Donor & Refund Policy
School of Wood Carving, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to preserving the art of traditional woodcarving and advancing woodcarving education as a charitable public benefit. Your gifts keep free instruction flowing to learners everywhere.
School of Wood Carving, Inc. (also styled “School of Woodcarving”) is a 501(c)(3) public charity, not a degree-granting school. We offer free and low-cost woodcarving lessons to learners worldwide as a charitable program. This policy explains how we use your support, how charitable gifts and membership contributions are handled, and how to request a refund.
How Your Support Is Used
Every dollar you give and every course-access fee you pay goes directly to our charitable mission: preserving a vanishing traditional craft and bringing professional-quality woodcarving instruction to anyone, anywhere, free from barriers of cost, geography, or background. Specifically, your support funds:
- Creating new lessons and filming high-quality instructional content.
- Keeping our learning platform running, secure, and accessible worldwide.
- Subsidizing learners who cannot afford to pay, so cost is never a barrier.
- Producing and sharing free woodcarving resources for the public.
We are a nonprofit public charity. Funds are reinvested into our charitable, public-benefit work of teaching and craft preservation. No part of our net earnings inures to the benefit of any private individual; we pay only reasonable compensation for services actually provided. As a 501(c)(3) organization, we do not participate in any political campaign for or against a candidate for public office, and any lobbying is insubstantial. Gifts are accepted at the organization’s discretion, and undesignated gifts are applied where the need is greatest. We reserve the right to decline or return a gift that does not fit our charitable mission. Our IRS determination letter and most recent annual IRS filing (Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N, as applicable) are available on request, and you may inspect them as federal law provides.
Tax-Deductibility
School of Wood Carving, Inc. is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 88-0521972). How much of a payment is tax-deductible depends on what you give. There are two different situations, and we treat them separately below.
Pure Donations (Donate Button) — Fully Deductible
A pure donation made through our Donate button is different from a membership. A pure donation is a gift for which you receive no goods, services, or member benefits in return. Because nothing of value is provided back to you, a pure donation made through the Donate button is fully tax-deductible as a charitable contribution to the extent allowed by law. Upon request, or as required by law, School of Wood Carving, Inc. (EIN 88-0521972) will provide a written acknowledgment confirming that no goods or services were provided in exchange for your gift. As always, please consult your own tax advisor regarding the deductibility of any contribution.
Memberships — Partly Deductible (Quid Pro Quo)
Because members receive access to our members-only online resources in return for their membership contribution, a membership is treated as a “quid pro quo” contribution for federal tax purposes. This means that only the portion of your membership contribution that exceeds the fair market value of the member benefits you receive may be tax-deductible as a charitable contribution, to the extent allowed by law. To help you, School of Wood Carving, Inc. provides a good-faith estimate of the fair market value of the membership benefits in the receipt or written acknowledgment we send you, consistent with IRS quid pro quo disclosure rules under Internal Revenue Code Section 6115 (which require a written disclosure for payments over $75 that are part contribution and part payment for goods or services). We do not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice, and individual circumstances vary, so please consult your own tax advisor about your specific situation. Our EIN is 88-0521972.
Make a Donation
Your gift supports free woodcarving instruction and craft preservation for learners around the world. Donations are processed securely through PayPal over an encrypted HTTPS connection.
School of Wood Carving, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 88-0521972). A pure donation made through this Donate button is fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law, because you receive no goods or services in return. Memberships are treated differently — see the Tax-Deductibility section above.
How Donations Are Processed and Secured
All donations and payments are handled by PayPal, a PCI-DSS-compliant payment processor. Every page and transaction runs over a secure, encrypted HTTPS connection. We do not see or store your full card number or bank details — that sensitive payment information is handled directly by PayPal.
Donation Receipts
When you give, PayPal sends an immediate email confirmation of your transaction. If you need a formal donation receipt for your records or taxes — or a year-end giving summary — just email contact@schoolofwoodcarving.com and we will be glad to send one.
Recurring Gifts
You can set up a recurring monthly donation through PayPal to provide steady, ongoing support for our free lessons and craft-preservation work. Recurring gifts make a lasting difference and help us plan ahead.
How to Cancel or Modify a Recurring Gift
You are always in control of a recurring donation. You can change or stop it at any time using either method below:
- Through PayPal: Log in to your PayPal account, go to Settings → Payments → Manage automatic payments (or “Pre-approved payments”), select School of Wood Carving, Inc., and choose to update or cancel.
- Through us: Email contact@schoolofwoodcarving.com with your name and the email tied to your gift, and we will help you update or stop the recurring donation.
