
• Optional tip: donors can add a tip for Swipe a Need. It starts at $0, is shown separately, and goes to Swipe a Need, not the recipient. Tips are Swipe a Need’s only planned revenue.

7. Refunds

Refunds will be made for specific reasons only, such as:

• a duplicate charge or processing error;
• an unauthorized payment;
• fraud;
• where the law or card-network rules require it.

Refunds aren’t automatic. If a request is withdrawn or removed before payout, we review case by case whether its gifts should be refunded.

Refunds will be issued by our team, will go back to the original payment method, and larger refunds will need approval from two staff members. A refund in a multi-request checkout will apply only to the request it concerns. Questions? Email support@swipeaneed.com.

The full Refund Policy will be published here before payments are enabled.

8. Disputes and chargebacks

• If something is wrong with a gift, please contact support@swipeaneed.com first. It’s usually faster than a card dispute.
• We will respond to card disputes through the payment processor. While a dispute is open, the related funds will not be refunded or paid out.
• If a request is found to be fraudulent, we will stop payouts, refund what has not been paid out, and may try to recover funds already paid out. Recovery can’t be guaranteed.

Who can take part

Swipe a Need is for people in the United States who are 18 or older.