PayPal is a known and trusted giving platform that many donors feel comfortable using. Overall, it’s one of the best, most secure ways to send and receive donations because donors don’t have to reveal their credit card or bank information. In fact, 79% of donors reported they felt confident using PayPal on unfamiliar websites.
For all of its benefits, PayPal does come with some drawbacks and factors to consider for nonprofits. We’ve gathered some of the pros and things to consider so you can make a balanced, informed choice about whether to use PayPal as a payment processing platform for your nonprofit!
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Overview of PayPal for Nonprofits
In addition to being a known and trusted payment processing platform, PayPal does offer unique benefits to nonprofits.
PayPal lets you easily accept online and in-person donations, even if donors don’t have a PayPal account. This adds a lot of flexibility to your giving options for supporters and allows you to accept major credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal payments. Then you can send your giving invoices from any device and even automate the invoicing process without any additional software.
Another great feature is the option for supporters to donate to specific programs and even set up recurring gifts. With the customizable donation page, organizations can also choose which donation amounts to offer donors.
PayPal costs for nonprofits
Paypal does come with some fees to consider, even with the discounts available to confirmed 501(c)(3) organizations. The 2021 rates for nonprofits are between 2.2% and 2.89%, plus a fixed fee that varies for each country, but there are no monthly fees for nonprofits.
In order to receive the PayPal nonprofit fees, organizations need to apply and prove their 501(c)(3) status; otherwise, the standard PayPal donation fee applies.
It’s also important to consider that nonprofits do not appear to get a discounted rate when accepting in-person donations with the PayPal Here app. There aren’t any long-term commitments or monthly fees for this option, but the transaction fee is 2.29% plus $0.09. Depending on how you use the app, those fees can add up fast!
Benefits of Using PayPal With Soapbox Engage
Part of the reason PayPal has such widespread trust is because of its integration potential. Despite its popularity and emphasis on security, PayPal was never designed to be an all-in-one fundraising tool. That’s where Soapbox Engage comes in! Pairing the two tools creates a fundraising super-tool.
Offer donors a variety of secure payment options
When it comes to fundraising, it’s beneficial to offer a wide range of online giving options. PayPal makes this easy! As we mentioned, you’ll be able to accept donations from major credit cards and PayPal accounts. Donors appreciate that flexibility and security.
PayPal uses Secure Sockets Layer encryption, ensuring your supporters’ financial and personal information stays safe. In short, your donor’s payment information gets encrypted and sent to PayPal. PayPal then interacts with the bank or credit card company to authorize the transaction. That means your organization never needs to collect, process, or store payment information. What a relief!
Make recurring donations easy and flexible
It’s much easier to build your monthly giving program when it’s easy for your supporters to give. Easily set up recurring donations through their PayPal account. Whether they want to give weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually, the options are endless. Some churches even use PayPal to help their congregants set up repeat tithes.
Peer-to-peer fundraising is easier with the Donations app and PayPal
As a stand-alone platform, PayPal doesn’t offer peer-to-peer fundraising options where each participant can set up their own custom donation page. But, the Soapbox Engage Donations app gives you the option to create endless custom donation pages with PayPal donate buttons. Peer-to-peer fundraising has never been easier and more streamlined!
Use PayPal and the Events app to sell tickets to your fundraising events
Sure, you can use PayPal to sell merchandise and tickets. Still, when you’re offering different pricing options, early-bird discounts, and other pricing factors, PayPal fails to meet your event registration needs.
Pairing the Soapbox Engage Events app and PayPal is the best of both worlds. You’ll get all the benefits of custom pricing, ticket types, and ticket capacities, along with the trusted payment processing benefit of PayPal. Plus, with a custom Events page for your next fundraiser, you’ll be able to gather the attendee information you want and fully customize the guests’ purchasing and confirmation experience.
Add a PayPal donate button for your donation page
One great way to show online donors that you accept donations through PayPal is to create a custom PayPal donation button for your web pages and emails. Use the customization options to match your web design for a sleek, streamlined look.
You can even set your currency (if you’re an international organization) and suggested donation amounts. Studies show that adding recommended donation levels to your donation pages can increase the average donation size for most donors by resting a “social norm” or gently suggesting appropriate giving levels.
Easy donation tracking, management, and bookkeeping with PayPal
Because it’s a popular payment processing platform, it integrates with many platforms you might already use, like Quickbooks, Salesforce, and Soapbox Engage apps, streamlining your donation tracking, management, and bookkeeping processes.
PayPal offers the ability to download donation logs and search transactions so you can manage everything in one location. Whether you want to run monthly or annual donation summary reports or money management reports, PayPal can help you generate the information with just a few clicks.
Overall, PayPal is a trusted and valuable payment processing tool that many nonprofits worldwide rely on to receive and process in-person and online donations. Pairing it with the suite of Soapbox Engage apps ensures you’ve got all the fundraising tools and resources you need to accomplish your goals and make the giving process easy and safe for all your donors.
Here are three more resources about online donations and payment processing.
- 6 Reasons Stripe Is A Great Payment Gateway for Nonprofits: There are many payment processors to choose from these days. It can be tough to know the difference between each system. This blog offers a deep dive into Stripe so you can understand the pros and cons of this credit card processing option for your nonprofit.
- Online Donations Integration with Microsoft Fundraising and Engagement: The Soapbox Engage Donations app is the first solution of its kind to integrate with Microsoft Fundraising and Engagement. You can now have beautiful fundraising campaign pages, peer-to-peer fundraising options, team fundraising pages, and more! Check out this blog to learn more about how Soapbox Enagage and Microsoft Fundraising and Engagement work together to give you the fundraising edge you’ve been looking for!
- Mobile Giving: What Every Nonprofit Needs to Know: Mobile giving is here to stay and only growing in popularity. If you want to remain competitive and relevant in the nonprofit world, it’s time to expand your fundraising strategies to include mobile giving tactics like peer-to-peer fundraising and mobile email. This blog will help you understand why mobile giving is so important and share some of the popular strategies and tools you should consider using for your nonprofit.
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