Canceling a recurring gift stops future charges. It does not automatically refund past gifts; for those, see the refund sections below.
Donor Privacy
We respect your privacy as a donor. We do not sell, rent, trade, or share your donor information with outside parties for their own use. If you would prefer to give anonymously or to be left out of any public donor recognition, just let us know and we will honor your request. For more on how we handle personal information, please see our Privacy Policy.
Refund Policy for Donations
Charitable gifts are generally final, and no federal law requires a nonprofit to return a donation. That said, we want every gift to be intentional. We will review and, where appropriate, refund a donation for reasons such as:
- An accidental or duplicate gift.
- A processing error (for example, the wrong amount was charged).
- An unauthorized or fraudulent charge.
Timeframe and How to Request a Donation Refund
Please request a donation refund within 30 days of the gift. To start, email contact@schoolofwoodcarving.com with your transaction details — the donor name, the date of the gift, the amount, and the PayPal transaction ID if you have it. The more detail you can share, the faster we can locate and resolve it.
How Approved Refunds Are Issued
Approved refunds are returned to the original payment method used for the gift. Once we process a refund through PayPal, it typically appears in your account within 5 to 10 business days, depending on your bank or card issuer.
State Charitable Registration Disclosure
School of Wood Carving, Inc. solicits charitable contributions in Florida, our home state, and complies with the Florida Solicitation of Contributions Act (Chapter 496, Florida Statutes). Registration requirements vary from state to state, and we comply with the rules of each state where they apply to us.
A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE WITHIN THE STATE (1-800-435-7352) OR AT www.FloridaConsumerHelp.com. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. FLORIDA REGISTRATION NO. CH-________ (PENDING; TO BE POSTED UPON ISSUANCE).
Membership Plans, Cancellations, and Refunds
Memberships renew automatically. Each plan is recurring and renews at the end of every paid period until you cancel. Your chosen payment method will be charged automatically at the start of each new period at the then-current rate, unless you cancel before the renewal date. You may cancel at any time by emailing us at contact@schoolofwoodcarving.com or by canceling the recurring payment in your PayPal account; cancellation stops future renewals, and your access continues through the end of the period you have already paid for. We will not refund amounts already charged except where required by law.
Your membership is a voluntary, freewill charitable contribution to School of Wood Carving, Inc., a Florida nonprofit corporation and a 501(c)(3) public charity. It is not a commercial purchase or sale of goods or services. It is a charitable membership contribution that supports our educational mission of teaching and preserving the art of woodcarving. In recognition and appreciation of your contribution, members receive access to our members-only online woodcarving resources as a benefit of membership. By becoming a member, you confirm that you understand your payment is a charitable contribution to a nonprofit and not a consumer transaction for the sale of a product or service.
Membership grants access to the Organization’s online members-only resources only. These resources may include online video lessons, tutorials, articles, downloadable patterns, and other digital educational materials made available through our website. Membership does not include, promise, or entitle you to any in-person instruction, in-person lessons, live or one-on-one teaching, consulting, services, shipped or physical goods, tools, or materials of any kind. Any in-person lessons or workshops, if we ever choose to offer them, are an entirely separate matter, are not part of membership, and would be arranged and paid for separately. The specific online resources available may change, grow, or be updated from time to time at our discretion.
Because these resources are digital and made available instantly, the following cancellation and refund terms apply:
- Memberships renew automatically. Each plan (Monthly and Annual) is recurring and renews at the end of every paid period until you cancel.
- Canceling stops future renewals. Canceling is as easy as signing up. You may cancel a Monthly or Annual plan at any time, using either method below. You are solely responsible for canceling on or before your payment due date.
- Through PayPal: Log in to your PayPal account, go to Settings → Payments → Manage automatic payments (or “Pre-approved payments”), select School of Wood Carving, Inc., and choose to cancel the recurring membership billing.
- Through us: Email contact@schoolofwoodcarving.com and we will cancel it for you. We will send a confirmation email with your expiration date.
- No prorated refunds. We do not offer prorated refunds for canceled plans. There are no refunds or credits for partial periods, for upgrades or downgrades, or for time left unused on an open account. To keep things fair and equal for everyone, no exceptions are made.
- When you cancel, your access continues until the end of the period you have already paid for, and your membership will not renew again.
For full membership and billing terms, see our Terms of Service.
Questions About Donations, Refunds, or Billing
We are happy to help with any donor, refund, or billing question. Reach us directly:
Related policies: About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service · Donor & Refund Policy · Contact
We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will change the date below. Your continued use of our site or your continued giving means you accept the current version of this policy.
Last updated: June 1, 2026