Direct answers, in the language people actually use.
Twenty-five questions, four categories. The basics, the money, the legal, the operational. If your question is not here, write to[email protected]and we will add it.
The basics
What is Attestyx?
A verification, evidence, and recovery layer for charitable giving. Foundations and donors use it to vet grantees before money moves, document every disbursement decision, monitor grants through their lifecycle, and produce court-admissible evidence if something later goes wrong.
Who is Attestyx for?
Foundations, family offices, donor-advised funds, corporate giving programs, fiscal sponsors, and grant-management firms that work with foundations. On the grantee side: any registered charity that applies for grants from participating foundations.
Does Attestyx hold or move charitable funds?
No. The platform never custodies, routes, or transmits charitable money in any jurisdiction. Foundations stay with their banks; grantees keep their own accounts; we only verify, attest, and signal. Global Hands, Inc. (the 501(c)(3) Operator) operates Attestyx as a charitable program; JIL Sovereign Technologies, Inc. (the Licensor) provides the underlying technology. Neither entity acts as a fiduciary or money transmitter.
How is this different from Candid, Charity Navigator, or GuideStar?
Those services rate and catalog charities using publicly filed data. We pre-clear specific grant decisions against 148 signals, anchor every disbursement to a tamper-evident chain, and build court-admissible evidence packages. Different category. Foundations typically use both.
How is it different from Fluxx, SmartSimple, or Foundant?
Those are grant-management workflow platforms - they help you manage your pipeline. We sit underneath the workflow as the verification and evidence layer. If you use one of them, we integrate via webhook. You can keep your workflow tool and add us underneath.
The money
How much does Attestyx cost a foundation?
5 percent of grant volume on a comprehensive engagement, with volume tiers reducing the marginal rate above $100M and again above $500M. A $500K minimum annual fee covers onboarding and base platform access. Or a four-SKU partial engagement starting at $250K for a one-time retroactive scan.
Why 5 percent?
The sector loses an estimated 5-7 percent of giving to fraud, misuse, and silent failure each year. Our fee is intentionally calibrated against that loss. The first prevented six-figure fraud usually pays for the engagement for years.
Are grantees charged?
No. Grantees never pay Attestyx. Verification cost is borne entirely on the foundation side, on the principle that the verifying party should fund the verification.
What is the Tier 1 mandate?
Ten percent of JIL Sovereign Technologies' net profits is automatically donated annually to Global Hands, Inc. (US 501(c)(3), EIN 92-1444754) - tax-deductible to JIL Tech under IRC §170. Global Hands routes the donation through Attestyx pre-clearance and disburses to verified-clean recipients across five operational jurisdictions: the US, UAE, Singapore, Brazil, and Europe. The allocation is enforced in software at the same place revenue is recognized; neither board can revise it.
How does the recovery-tied engagement work?
Zero base fee. We build the evidence package on suspected past misuse. If the foundation recovers funds, we take 30 percent of net recovery. If recovery is zero, you owe zero. The 25 percent recovery-cost cap from the platform rules stays intact.
Legal and regulatory
Is Attestyx regulated as a money transmitter?
No. The platform never holds or moves charitable funds, so money-transmission licensing does not apply in any jurisdiction. Disbursement remains with the foundation's bank or with the registered charitable fiduciary in the relevant country.
What does FRE 902(14) admissible mean?
Federal Rule of Evidence 902(14) lets certain digitally-signed electronic records be self-authenticating in U.S. federal court without a sponsoring witness. Every CREB attestation we generate satisfies the rule's requirements. Translation: you can put the receipt in evidence without your IT person having to fly to court.
How does Attestyx comply with GDPR?
A published Data Processing Addendum, Standard Contractual Clauses Module 2 for EU/EEA-to-third-country transfers, content-addressed encrypted document vault, audit-logged access. The full DPA is at /legal/data-protection.
What about HIPAA and PHI?
