Giving

I appreciate all of you who have been asking about how to support Amy and I. I am sorry this has taken so long, but I needed to track down some details about tax information so that I can be as clear as possible (and legal too). There are three ways that you can support us, but I have one other bit of information first.

I am planning on going full-time the first of October. However, I am asking some of you who are willing to start supporting us in September. This is going to be a pretty big change for Amy and I financially and I would like a bit of a cushion to work with until everything gets sorted out. Also, for those of you who do decide to partner with us, I will be contacting you via phone or email to nail down some details. These details include: is this a monthly or a one time gift? Would you commit to giving on the same day every month - sorry to be so particular, but we need a certain amount of information to make sure our bills get paid on time. :)

Ok, on to the official business.

OPTION ONE: The first, and easiest, way to support Amy and I is to write a personal check, payable to Ben Dau and send it to our apartment. Due to privacy issues I cannot give out our address online, but if you email benamydau@gmail.com I would be happy to reply. As far as the IRS is concerned, this type of donation is termed a "gift." As such, it is not taxed on my end, but it is not a tax write off for you. This means I get the full amount because you are paying the tax.

OPTION TWO: Similar to option one, you will write a check and send it to me. However, the check will be made payable to "IHOPE House of Prayer" and you will simply write my name in the "memo" portion of the check. I will accumulate these checks and bring them to IHOPE to be processed by our accountant. Since IHOPE is a 501(c)3 non-profit this is a tax deductible donation. That means taxes are taken out on my end and it is a tax write off for you. This will reduce your taxable income. If you are more tech savvy, see option three.

OPTION THREE: This option functions exactly like option two, but uses a secure Internet payment method called Pay Pal. This means you still send money to IHOPE to make it a tax deductible donation, but rather than writing me a check and waiting to cash it, you wire the money electronically to IHOPE's bank account. It works like this:

1) Go to www.ihopehop.org

2) Click on DONATE on the far right-hand side of the screen under the Facebook icon

3) Scroll down and click the gold button that says "DONATE"

4) Enter your donation amount in the blue box and click "Update Total"

5) The page will re-load. Now enter your credit card and billing information

*NOTE* PayPal is a secure company. They are the leader in Interest safety payment options. Your personal billing information will be secure.

6) Click Review Donation and continue, a new page will load

7) You will see a blue box with a white + in it. Next to it will read "Add special instructions for the Merchant". Click this icon and a white box will pop up.

8) In this box write something to the effect of "Attention Ben Dau", "Care of Ben Dau" or simply "Ben Dau". This will ensure the money gets funneled into my account.

As of now, I do not know how to automate any of these options, so you will have to do one of the three every month. I will be keeping track of your giving and sending you an invoice around tax time so that you can take your deduction if that applies.

Thank you so much for your support! God has truly blessed us with great friends and family. I hope this has streamlined the process for you. If you have any questions, or would like our address so that you can send a check, please email benamydau@gmail.com