5 Best Payment Ways for Nonprofits to Accept Donations Online

In today’s digital age, nonprofits cannot survive without shifting their fundraising focus online. It has become an essential part of every nonprofit’s fundraising strategy. Online donations are not only convenient, but they also allow donors to make secure donations at any point in time from anywhere in the world. 

If you ever want to donate for a cause now, all you have to do is visit the nonprofit website and make a donation online. But what if you are a nonprofit? What are the options you can give to donors for online giving? How will you choose the right payment way? In this blog, we’ll discuss the five best payment ways for nonprofits.

1. GPay

GPay or Google Pay is a digital wallet platform that allows users to store credit and debit cards, loyalty cards, and gift cards. GPay partners with an NGO called Network For Good (NFG) which collects and distributes the donations received by the nonprofit using a donor-advised fund. 

GPay charges no fees for donations, making it an excellent choice for nonprofits looking for a cost-effective solution. But it may take up to 2 months for the nonprofits to receive donations that have come through GPay.

Also, when donors make donations to your nonprofit, their payment will be listed as going to NFG instead of yours. However, through the GPay collaboration, it will eventually be transferred to your nonprofit.  

One thing to be noted is that GPay doesn’t share donor information. So, nonprofits can simply create an online donation page with a custom form for donors to fill in their contact details before they make an online donation.

Features and benefits of GPay for nonprofits:

• User-friendly interface for easy integration with nonprofit fundraising software.
• Secure and fast payment processing.
• Donors can easily donate using their mobile device or desktop.
• Donors don’t need a Google account when making donations through GPay. They can use the guest checkout option and their credit card when making donations.
• Donors can keep track of their donation history and receipts.

Pricing:

GPay charges no fees for donations for donors in the United States. If donors are making payments from another country, it may charge them currency conversion or credit card fees. All donations made through GPay are non-refundable.  

2. Stripe

Stripe is another popular payment gateway used by nonprofits to collect donations online. It offers a seamless experience to donors by offering a range of payment options and features making it an excellent choice for nonprofits of all sizes. One of the benefits of using Stripe for nonprofits is its customizability. You can easily set up a donation form on your website and customize it to match your brand. You can also set up recurring donations, which is a great way to encourage donors to make regular contributions.  

Features and benefits of Stripe for nonprofits:

• It offers a range of payment options from credit/debit cards to ACH payments and more.
• It accepts donations through Apple Pay both in-app and on the web.
• Nonprofits can customize their payment page.
• Easy integration with donation platforms.
• It provides tools to manage subscriptions, invoices, and payouts. 

Pricing

Stripe charges a fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. However, it offers a discount for nonprofits. 

But there are certain conditions to be met for fee discounts: 

• Your organization should have a nonprofit status
• It has to process more than 80% of donations through Stripe
• Confirmation that greater than 80% of your payment volume will be tax-deductible donations.
• Non-eligible donations include membership fees, ticket sales, registration fees, and auction payments.

While there is no specific fee mentioned for nonprofits, many have reported a final discounted fee of 2.2% + $0.30 per transaction.

3. PayPal

PayPal is one of the most popular payment gateways used by nonprofits to make payments online. It offers a simple interface making it easy for nonprofits to integrate into their fundraising platform.  

Features and benefits of PayPal for nonprofits:

• It's simple to use, safe, and widely recognized. 
• Many donors trust Paypal and feel comfortable donating through it.
• It offers a variety of tools for nonprofits to manage donations including recurring donations and fundraising campaigns. 
• Nonprofits can add a customized Donate button to their fundraising website.
• Accepts recurring donations or donations to specific programs.
• Low-friction contribution processing using email, QR codes, and shared URL support.

Pricing

The PayPal pricing for receiving donations for fundraisers is different from that for charities. It charges a fee of 2.89% + $0.49 per transaction for Donate Button and Paypal Checkout for Donations. For Listed PayPal fundraisers, it charges 2.99%, and no fee for PayPal unlisted fundraisers. For international donations, it charges a 1.50% additional fee per transaction.

The domestic charity transactions are cheaper at 1.99% + $0.49. For international charity transactions, it charges an additional percentage-based fee of 1.50%.    

4. iATS Payments

iATS or International Automated Transaction Services Payments is an integrated payment processing platform created specifically for nonprofits and charities. It provides several features for nonprofits to set up a standalone donation page to collect donations or membership fees.  

Features and benefits of iATS Payments for nonprofits:

• Advanced fraud prevention and security.
• Level 1 PCI compliance for transaction data safety.
• Supports all payment needs from online fundraising and CRM integrations to auctions and events.
• Pre-populated donation forms.
• Allow your donors to opt to cover the processing fee for their transaction.

Pricing

The iATS Payments platform charges a fixed monthly fee other than the processing fee per donation. 

5. GivingX

Similar to iATS Payments, GivingX is an integrated custom fundraising software to collect payments from donors, design a fundraising landing page, create embeddable custom forms for your website, reach an international audience through its automatic language translation tool, and much more. 

It offers 125+ secured payment gateways to offer payment flexibility to donors. It has Stripe, Apple Pay, GPay, PayPal, and other payment gateways integrated with it so that you can benefit from it when you create a fundraising landing page or embed a custom form to collect donations. 

Features and benefits of GivingX for nonprofits:

• Create custom forms for donations to embed in your website.
• Create custom landing pages to redirect the donors to your fundraiser. 
• Create contact & volunteer forms to collect information.
• Manage detailed donor records through the donor management CRM.
• Use free and unlimited 5,000+ integrations through Zapier.
• 125+ secured payment gateways. 
• Automatic language translation tool to attract global donors.
• Advanced data management including exporting and importing data.

Pricing

GivingX charges a flat 1.45% per transaction. The processing fee depends on the payment gateway opted for by the donor. GivingX’s features and pricing make it a popular choice for nonprofits to raise successful fundraisers.   

Conclusion

These are the 5 best payment ways for nonprofits to accept donations online. Which one of them do you think is the best suited for your fundraising needs? 

With GivingX, starting a fundraiser and managing it is a breeze. If you are interested to know more about this custom fundraising software, contact us and we’ll assist you to start your crowdfunding now.