A charge labeled brooklyn.org on your bank or credit card statement almost always comes from the Brooklyn Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity in Brooklyn, New York that uses brooklyn.org as both its website and its billing descriptor.1Brooklyn Org. Governance and Financials It usually reflects a one-time donation, a recurring pledge you set up earlier, a gala or event payment, or a contribution tied to a donor-advised fund held at the foundation.2Brooklyn Org. Donor Advised Funds If none of that rings a bell, work through the checks below before you assume fraud, and act fast if you still don’t recognize it.
Verify the Charge Before Anything Else
Start with the date on the statement. Think back to that week. A fundraising email, a charity event in Brooklyn, a friend’s giving circle, a memorial fund request. Recurring donations are the single most common source of confusion, because a monthly or quarterly pledge keeps posting long after you forgot you enrolled.
Then search your email. Try “Brooklyn Community Foundation,” “brooklyn.org,” “donation receipt,” and “tax acknowledgment,” and check spam and promotions. A real donation produces an automatic receipt with the amount, date, and a transaction ID that should line up with the statement. The foundation’s donation portal runs at brooklyncf.fcsuite.com, so the receipt URL may look different from the descriptor on your card.3Brooklyn Org. Donate
If nothing turns up, call the foundation at (718) 480-7500 or email giving@brooklyn.org.3Brooklyn Org. Donate Have the last four digits of the card, the exact amount, and the date. Donor services can locate a transaction without your full card number.
Signs the Charge Isn’t Yours
Most brooklyn.org charges turn out to be legitimate gifts the account holder simply forgot. Some don’t. Treat the charge as suspicious if:
- The amount doesn’t match anything you’d normally give, or it’s a round figure you wouldn’t pick.
- Several small charges hit in quick succession, which is a pattern scammers use to test a stolen card.
- There is no receipt anywhere in your email, and the foundation has no record when you call.
- The descriptor is close to brooklyn.org but spelled slightly differently, which can signal an imitator rather than the real charity.
If the foundation confirms it has nothing on file, don’t bother with its internal process. Go straight to your bank or card issuer.
Disputing an Unauthorized Charge
Your rights and your deadline depend on whether the charge hit a credit card or a debit card.
Credit Card
Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you have 60 days from the date the statement containing the error was sent to submit a written billing error notice.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1026.13 – Billing Error Resolution Most issuers accept disputes through their app or website, which counts as written notice. Flag the transaction as unauthorized and attach anything you have. The issuer has to acknowledge the dispute within 30 days and resolve it within two billing cycles.
Debit Card
Debit transactions fall under Regulation E, with the same 60-day outer deadline from the statement date.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.11 – Procedures for Resolving Errors The difference is how much you can lose. Report the unauthorized transfer within two business days of discovering it and your maximum liability is $50. Wait longer but still report within 60 days, and the cap rises to $500. Miss 60 days and you can be liable for the full amount. If a debit card is involved, call the bank the day you spot the charge.
Stopping a Recurring Donation
If the charge is yours but you want the withdrawals to stop, use two channels at once.
First, go to the foundation. Call (718) 480-7500 or email giving@brooklyn.org and ask donor services to cancel the recurring pledge.3Brooklyn Org. Donate If the gift was set up through the Brooklyn Gives platform, you may also be able to log in and manage it there. Keep a confirmation email ready so staff can pull your record quickly.
Second, as a backup, ask your bank or card issuer to place a stop payment on the recurring transaction. Banks typically charge $25 to $35 for the order. A stop payment doesn’t cancel your agreement with the charity, so still contact the foundation. It just blocks another charge from slipping through while the cancellation is processed.
If the account belonged to a family member who died, send the foundation a copy of the death certificate and give the same document to the bank that issued the card. Banks will usually freeze a deceased person’s account on receipt of the certificate, which halts outgoing transactions. On a joint account, the surviving holder can ask the bank to block the specific recurring charge or close the account.
If the Charge Is a Donor-Advised Fund Fee
One possibility people often miss: if you hold a donor-advised fund, giving circle, or memorial fund through the Brooklyn Community Foundation, the brooklyn.org charge may be the fund’s administrative fee rather than a new gift. Most fund types run 1% annually, with giving circles at 5% and some memorial funds billed at a $250 flat rate.2Brooklyn Org. Donor Advised Funds Those fees are usually pulled from the fund balance, but the billing descriptor still reads brooklyn.org. If the amount works out to roughly 1% of your fund balance split into monthly or quarterly installments, that is likely what you’re seeing.
Asking for a Refund on a Donation
If the charge is yours but was a mistake, a duplicate gift, or the wrong amount, the window is short. The foundation’s Brooklyn Gives platform requires refund requests within four business days of the original donation.6Brooklyn Gives. Terms of Service After that, any refund is handled directly with the foundation outside the payment platform, with no guarantee it will be granted. Call donor services the moment you notice the problem. If someone else used your card, skip the refund route entirely and file the dispute with your bank, which is the more reliable path.