Fundraising for Nonprofits, With No Upfront Cost
Love Brands' Loads of Love program lets a nonprofit fundraise with no upfront cost and no inventory. The organization applies, names one point of contact, signs a partner agreement, and receives a unique referral link plus a partner toolkit. Supporters buy Love Paks laundry detergent paks at the normal price and Love Brands ships to them directly. A set share of eligible net sales is paid to the organization monthly, at the program rate written into that agreement.
This page covers the mechanics a board or an executive director needs before signing: what your organization does, what it commits to, what it never has to do, how an eligible net sale is calculated, when money arrives, and which state rules apply to a business that advertises that purchases benefit a charity.
Why laundry works as a nonprofit fundraiser
Detergent is a consumable. Households buy it, finish it, and buy it again on a cycle they already have. That single fact changes the shape of the fundraiser: there is nothing to persuade someone to want, only somewhere different to buy something they were going to buy anyway.
Compare the structure — not the returns, which depend entirely on your list and your effort — against the fundraisers most nonprofits have already run.
| Product sale (candy, cookie dough, wrapping paper) | Event or raffle | Loads of Love | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Money out before money in | Cases bought or taken on consignment | Venue, permits, printing, prizes | None |
| Inventory | Boxes stored, counted, chased | Not applicable | None — Love Brands ships each order |
| Cash handling | Volunteers collect and reconcile cash and checks | Ticket and door money | None — supporters pay Love Brands at checkout |
| Fulfillment | Sorted and delivered by volunteers | Not applicable | Shipped to the supporter's address |
| Repeatable | One push per season | One night | Supporters can reorder or subscribe |
| Who carries unsold stock | Your organization | Your organization | Not applicable — nothing is pre-bought |
What supporters actually receive
Love Paks are pre-measured laundry detergent paks made by Love Brands. A pouch holds 39 paks. One pak handles a standard load; two are recommended for a large or heavily soiled load. The formula is plant-based, works in warm or cold water, and is compatible with standard and high-efficiency machines. There are two products: Love Paks Citrus Flower Blossom, which is the scented version, and Love Paks Dye & Scent Free, made without dyes or added fragrance. Both ship in a refill pouch. You can point supporters at the full Love Paks range or at a Love Paks subscription, which keeps orders coming without anyone having to remember.
What your organization has to do — and what it never has to do
The work is front-loaded into an application and an agreement, and after that it is mostly communications work you were already doing — with one ongoing commitment worth knowing before you sign. The California application asks the organization to commit to a minimum number of promotional touches per campaign, and that figure is fixed in the agreement. This is a fundraiser you have to actually run, on a schedule, not a link you post once.
The steps, in order
- Apply. Submit the Loads of Love nonprofit application. It asks for your organization's legal name and address, your EIN, your legal designation, your website, an estimate of your audience size, and the name, email and title of the person authorized to sign.
- Wait for review. Love Brands reviews every application. The Loads of Love nonprofit page states a review window of three to five business days.
- Sign the partner agreement. This is the document that records your give-back rate, your payout terms, your promotional commitment and the length of the partnership. The program rate is published on the application page and fixed in the agreement — confirm the figure there in writing, and read the whole document, before you announce anything.
- Receive your link and toolkit. Your unique referral link plus ready-to-use marketing assets.
- Share the link, on a schedule. Newsletter, social posts, a line in your email signature, a QR code at events. Because the application asks you to commit to a minimum number of promotional touches per campaign, plan these as scheduled sends rather than a single announcement. Orders placed through your organization's link give back on eligible net sales.
- Read your monthly statement and receive the payout. The statement lists the qualifying orders and the deductions behind the number.
What your organization never has to do
- Buy product up front or take it on consignment
- Store, count or distribute inventory
- Collect cash or checks from supporters
- Handle anyone's card details — checkout happens on Love Brands' store
- Pack or ship anything
- Run paper order forms or chase missing ones
Love Brands takes the order, charges the supporter, ships the product, handles returns and support, tracks orders against your link, and issues the statement and the payment.
