By default, Give Lively uses UTC to note the time and date of a completed donation. However, you have the ability to set a definitive timezone within the User Portal. This will change the time and date on your receipt and within the User Portal.

What is UTC?

UTC, which stands for Coordinated Universal Time, is used as the 24-hour time standard across the entire planet. UTC today is what people referred to as Greenwich Mean Time (or GMT) up until 1972, when GMT became the name of a time zone, not a time standard.

The local time anywhere on the planet can be calculated against UTC. For example, Eastern Standard Time (EST) in the U.S. is always UTC-5 (or UTC minus 5), meaning 16:00 UTC is 11:00am EST.

Why is this important?

In some cases, you may have been attempting to complete donations before a tax deadline – such as before midnight on December 31. If you did not set a timezone within the User Portal and therefore are using the default UTC timezone, then the receipt may not immediately look like the deadline was met, but it is accurate in UTC and can be confirmed with a tax expert or accountant as a valid donation made within the timeframe of your actual location.

For example, if you are based in San Francisco, have not selected a preferred timezone and you complete a donation at 7pm PST on December 31, you will see it on the receipt as having been completed at 03:00 UTC on January 1. That is not a mistake. Since PST is UTC-8, the UTC time is 8 hours later, or 3am. But the receipt, although it shows it in UTC, accurately reflects a donation time of 7pm on December 31 for you located in Pacific Standard Time.

What will I see in the User Portal?

The following Line Item uses UTC timezone as the default, unless you have set a timezone within the User Portal.

• Order Date (timezone) — date and time of the payment