Attestyx is not HIPAA-regulated by default. For grantees in healthcare contexts where PHI may incidentally be in evidence, we sign a Business Associate Agreement. SOC 2 Type II target is Q4 2027.
What is the equivalency-determination playbook?
IRS Revenue Procedure 92-94 / 2017-53 lets a U.S. private foundation make grants to a foreign organization without exercising Expenditure Responsibility, by obtaining a written ED that the foreign grantee meets the public-charity equivalent standard. We compress that 6-12 week, $5K-$15K work to about a week by sharing the underlying evidence file across foundations.
How does the bad-actor registry due process work?
Submission, evidence assembly, 30-day notice to the entity, response window, optional council hearing, 5-of-7 council supermajority vote, CourtChain anchor. Public listing only at the Excluded level after the process completes. Full framework at /resources/baa-framework.
Operational
How long does foundation onboarding take?
About six weeks total from first call to first verdict: 30-minute discovery call, 1-3 weeks for counsel to review the MSA + DPA, ~45 minutes in the in-app onboarding wizard, optional 1-2 days for webhook integration if you use Fluxx/SmartSimple/Foundant, and 5 business days for the first verdict or retroactive scan.
How long does grantee onboarding take?
About 40 minutes of grantee staff time. Five-step wizard: create profile (5 min), upload core documents (20-40 min), disclose beneficial owners + key personnel (15 min), review the verdict report (~2 min after upload), apply to participating foundations (ongoing).
What documents does a grantee need to upload?
Articles of incorporation or charter, by-laws, board roster, audited financials (or jurisdictional equivalent), IRS determination letter (or local equivalent), conflict-of-interest policy, and beneficial-owner / key-personnel form. Full checklist at /for-grantees#documents.
What countries does Attestyx operate in?
Five operational jurisdictions: the United States, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Brazil, and Europe. Global Hands, Inc. (US 501(c)(3), Texas-headquartered, EIN 92-1444754) is the single legal operating entity in all five — running international charitable program activities directly under IRS Rev. Proc. 92-94 / IRC §4945(d)(4). Per-country foreign legal entities (UAE charitable association, Singapore IPC, Brazilian OSCIP, Swiss foundation under cantonal/federal supervision) may form in the future as scale warrants but are not required today. Foundations from any country can engage Tier 2; the operational jurisdictions are about where Mandate-routed Tier 1 grant capital flows.
What languages is the platform available in?
The public-facing portal is translated into 13 languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Turkish. RTL layout for Arabic and Hebrew. Application content stays in the language the grantee submitted.
Is there an API?
Yes. REST endpoints for foundation integrations, reporting export, and audit pulls. Webhook events for application status, milestone events, attestation generation, registry inclusions, and recovery alerts. Public catalog at /api-docs.
What happens if a grantee on the platform turns out to be fraudulent?
The platform supports a 7-stage recovery workflow: Investigation, Determination, Demand, Voluntary, Legal, Settlement, Closed. Statute-of-limitations tracking. CREB evidence packages exportable for litigation. Recovery costs capped at 25 percent per Doc 01 §7.3. Recovered funds return to the originating vault, never to JIL.
What is the Verdict Engine?
175 checks across 17 categories that run on every application, milestone, and disbursement. Categories include legal status, sanctions screening, beneficial ownership and control, financial integrity, behavioral and incident data, governance, and operational signals. Live coverage at /transparency/coverage; sample output at /transparency/sample-verdict.
How quickly does a verdict come back?
For a complete grantee profile (all required documents uploaded), the engine returns a verdict in roughly 400 milliseconds. For incomplete profiles, the engine still returns a verdict but with explicit skipped_reason markers showing exactly what evidence is missing.
For foundation general counsel and compliance
Direct answers to the questions counsel and compliance teams ask before signing the MSA. Informational only and not legal advice.
Is the FRE 902(14) anchor actually accepted in practice?
