Accountability
How we handle your gift, how we control spending and equipment, and how we report back.
Legal and tax details
- Legal name
- Cooperative Computing Alliance Foundation
- EIN
- 42-4954752
- Federal tax status
- Exempt under IRC Section 501(c)(3); eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions
- Public charity status
- IRC Section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi)
- Exemption effective
- IRS letter date
- Mailing address
- 539 W Commerce St Unit 5210
Dallas, TX 75208 - Accounting year-end
- December 31
- Contact
- info@coopalliance.org
Gifts made to the Foundation are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Gifts through the existing online checkout are still received and receipted under Public Data Library Inc., EIN 88-4214948. Read the current donation recipient details.
Historical CCA gifts received by Public Data Library Inc. retain their original recipient and tax receipts. The Foundation’s new status does not turn them into Foundation gifts.
To check our status with the IRS, enter our EIN, 42-4954752, in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. You can also request a copy of our determination letter.
How your gift is handled
- Your card and bank details stay with our payment provider. They are typed into a form hosted by the provider, so they never pass through CCA’s systems.
- We store what is needed to run donations. That means invoice and payment status, receipts, your consent choices, and limited payment details such as the last four digits of a card.
- You decide whether your name is shown. If you would rather not be named publicly, choose the anonymous option on the donation form.
- You get a receipt by email when your payment goes through, unless you choose not to on the form.
- Restrictions are honored. If you want your gift used for a specific program or cost, tell us when you give. We confirm the restriction in writing and report back on what it paid for.
- Recurring gifts stay under your control. You can pause or cancel one yourself, from your billing page, without asking us.
If a charge looks wrong, email info@coopalliance.org and we will look into it. You can also read our payment privacy notice.
What donations pay for
Donations pay for four things, all of which participants use directly:
- the equipment in our lending library
- hosting and datacenter costs for the systems participants train on
- the software that provisions access, tracks equipment and records progress
- participant support, such as shipping, certification exam fees and mentorship
Software does work that would otherwise take staff time. Access is removed automatically when a participant stops taking part, records for network equipment are imported from the network itself, and payment receipts go out on their own.
Read more about how we use funds
Where the money comes from
CCA does not charge participants for its services. Its programs are paid for entirely through charitable funding: gifts from companies, foundations and individuals, and grants. Read how CCA is funded.
Controls
These are the checks built into how CCA runs.
- Spending. Large expenditures need more than one approval, so no single person can commit significant funds alone. The board oversees financial controls.
- Equipment. Every device is recorded by serial number, holder and location, and inventory audits check the shelves against the records with barcode and RFID scanning.
- Access. Each person gets the roles their work requires. Access ends when a participant stops taking part, and their records are kept.
- Logging. Activity on our platform is logged, including sign-ins and failed sign-ins, permission checks, views of personal information, data exports and every change, with its values before and after.
- Review. Nobody gets access to our systems until a person at CCA has read and approved their application.
Safeguarding
CCA’s programs are designed for adults, and it is rare for anyone under 18 to take part. When someone does, our youth protection policy applies:
- a parent or guardian must give written consent before the young person starts
- CCA must confirm that the right supervision and safeguards are in place first
- every adult in a CCA program must report any suspicion that a young person is being abused or neglected
Under the same policy, every CCA staff member and board member must pass a background check before they start, as must volunteers and mentors who will have direct contact with participants under 18. CCA pays for the check. A youth protection officer, named by the board, oversees the policy and reports to the board.
Read our youth protection policy
Participants whose safety depends on keeping their address private, such as survivors of stalking or domestic violence, can use a state-issued substitute address with CCA. Read how confidential addresses are handled.
Policies and notices
Nondiscrimination
CCA does not discriminate against, exclude or treat differently anyone on the basis of their actual or perceived race, sex, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, military service, genetic information, pregnancy history, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. People with disabilities can get free aids and services to communicate with us. The notice explains how to raise a concern or file a grievance.
Read our nondiscrimination notice
Language assistance
If English is not your first language, you can get an interpreter at no cost, have documents read to you, and have some documents sent to you in your language. Our notice is published in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, Armenian, Russian, Farsi, Arabic and Hmong. For help, email lep-help@coopalliance.org.
Read our language assistance notice
Participant agreements
Every participant agrees to our acceptable use and security policies when they enroll, and to our privacy notice on the enrollment form.
Privacy
CCA does not sell participant data or use it for marketing, and its reports to funders use only aggregate figures. Our privacy page summarizes what this website, the donation form and the enrollment application collect, and links to each notice.
Lending library terms and limited assessments
Participants who borrow equipment agree to the library’s terms of use. Our limited assessments policy sets out the narrow cases where a participant can be asked to pay anything, and caps it at actual cost.
How we report back
- Restricted gifts get written confirmation of the restriction and a report on what the gift paid for.
- Corporate sponsors get reports on participants, certifications and placements.
- Reports to funders use aggregate, de-identified figures and never identify individual participants.
- Funders can ask for a virtual briefing or a site visit before giving.
- Anyone can ask how donations are being used. Participant progress, equipment and certifications are recorded in our own system, so we answer from records rather than estimates.
The IRS requires the Foundation to file an annual Form 990 or Form 990-EZ return, or a Form 990-N notice, as applicable.
Ask us anything about how we use money
If this page does not answer your question, email us. We would rather answer a hard question before you give than have you wonder about it afterward.