The referral link and the partner toolkit
The referral link is the whole attribution mechanism. An order counts for your organization because it arrived through your link — not because the supporter typed your name at checkout. That has a practical consequence worth naming: a supporter who clicks your link, closes the tab, and comes back three weeks later by typing the address directly may not be attributed to you.
Before you send anything to your list, ask Love Brands in writing how long an order stays attributed after someone clicks, and put that answer in your own internal notes. Then always share the link itself, rather than telling people to "go to the Love Paks site and mention us."
What your organization can safely say about the product
Your supporters will forward your words further than you expect, and your name is on them. Keep four registers separate — Love Brands does, and your toolkit should too.
| Register | Example of accurate wording |
|---|---|
| Historical fact | Rose quartz is a pink variety of quartz, a silicon-dioxide mineral that people have carved and worn ornamentally for thousands of years. |
| Cultural belief | Many traditions associate rose quartz with love and calm. That is a belief held by people, not a property measured in a laboratory. |
| Love Brands brand philosophy | Love Paks are rose quartz infused. Love Brands includes the stone as a statement of intention, and says so openly. |
| Scientifically demonstrated | The cleaning comes from the plant-based detergent formula. Love Brands makes no health, medical or physiological claim for Love Paks, and your organization should not make one either. |
Two more rules for partner materials. LOVE PAKS is a registered United States trademark (USPTO registration 8371488, class 003, registered July 28, 2026); use the name as the toolkit shows it. And do not publish a figure for total funds raised across the program or a count of partner organizations; use the number on your own monthly statement, which you can actually defend.
What counts as an eligible net sale
The give-back is calculated on eligible net sales, not on the price a supporter sees. An eligible net sale is the value of the order excluding taxes, shipping, discounts, payment processing fees, chargebacks and refunds. Everything in that list is money that never reached Love Brands, or that left again afterwards.
Here is the arithmetic on a made-up order. This is an illustration only — an example order at example figures, not current prices and not a projection of your organization's results.
| Line | Example amount | Counts toward the give-back? |
|---|---|---|
| Products, before discounts | $100.00 | Counts |
| Supporter discount code applied at checkout | $10.00 | Excluded |
| Shipping charged to the supporter | $6.00 | Excluded |
| Sales tax collected | $8.00 | Excluded |
| Payment processing fee on the transaction | $3.00 | Excluded |
| Eligible net sale | $87.00 | — |
| Give-back | $87.00 × the give-back rate written in your partner agreement | |
Shipping and sales tax were collected on top of the product price, so excluding them does not reduce the $100.00. The discount and the processing fee do: $100.00 − $10.00 − $3.00 = $87.00. Multiply that figure by the rate in your agreement to get the give-back on this example order.
If that supporter returns a pouch the following month and is refunded, the refunded amount comes back out of that month's eligible net sales. Chargebacks work the same way. This is why the number on your statement will not match a percentage of the totals your supporters tell you they spent, and why you should never promise your donors a fixed dollar figure per order.
This is not the add-a-donation product
Love Brands also sells an add-a-donation product, which a shopper can put in the cart as its own line item. That is a separate mechanism: the donation amount a shopper adds is passed to the organization they selected. It is not the same as the give-back on eligible net sales, it is not calculated the same way, and the two should never be described together as though they were one number. If your materials mention both, keep them in separate sentences.