Yes. Federal Rule of Evidence 902(14), effective December 2017, makes electronic records authenticated by a qualified digital identification process self-authenticating, eliminating the need for a custodian deposition or chain-of-custody testimony. CourtChain anchoring satisfies the rule's requirements through cryptographic hash, timestamp, and distributed validator attestation. The rule applies in all federal courts and has been adopted in substantially identical form by most state evidence codes. The practical effect: an Attestyx evidence bundle is admissible in a federal action without producing a witness to authenticate it. Opposing counsel can still challenge weight, but cannot challenge authenticity on the basis of records-keeping objections.
What happens if a verified grantee later turns bad?
The evidence bundle is generated at the time of the verdict and is immutable. A grantee that passes pre-clearance and later commits fraud, loses 501(c)(3) status, or appears on a sanctions list does not retroactively invalidate the foundation's diligence record. The foundation's defense rests on what was known and verifiable at the time of transfer, which is exactly what the bundle preserves. When a grantee's status changes, Attestyx triggers a re-screen and notifies every foundation with an active engagement. Subsequent disbursements require a new verdict. The original bundle for past disbursements remains valid as the contemporaneous record for those transfers.
How does Attestyx handle conflicting state law?
Pre-clearance generates a single comprehensive verdict that satisfies the intersection of all applicable regimes, not the lowest common denominator. For state charitable solicitation registration, the platform verifies in each state where the grantee operates or solicits. For fraudulent transfer exposure, the bundle preserves the documentary record needed to mount a good-faith defense under the UVTA in any forum, regardless of which state's choice-of-law rules apply. For multi-jurisdictional foundations, this is the central operational benefit. The foundation does not need to decide in advance which state's law will govern a future dispute.
Does Attestyx replace our existing legal counsel?
No. Attestyx is the diligence and evidence infrastructure. It is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Foundations retain counsel for engagement structuring, dispute management, regulatory inquiries, and case-specific judgment calls. Counsel using Attestyx typically reports significantly reduced billable hours on routine grant diligence, with remaining counsel time allocated to higher-value strategic work.
What is the regulatory status of CourtChain?
CourtChain is a permissioned evidence anchoring infrastructure operated by a 14-of-20 Byzantine fault tolerant validator quorum across 13-plus jurisdictions. It is not a money transmission system, not a securities trading venue, and does not custody assets. Its sole function is to produce immutable, cryptographically authenticated timestamps and attestations for evidence bundles.
How long are evidence bundles retained?
Permanently. The CourtChain anchor cannot be deleted or modified by Global Hands (the Operator), by JIL Sovereign Technologies (the Licensor), by the foundation, or by any third party. This is a deliberate architectural choice. Statutes of limitations on fraud, fraudulent transfer, and tax matters extend years past the transfer date, and the evidence bundle must remain available for the full duration of any foreseeable challenge.
For foundation operations and program staff
How long does pre-clearance take?
For a US 501(c)(3) recipient with current filings and clean signal, the verdict typically returns in minutes. For foreign grantees requiring Equivalency Determination, the timeline depends on document availability and typically completes within a small number of business days. Repeat verifications of previously cleared grantees return immediately, since the existing bundle is reusable until a re-screen trigger fires.
Can we override a verdict?
Yes. The platform produces a verdict, not a mandate. Foundations retain full decision authority over their own grant capital. An override is itself a recorded event in the evidence bundle, with the override reason, approver, and timestamp captured. If a foundation chooses to fund a grantee against an Attestyx flag, the bundle preserves the record of that decision and the basis for it.
What does the 148-check Verdict Engine actually evaluate?
Seventeen categories spanning legal status (IRS qualification, state registration, foreign equivalency), sanctions and watchlists (OFAC SDN, sectoral, EU, UK, UN, PEP), beneficial ownership and control (UBO, related parties, common director networks), financial integrity (Form 990 analysis, audit history, going concern signals), behavioral and incident data (prior fraud findings, regulator actions, cross-foundation reports), and operational signals (governance composition, executive compensation ratios, program expense ratios). Full coverage detail is published at /transparency/coverage.
