Changelog

Closing your account now explains exactly what happens to your information, so there are no surprises later.

• You'll see what's removed right away. Your public profile, fundraisers, and photos come down immediately, your recurring donations are cancelled, and you're signed out everywhere.
• You'll see what we have to keep. As a registered 501(c)(3), we're required to keep a record of your name, contact details, and giving and payout history for seven years after your account closes. That record isn't visible to anyone outside Sowfund, and it's permanently deleted once the seven years are up.

A few fixes to make your donation history easier to read and your recurring gifts easier to track.

• See what you were actually charged. Your giving history now shows the full amount charged — including any processing fees you chose to cover — instead of just the base gift amount, across every row, your totals, and the PDF export.
• Bank payment methods show correctly. When you give or set up a recurring gift from a bank account, your giving history and recurring-donation details now show the bank name and last four digits instead of a blank dash.
• Recurring bank gifts appear right away. Set up a recurring donation from a bank account and you'll see it in your portal immediately, instead of waiting for the first payment to clear.
• Smoother Donate button. Tapping Donate from a short profile link now scrolls smoothly to the donation form instead of jumping.

Supporting a missionary now takes one tap. We added a Donate button right at the top of every missionary profile, so donors can jump straight to the donation form without scrolling to find it. We also tidied up a few things along the way.

• Donate button up top. Quick access to the donation form from the moment a profile loads.
• Cleaner profile layout. A missionary's external links now live in a tidier spot, making profiles easier to scan.
• Crushed some bugs. Smoothed out onboarding and fixed a few rough edges.

Missionaries can set the giving amounts their page recommends to donors. Larger recommendations now save and display exactly as entered, so the amount you choose is the amount donors see on your page.

When you entered the wrong email at login, some people saw a confusing technical message instead of a helpful one. Now the login form simply tells you "The email or password you entered is incorrect."

We also fixed a few smaller login issues along the way.

Adding a photo while creating or editing a fundraiser was failing for some missionaries. That's fixed — your images now upload and save the first time, so your fundraiser goes live looking the way you intended.

We made a couple of changes to keep applications current and to make re-applying painless.

• Unfinished applications now expire. If you start an application but don't finish identity verification, we'll send a reminder first, then let the application expire so the details we review are always up to date. You can start a fresh one anytime.
• Re-applying works on the first click. Applicants who were previously turned down and clicked "Re-apply" could get stuck on the denied screen. That's fixed — re-applying now takes you straight to a new application.

We smoothed out the rough edges for when something goes wrong. Errors are rarer now, and on the rare occasion one does show up, you'll see a branded screen where you can tell us what happened instead of a blank error page.

• Fewer interruptions. Fixed a couple of bugs that could break your dashboard or stop you from publishing your profile when it had a lot of photos.
• Tell us what happened. If an error ever does appear, the new screen lets you send us a quick note about it right then and there, so we can track it down faster.
• Bug fixes and behind-the-scenes polish. A round of smaller fixes and reliability improvements across the platform to keep things running smoothly.

Some donors prefer paper, and now they can use it. Sowfund accepts physical checks on a missionary's behalf, processes them at our address, and posts the funds straight to the missionary's wallet.

• A new way to give. The FAQ and Platform Fees page now walk donors through where to mail a check, who to make it payable to, and what to put in the memo line. There's a flat processing fee per check on top of the standard service fee, called out clearly before the donor sends anything.
• Awaiting confirmation. As soon as a check arrives on your behalf, it shows up in your wallet's "Awaiting confirmation" balance with the gross amount, and you get an email letting you know it landed.
• Funds available. Once the check clears, it moves from "Awaiting confirmation" to "Available" — net of the standard service fee and the check processing fee — and you get a second email confirming the funds are spendable.
• If something goes wrong. If a check can't be processed, we'll remove it from "Awaiting confirmation" and email you with the reason. You'll never see funds vanish without an explanation.

No action needed from missionaries — if a donor mentions they're putting a check in the mail, just keep an eye on your wallet.

We reworked missionary onboarding around what matters most: getting you verified and ready to receive donations as quickly as possible.

• Verification up front. Identity verification now happens early in the flow so your account is ready the moment your application is approved.
• Resume where you left off. Drafts auto-save as you go. You can step away and come back without losing progress.
• Clearer next steps. A progress bar at the top of every page tells you exactly what's done and what's left.
• Better email reminders. If you pause partway through, we'll send a gentle nudge with a direct link back to your draft.
• Welcome email on signup. New missionaries get a welcoming first email when they create an account.