Payout schedule, minimum balance and monthly statements
These are the published Loads of Love partner terms. Your signed agreement is the controlling document — if it says something different, the agreement wins, and you should ask why before you sign.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Payment date | On or before the first day of the month following the month in which the qualifying sales were recorded |
| Minimum balance | $25 — below that, the balance carries forward to the next month |
| Outside limit | Never later than 90 days from the sale |
| Give-back rate | A set share of eligible net sales — the program rate is published on the application page, fixed in your agreement, and shown on every monthly statement |
That 90-day outside limit is not decoration. Under California law, a commercial coventurer — a business that represents to the public that purchases will benefit a charity — can be relieved of registering with the Attorney General if it holds a written contract with the charity signed by two of the charity's officers, transfers all funds due within 90 days after the promotion starts and every 90 days thereafter, and provides a written accounting with each transfer (California Government Code §12599.2). The monthly cadence and the written statement exist to sit comfortably inside that rule.
Keep your statements. They are the auditable record of what your organization earned, and they are what your treasurer and your auditor will ask for.
Eligibility, the written agreement and state charitable-promotion rules
The application accepts 501(c)(3) public charities, 501(c)(3) private foundations, 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, and other nonprofit entities. It asks for your EIN, your legal designation, your registered address, your website, and an authorized signatory by name, title and email — the person who can actually bind the organization. The program is open in a limited list of states, shown on the application; if yours is not open yet, there is a waitlist rather than a rejection.
Two state requirements show up directly on the form, and they are worth understanding before you fill it in.
- California. The form asks for your Registry of Charities number and for the minimum number of promotional touches your organization will commit to per campaign. California regulates commercial coventurers under Government Code §12599.2; a coventurer that does not meet the written-contract and 90-day transfer conditions must register with the Attorney General and pay an annual fee. The written contract is not paperwork for its own sake — it is the thing that keeps the arrangement inside the exemption.
- Wisconsin. The form asks for your Department of Financial Institutions registration number and whether your organization has paid staff or receives $25,000 or more annually.
If your organization solicits in other states, check your own regulator before you promote the program there. The National Association of State Charity Officials maintains a directory of state charity regulators. Love Brands is a detergent manufacturer, not your compliance department: a written agreement governs each partnership, and your organization remains responsible for its own registrations and filings.
Questions boards ask before signing up
Is the money we receive a donation?
It is a payment from Love Brands calculated on eligible net sales under a commercial agreement, not a gift solicited from a donor. How your organization records it — contribution revenue, sponsorship income, or something else — and whether any of it raises unrelated business income questions, depends on facts your accountant knows and Love Brands does not. Love Brands does not provide tax or accounting advice. Bring the signed agreement to your CPA before the first payout, not after.
Can our supporters deduct their purchase?
No. Your supporter's order is a purchase, not a donation — the give-back is paid by Love Brands to the organization the supporter chose. A federal charitable deduction requires a contribution to a qualified organization under Internal Revenue Code §170(c) (IRS, Charitable Contribution Deductions), and where a payment buys goods, only the amount above the value of what the buyer receives can be deductible at all (IRS Publication 526). The IRS treats a straightforward retail purchase as having no donative element — its own example is a museum gift shop sale (IRS, Substantiating Charitable Contributions). Do not issue acknowledgment letters for Love Paks orders, and do not let a volunteer tell a supporter it is a write-off. Love Brands does not provide tax advice; supporters should ask their own tax professional.
What do we tell supporters we will receive?
Tell them orders placed through your organization's link give back a share of eligible net sales, and point them to the definition. Do not advertise a fixed dollar amount per order, and do not say every purchase on the site benefits you — only orders through your link do.
Do we get our supporters' names and addresses?
Ask, in writing, what the partner dashboard and statement actually show before you promise your list anything about privacy. Love Brands is the seller of record and handles the transaction, so assume you will see aggregate performance rather than a mailing list unless the agreement says otherwise.
Is there a minimum, an exclusivity clause or a fixed term?
These are agreement terms, not marketing terms, so read them in the document rather than on any web page. The promotional minimum in particular is a commitment your organization is making, not a suggestion. If a clause is unclear, ask for it to be clarified in writing before signing — a partnership that is worth having is worth defining.
Can we also buy Love Paks for the organization itself?