Does Attestyx work for international grants?
Yes. The platform supports both Equivalency Determination and Expenditure Responsibility documentation for non-US grantees, with Global Hands operating directly across five international jurisdictions (US, UAE, Singapore, Brazil, Europe) and sanctions screening across all major regimes. Foreign grants are the single highest-risk category for foundation managers under IRC §4945, and Attestyx is purpose-built for them.
For grantees
How long does our verification last?
The verified profile remains active until a re-screen trigger fires (status change, new sanctions data, regulatory action, or an annual periodic re-screen). For most grantees in steady state, verification is effectively continuous. New grant applications inside the network reuse the existing verdict rather than restarting diligence.
What if we are flagged in error?
The platform supports a formal review and correction process. A grantee who believes a flag is incorrect can submit supporting documentation, which is reviewed by the platform's compliance team and, where appropriate, the flag is corrected with the correction itself recorded in the evidence trail. Source data corrections (for example, an IRS status update) propagate automatically.
Does being on Attestyx make us more visible to regulators?
No. The platform is private infrastructure operated for foundations and grantees. The Bad Actor Registry is the only public-facing component, and verified grantees in good standing are not published there. The verdict bundle is shared with foundations the grantee has authorized, not with regulators or the public.
For donors
How do I know my donation actually reached a real organization?
When you give to a foundation operating on Attestyx, the foundation's disbursements are pre-cleared, attested, and recorded in court-portable form. Foundations on the platform publish transparency reports showing verified recipient activity. Look for the Attestyx attestation badge on participating foundation sites, or check the public registry at /registry.
Can individual donors use Attestyx directly?
Yes, in two ways. (1) Donor-advised fund holders and major-gift donors can ask the foundations they support whether they use Attestyx or an equivalent pre-clearance system. (2) Individual donors who want their giving routed through Attestyx pre-clearance can donate directly to Global Hands, Inc. (the 501(c)(3) operator of Attestyx, EIN 92-1444754); Global Hands routes the funds through Attestyx and disburses to verified-clean recipient organizations. Donations are tax-deductible under IRC §170 with the 60% AGI cash-gift limit (170(b)(1)(A)(vi) public charity).
Where does the 10 percent Human Flourishing allocation actually go?
JIL Sovereign Technologies donates 10% of net profits annually to Global Hands, Inc. (US 501(c)(3)). Global Hands routes those funds through Attestyx pre-clearance to verified-clean recipient organizations across five operational jurisdictions: the US, UAE, Singapore, Brazil, and Europe. The live allocation is published every six hours at /transparency, with each disbursement event anchored to CourtChain.
General
Is Attestyx a blockchain product?
CourtChain, the evidence anchoring layer, is a permissioned distributed ledger. The rest of the platform is conventional infrastructure. The foundation interacts with Attestyx through a standard web portal and API. There is no token, no wallet requirement, and no on-chain transaction the foundation needs to manage. The blockchain layer exists solely to make evidence bundles tamper-evident and self-authenticating under FRE 902(14).
Who operates Attestyx?
Attestyx is operated as a charitable program of Global Hands, Inc., a Texas-headquartered US 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 92-1444754, IRS-recognized since December 14, 2022, classification 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) publicly-supported). Attestyx attestation technology is licensed from JIL Sovereign Technologies, Inc. (Delaware) under a fair-market-value Master Services Agreement; underlying IP is owned by JIL Sovereign Holdings, LLC (Wyoming). Global Hands operates internationally — direct programs in the US, UAE, Singapore, Brazil, and Europe. Disbursement execution remains with foundations and their banking partners; Global Hands never holds, routes, or transmits charitable funds.
How do I get started?
Foundations: visit /for-foundations or schedule a call at /connect. Grantees: visit /for-grantees and begin verification. Donors: ask the foundations you support whether they use Attestyx or an equivalent attestation system. For everything else, /connect.