Frequently Asked Questions

RecognizeGood.org is an online public forum where anyone can reward, acknowledge and promote others for their acts of kindness and unselfish charity.

After registering with basic information on www.RecognizeGood.org, users can recognize anyone for performing a good deed. Users provide the name, email address, zip code, date of the deed, headline of the deed and the good story behind it. The honoree will receive notice via e-mail that he or she has been recognized publicly and the recognition will be posted on the site.

Once the honoree accepts the recognition, the good deed is posted on the site and catalogued into a searchable database based by city, category, person, charity or name. The honoree may choose to accept anonymously. In this case, the deed will be posted with no name.

The user has the ability to track the status of his or her recognitions and review a record of past honorees. Users can also share the recognition through social media networks including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

For each recognition of a good deed, the Samaritan Center receives a small donation from corporate or individual sponsors. If someone would like to add to this pool of money, sponsors will match his or her donation and the honoree will be asked to choose the nonprofit charity that will benefit. The honoree will be given a list of pre-approved charity partners and the Samaritan Center will share the donation with the chosen organization.

Every day, countless people perform extraordinary deeds, no one better or more important than another. However, users have the opportunity to recognize a deed at various levels and, in the process, support the Samarian Center and its nonprofit partners. There are three levels of recognition:

• RecognizeGood: Directed toward one-to-one acts of charity or kindness, this option requires no financial or special considerations by either participant. A corporate donation is made in the name of the honoree to the Samaritan Center.
• RecognizeGreat: This level provides the user the ability to elevate the recognition by providing a financial contribution in the honoree's name, which is then matched by a corporate or individual sponsor. The honoree then has the privilege of selecting the partnering family and youth organization that will share the financial contribution with the Samaritan Center.

Soon to be added features:

• RecognizeSuper: The Recognize Super level is for the user who wants to make a gift or statement beyond a financial donation to memorialize the act or honoree, with the planting of a tree, dedicating a park bench or purchasing a brick for a new building in the honoree's name.
• RecognizeCompany: RecognizeGood can also be customized to fit employee recognition programs and charitable objectives of individual companies.

Co-founder John Bosch, CEO of Austin-based TyRex Group, has been the recipient of exceptional personal acts of human kindness, and wanted to create a way to show his gratitude publicly. He also wanted to publicly recognize the generous contributions his wife has made to her students as a teacher in an economically challenged school in Austin. John also realized that immeasurable good deeds are done in every community and simply wanted to create a social forum to share these daily inspirations.

TyRex was recognized by the Samaritan Center as a 2007 Ethics in Business award recipient. John wanted to do something to thank the Samaritan Center for the honor so he donated his company's talents and resources to create the website to promote and financially support the organization and its partners.

The Samaritan Counseling Center is a counseling center that has been saving lives, healing emotional wounds and giving hope to Central Texas families for more than 35 years. The nonprofit center offers a range of affordable and accessible counseling services from early childhood to elder years to prevent and treat abuse, develop healthy life skill and strengthen individuals and families.

In the last 10 years, the center has provided more than $2.5 million in charity care to children, teens, adults, couples, families, older adults, veterans, military families and the clergy. The Samaritan Center serves a 12-county region with locations in Central Austin, East Austin, Georgetown, Round Rock and San Marcos. It is affiliated with the Samaritan Institute of Denver as part of an international network of more than 500 counseling centers serving more than 35 states and Japan.

When users thank someone publicly in the RecognizeGood category, a small donation is made to the Samaritan Center to support its efforts to provide counseling services to those in need.

The Samaritan Center is currently working with other nonprofit organizations in Central Texas focused on serving youth and families. When users choose the RecognizeGreat category individuals make their own contribution and their honoree is given the opportunity to choose another nonprofit from a list of Charity Partners. The Samaritan Center will share the donation with the honoree's chosen organization. Currently, the RecognizeGood nonprofit partners include:

• Communities in Schools of Central Texas
• Austin Children's Shelter
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas
• Austin Partners in Education
• Heart House Austin
• Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area
• Capital Area Food Bank
• Caritas
• Austin School of Film

For information on becoming a partnering organization, please visit http://www.recognizegood.com/nonprofits.

Haven't there been times in your life when others have performed a special act of kindness, and you wanted to do something special to thank them and let others know how considerate they were?

Now you can with an easy, fun to use website that supports local charities in the process.

RecognizeGood goal is for one act of kindness to encourage other acts of kindness, and that by publicizing these acts, RecognizeGood will lift the spirit and light the fire of benevolence in our world. By rewarding those acts, RecognizeGood will also supply a sustainable source of support for the exceptional "good" provided by the Samaritan Center in Austin and its nonprofit partners serving youth and families in our community.

Ultimately, the goal is for RecognizeGood's impact to extend far beyond Central Texas to benefit all cities and a host of other nonprofits worldwide—an innovative way to encourage philanthropy while we strive to meet unprecedented demands in trying times.

Yes. Each RecognizeGood partner charity qualifies for 501(c)3 nonprofit status, so every donation counts as a tax-deductible donation. When you make a donation through the website, you must save and/or print the confirmation email you receive from RecognizeGood for your tax records. When you make a financial donation, the contribution is tax deductible to you, but your honoree does not receive a tax-deductible benefit.

Yes. RecognizeGood charges a small tax-deductible fee for credit card transactions. This fee is used to pay banks, credit card companies and other administrative costs. RecognizeGood does not profit from the fees.

Registration allows you to recognize someone for an act of kindness or charity. It gives us a way to contact you to confirm the validity of a story and to confirm your honoree's contact information. You will also have access to expanded features including the ability to create a personalized portfolio of people you have thanked, see more in-depth data on your submitted stories and compare good deeds in other cities across the country. Registered users also receive occasional email alerts when good deeds are posted. If you haven't already done so, become a registered user now at www.recognizegood.com.