Yes. Shelters, pantries, transitional housing programs and community centers that go through detergent themselves can ask about wholesale and mastercase pricing, which is a separate arrangement from the fundraising program.
We are a school booster club or a youth team, not a charity. Can we join?
Yes — that route is documented separately for youth sports teams and booster clubs. The mechanics are the same; the eligibility questions differ.
Apply to become a Loads of Love partner
If your organization has an audience it already emails, a mission it can state in a sentence, and someone authorized to sign, the program costs you nothing to test. Start with the Loads of Love nonprofit application. For the program as a whole, including how supporters choose a cause, see the Loads of Love campaign page. If a question here was not answered, contact the Love Brands partnerships team and get the answer in writing before you sign.
Frequently asked questions
Is the money our nonprofit receives from Loads of Love a donation?
It is a payment from Love Brands calculated on eligible net sales under a commercial agreement, not a gift solicited from a donor. How your organization records it — contribution revenue, sponsorship income, or something else — and whether it raises unrelated business income questions depends on facts your accountant knows. Love Brands does not provide tax or accounting advice. Bring the signed agreement to your CPA before the first payout.
Can supporters deduct their Love Paks purchase as a charitable contribution?
No. The order is a purchase, not a donation — the give-back is paid by Love Brands to the organization the supporter chose. A federal charitable deduction requires a contribution to a qualified organization under Internal Revenue Code section 170(c), and where a payment buys goods only the amount above the value received can be deductible. The IRS treats an ordinary retail purchase as having no donative element. Do not issue acknowledgment letters for Love Paks orders. Love Brands does not provide tax advice; supporters should ask their own tax professional.
What counts as an eligible net sale?
An eligible net sale is the value of the order excluding taxes, shipping, discounts, payment processing fees, chargebacks and refunds. The give-back is calculated on that figure, not on the price a supporter sees at checkout. If a supporter is refunded later, the refunded amount comes back out of that month's eligible net sales.
When does a partner organization get paid, and is there a minimum?
Payouts are monthly. Payment goes out on or before the first day of the month following the month in which the qualifying sales were recorded, once the balance reaches $25, and never later than 90 days from the sale. Below $25 the balance carries forward. Your signed partner agreement is the controlling document for all of these terms.
How much does it cost a nonprofit to join Loads of Love?
There is nothing to buy up front and no inventory to carry. The organization applies, signs a partner agreement, and shares a referral link. Love Brands takes the order, charges the supporter, ships the product, handles returns and support, and issues the monthly statement and payment.
What does a partner organization commit to?
Promotion, on a schedule. The California application asks the organization to commit to a minimum number of promotional touches per campaign, and that figure is fixed in the partner agreement alongside the give-back rate, the payout terms and the length of the partnership. Read the commitment in the agreement before signing rather than treating the referral link as something you post once.
Which nonprofits are eligible to apply?
The application accepts 501(c)(3) public charities, 501(c)(3) private foundations, 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, and other nonprofit entities. It asks for your EIN, legal designation, registered address, website and an authorized signatory. The program is open in a limited list of states shown on the application form; if yours is not open yet, there is a waitlist.
What state charitable-promotion rules apply to this kind of fundraiser?
Several states regulate businesses that advertise that purchases benefit a charity. California treats such a business as a commercial coventurer under Government Code section 12599.2, which requires a written contract signed by two of the charity's officers, transfer of funds within 90 days and every 90 days thereafter, and a written accounting with each transfer — otherwise the business must register with the Attorney General. The Wisconsin application fields ask for a Department of Financial Institutions registration number and whether the organization has paid staff or receives $25,000 or more annually. Check your own state regulator through the NASCO directory before promoting the program there.
How is the give-back different from the add-a-donation product?
They are two separate mechanisms. The give-back is a share of eligible net sales that Love Brands pays the organization. The add-a-donation product is a line item a shopper puts in the cart, and the donation amount added is passed to the organization the shopper selected. The two are calculated differently and should never be described together as one number.
