Taking Donations Online

Non-Profits feel they need to have the the big companies donate the large cardboard cheque to be able to operate. You really don't! Although the big cheques are nice, they are few and far between. So, what's the answer? Rely on your community.

Your community is your backbone. For the most part, they know you or at least can understand your cause. Get them to pitch in more-cultivate it!

Individual giving campaigns are nothing new, but it's time to relook at it and rethink it. Most campaigns usually involve an insert to a newsletter that says, "I would like to contribute $25, $50, or $100. Please enclose a cheque. Thanks for your money. Have a great day!" Most likely you will end up with a few at the $25 level and maybe one $100 donation.

Redo it! Allow your donors to contibute monthly a small amout that is directly debited from their credit card/bank account and put into the societies account. People are more willing to give a smaller amount on a regular basis, than a large, single cash donation. Remember, the small donations add up.

There are a number of ways to handle reocuring payments, even for small organizations, without the large costs of doing so.

In our experience, we have identified a number of tools that will work. Most of them have their pros, but you need to do some research to figure out what will fit for your organization.

Paypal: This is very well known and there are a number of people that are already comfortable with using it. It's best for organizations that do not want the costly overhead of monthly fees. The organization only pays per transaction. Transactions happen on the Paypal site and each user is automatically issued their receipt.

Canadahelps.org: This service is similar to the process provided by Paypal, but is geared for charities. They handle everything for you and you pay a small percentage per transaction (almost comparable to Paypal).

There are a number of third party services, like Paypal, that provide payment options, but we have found these to be the most reasonable and easiest to integrate into your organization's workflow.

A downfall to using these services, may be the perception of your donors. They may feel that these services are taking their "cut" and only leaving a small portion for the actual intended donee. That's why we are always in favour of organizations providing donation opportunites their own site. Although, you still need to pay a 3rd party service as a payment gateway. The perception is that all of the money is going to the charity of their choice.

About the Author

Nico Zdunich

Owner Guy

Nico is the president and co-founder of Pixel Sweatshop. Over the past 15 years, he has worked in management in the Non-profit Sector. He is especially interested in improving information flows and efficiencies within organizations through the use of technology.