Warning signs
Be cautious about changed payment instructions, urgency that prevents verification, personal payment accounts, unauthorized fundraisers, lookalike domains, and requests to bypass the participant’s documented advisers.
Verify before acting
Protect gifts, records, and participants from impersonation and payment diversion.
Pause when instructions change unexpectedly or someone requests secrets the program should never need.
Information never to send
Do not provide passwords, one-time authentication codes, complete bank or retirement account numbers, full payment-card details, alarm codes, or unnecessary government identifiers through chat or public forms.
Verify independently
Use the legal identity and EIN on the Gift Verification page. Attorneys, banks, executors, and donors should confirm a restriction or special role through an established organizational channel before transferring funds or finalizing documents.
Program boundary
Only accepted agreements create program duties.
Public guidance helps people prepare and coordinate. It does not itself create custody, ownership, placement, residency, fiduciary authority, restricted use, or an emergency-response obligation.
Review program scope