Existing missionaries don't need to do anything — this only affects new sign-ups.

A clearer home for the writing and guidance on Sowfund.

• Insights is now Blogs. Same content, clearer name. Posts are sorted newest-first, and each category shows the three most recent on its landing page.
• Donor help subcategories. Help articles for donors are now grouped into clearer subsections so it's faster to find what you need.

Missionaries based in certain countries were hitting a wall partway through onboarding. That's fixed — international onboarding now completes on the first try.

We've also quieted a confusing automated email from one of our payment partners that new missionaries used to receive right after applying.

Recurring donors can now change their monthly amount and update their payment method directly from the donor portal — no need to cancel and re-create the donation.

• Edit the amount. Bump up or scale back monthly giving in a couple clicks.
• Update the card or bank account. Replace an expiring card without losing your giving history.
• One unified flow. Editing the amount and updating the payment method now live in a single, simpler modal.

A batch of small refinements based on early feedback from missionaries using v2.

• Show-completed filter on fundraisers. Toggle whether finished fundraisers appear in your list.
• End fundraiser cleanly. Ending a fundraiser early now sends you back to the fundraisers list instead of a stale page.
• Crisper transaction cards. Tighter columns, no orphaned icons, and amounts that size to their content.
• EXIF-aware photo uploads. Photos taken on phones no longer appear sideways after cropping in Chrome.
• Better recurring-donation cancel modal. Fixed an incorrect title and tightened the copy.

We've adjusted card processing fees on the donation form to reflect what each payment type actually costs:

• American Express is now a flat 3.5%.
• International cards add a 1% surcharge.

The fee breakdown shown to donors at checkout has been updated to match.

Sowfund Insights is a new section of the site with practical writing for missionaries and supporters — fundraising guidance, financial-stewardship explainers, and stories from the field.

You can find it at sowfund.org/insights. New posts go up regularly.

A few quality-of-life updates focused on sharing your profile and how Sowfund looks on the homepage.

• sow.fund short links. When you copy or share your profile, the link now uses the sow.fund domain — shorter, easier to fit in a bio or text message.
• Case-insensitive profile URLs. Donors won't get a 404 if they type your username with a different capitalization.
• Trusted by missionaries section. The homepage now showcases real missionaries currently raising support on Sowfund.
• Polished wallet and profile typography. Tighter spacing and better hierarchy across the wallet and missionary profile pages.

A round of improvements to bank donations.

• Lower processing fees. Bank donations now carry a smaller fee than before, so more of every gift reaches the missionary — useful for larger or recurring gifts.
• Tighter bank linking. Donors now verify ownership of the linked bank account before the donation is collected.
• Fee toggle fixed. The "cover the fee" option on the donation form now responds correctly to direct clicks.

A major release. We've rebuilt Sowfund from the ground up around a few things missionaries have been asking for, with fundraisers as the headline.

• Fundraisers. Run a focused campaign for a specific need — a trip, a vehicle, a one-time project — alongside your ongoing support. Donors can give to a fundraiser or to you directly.
• Faster, clearer donation flow. A redesigned checkout with a transparent fee breakdown and the option for donors to cover processing fees so 100% reaches you.
• Clearer wallet. A redesigned wallet view with a transparent breakdown of every donation, fee, and withdrawal. Missionaries raising support in a non-USD currency now see donations converted at the moment they're credited.
• Custom login with email verification. A cleaner sign-in experience with email verification codes built in.
• Vote for features. Tell us what to build next. Anyone can submit a feature request, and the public can vote on the ideas they want most.
• Mobile-friendly fundraiser cards. Profiles and fundraiser listings now look right on phones.

If you were on the previous version of Sowfund, your data has been migrated over and your payout history is preserved.

Today we're launching Sowfund — a fundraising home for Christian missionaries, built around our registered 501(c)(3) so every gift is tax-deductible to the donor.

• Your missionary profile. A public page at your own URL where supporters can learn about your calling and give.
• One-time and recurring donations. Donors can give a single gift or set up monthly support, with a receipt in their inbox the same day.
• Onboarding and identity verification. A guided sign-up flow that gets you verified and ready to receive support.
• Wallet and withdrawals. A clear view of what's come in, what's available, and a simple way to move funds to your bank.
• Donor portal. Your supporters can manage their own giving — view receipts, update payment methods, and stay connected.

This is just the beginning. We'll be shipping regularly from here.