Running Your Java Momma Fundraiser

Everything you need, start to finish. Bookmark this page — you'll probably come back to it more than once.

1. Applying

The application is four short steps:

• General Info — you, your organization, contact details.
• Campaign Description & Photo — the story people see on your fundraiser page. Cover who you are, what you're raising money for, and why it matters — two to four sentences is plenty. This is also where you upload a photo. Got a logo? Upload it — it's what we'll use if you're approved for a Custom Blend (more on that in Section 6). No logo is fine too; any photo representing your group works.
• Dates — pick a start date and how many days your fundraiser runs. Two to four weeks tends to work best; three weeks is a solid default if you're unsure.
• Participants — optional, with a few ways to handle it. Skip it entirely and use one shared campaign link. Want a team-by-team breakdown instead? List your teams, grades, or classes here (no emails needed) — for example, "Varsity," "JV," or "3rd Grade Class." We'll use that list to set up each group once you're approved, then send you join links for people to add themselves to the right group. Prefer to build a full individual roster yourself right now? You can do that too, though we'd still recommend letting people join through their own link when possible — it lets each person upload their own photo and accept the participation terms themselves.

2. Getting Approved

We review every application. Fundraising with Java Momma is about goodwill and community — not personal financial gain — and we approve on that basis, not on volume or first-come-first-served. Once you're approved, you'll get an email inviting you to set up your account. That's the next step.

3. Setting Up Your Tax Info (W-9)

Because Java Momma pays your organization directly, federal law requires a completed W-9 on file before your fundraiser can go live — for every organization, regardless of size. Here's exactly what to expect:

1. Click the link in your approval email and create a password. This sets up your account.
2. Once you're logged in, go straight to the Settings tab. You'll see a full dashboard — ignore almost all of it. Settings is the only place you need to go.
3. Fill in the W-9 section. A few notes that'll save you a double-take:
   • Tax ID: if your organization has an EIN, enter it. If not, enter "N/A."
   • You'll see a second, similar tax ID field further down the page — that's normal, not a glitch. Just enter the same thing there too.
   • Date of birth: this field is required to create any account here, even though it's not really relevant to an organization and has nothing to do with your actual W-9 information. Any date will get you past it.
4. Submit. We'll confirm once we've received it and get your fundraiser page live — usually within a couple of business days.

Why we ask: any organization or individual Java Momma pays $600 or more in a calendar year needs a W-9 on file, and most fundraisers clear that on their own. The form tells us your entity type, which determines whether we're required to issue a Form 1099-NEC at year end. This is a Java Momma reporting requirement — it doesn't change your payout. Questions about how it affects your own organization's filing are best directed to your treasurer or accountant.

4. Your Fundraiser Goes Live

Once approved, your fundraiser gets its own page and a unique link. That link is the whole game — every order placed through it counts toward your goal.

5. Sharing Your Link

Share it however works for your group — text, email, social media, a note home in backpacks, all of it. There's no wrong way to do this. The more people who see it, the more it raises.

If you want individual members to have their own personal pages, send out the sign-up link so they can register themselves — their own photo, their own link, their own progress, and their own acceptance of the participation terms. You can add people manually instead if you'd rather, but the sign-up link tends to work better for exactly that reason. If you listed team, grade, or class names in your application, we'll have set those groups up on our end and can give you a join link for each one to share, so people land in the right group when they sign up.

If any of your participants are under 18, please make sure a parent or guardian is involved in their sign-up — including approving any photo before it's uploaded. The sign-up link includes a terms page covering this, but it's worth mentioning directly when you send the link out, especially for younger groups.

6. Tracking Your Progress

Your fundraiser page shows your progress toward your goal in real time. Check in whenever you like — there's nothing you need to do to keep it updated.

7. When Your Fundraiser Closes

Orders keep shipping as they come in — we roast to order, so there's no separate "shipping day" to wait for. Once your campaign period ends, we total up your organization's earnings and send a check. 

Quick Answers

Do we have to pay anything upfront? No. No inventory to buy, no minimum order to front.

Can we run another fundraiser later? Yes — and your W-9 will already be on file, so setup is faster the second time.

Something's not working — who do we contact? Email [email protected] and we'll sort it out.