Setting up a nonprofit online store is more approachable than most teams expect. The technical part, choosing a platform and listing products, usually takes an afternoon. The parts that determine whether the store actually raises money and doesn't create a mess later are the decisions around it: what to sell, how to price it, how sales tax works, and where the revenue ends up being tracked.
This guide walks through setting up a nonprofit online store from scratch, step by step, whether you're launching a year-round merchandise shop or a seasonal fundraiser store for a specific campaign. Your store doesn't have to be a year-round operation: a campaign-specific storefront can work well for seasonal products, event merchandise, holiday sales, or a limited fundraising push.
In This Guide
- Step 1: Decide what you're selling
- Step 2: Choose a platform
- Step 3: Price your products
- Step 4: Take and prepare product photos
- Step 5: Set up payment processing
- Step 6: Understand your sales tax obligations
- Step 7: Decide on shipping vs. pickup
- Step 8: Promote the store
- Step 9: Track revenue where your team already works
- Extending your store to in-person sales
- Frequently asked questions
Decide What You're Selling
Start narrow. A first store with 6-10 well-chosen products is often easier for supporters to browse and easier for your team to manage than one with 40 half-considered products. Start with a focused catalog and expand based on what people actually buy.
- Branded apparel appeals to existing supporters who want to show affiliation
- Seasonal items like wreaths or poinsettias reach a broader gift-buying audience
- Digital downloads, sponsorship tiers, and memberships appeal to a smaller, higher-intent group
Matching each product to who's likely to buy it matters more than the product itself.
Choose a Platform
Most nonprofits choose between a general-purpose ecommerce platform (like Shopify or WooCommerce) and one built specifically for nonprofit selling. General-purpose platforms offer a deep feature set, but nonprofit teams may need additional tools or customization for needs such as sponsorships, CRM integration, fundraising attribution, or event-based selling. Nonprofit-built platforms handle those needs directly but may have a smaller general feature set.
Before choosing, ask: Does the store need to connect to your CRM? Will you sell only online, or also at events and in person? Do you need to invoice corporate sponsors rather than take a card payment? The answers narrow the list quickly.
Choosing a platform and already on Salesforce? See Nonprofit Ecommerce and Salesforce: How to Sync Every Online Sale to Your CRM for what a strong Salesforce integration should actually look like.
Price Your Products
Nonprofit pricing has an extra consideration that traditional retail doesn't always have: the margin can support your mission. Calculate your true cost per item, including any production minimums for a bulk order, then price to leave meaningful margin rather than just covering cost. A $20 t-shirt that costs $8 to produce raises more per unit than a $12 shirt priced to just beat cost.
For sponsorship packages and memberships, build tiers with clearly different benefits at each level. Buyers self-select into a higher tier when the value gap between tiers is obvious, which lifts average order value.
Take and Prepare Product Photos
Product photos don't need a professional shoot, but they do need to be consistent and well-lit. Natural light near a window, a plain background, and a couple of angles per product, front, back, and a detail shot for apparel, cover most needs. For merchandise with variants like size or color, photograph one representative option and let text or a swatch communicate the rest.
Set Up Payment Processing
Most nonprofit stores need to accept credit cards at minimum, with PayPal as a common secondary option. If you're selling sponsorship packages, plan for invoicing as a separate payment path: corporate buyers frequently need to pay by check or wire against a formal invoice rather than a card at checkout.
On transaction fees: Rates vary by provider and change over time, so don't budget off a number you saw once. Confirm current rates directly with your platform or processor before finalizing prices.
Understand Your Sales Tax Obligations
Nonprofit status doesn't automatically exempt merchandise sales from sales tax. Rules vary significantly by state, and selling to buyers across multiple states may create additional collection obligations depending on where and what you're selling.
Decide on Shipping vs. Pickup
Shipping widens your buyer pool beyond people who can visit in person, but it adds cost and complexity: packaging, carrier rates, and fulfillment time all need a plan. Pickup and local delivery work well for seasonal items and organizations with a physical location or regular events. For digital products, skip shipping altogether and make delivery part of the checkout experience.
Many stores offer both shipping and pickup, with price-based shipping tiers to keep costs predictable and a pickup option to avoid shipping costs for local supporters. Make the choice clear at checkout so buyers aren't surprised by a charge they could have avoided.
Promote the Store
A store doesn't sell itself once it's live. Announce it through the channels you already have:
- Email to your supporter list
- A homepage banner and social posts
- A mention in upcoming event communications
- A launch discount or early-access window for existing donors, timed to a campaign or season
Don't just promote the store. Track what's actually driving purchases. Use campaign links or other tracking on email, social, event communications, and other channels, so you can see which efforts lead to sales instead of guessing.
Track Revenue Where Your Team Already Works
Decide before launch, not after, where store revenue needs to show up. If your organization tracks donor and revenue data in a CRM, look for a store platform that syncs orders there automatically, rather than leaving someone to export and re-enter totals by hand once other priorities start competing for time.
Soapbox Engage Shop syncs every order to Salesforce in real time, mapping orders to Opportunities, products to Product2, shoppers to Contacts, and campaign source to Campaigns, with support for Pricebooks and custom fields.
Extending Your Store to In-Person Sales
Once your online store is live, you don't need a separate store to sell in person
Galas, tabling events, community spaces, and front-desk sales can all use the same product catalog and inventory you've already built, not a reason to set up something new. Look for a platform that lets staff or volunteers sell the same products from a phone or tablet, using QR codes, tap to pay with a card reader, or cash, with in-person sales drawing from the same inventory as the online store.
With Soapbox Engage Shop, this works through Soapbox Engage Onsite: every in-person sale shares inventory with your online store and syncs to Salesforce the same way an online order does. If in-person selling is part of your plan from the start, it's worth choosing a platform that supports it from day one rather than adding a second tool later.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I start an online store for my nonprofit?
Start by deciding what you'll sell and to whom, then choose a platform that fits your needs, whether that's a general-purpose ecommerce tool or one built for nonprofit selling. From there, set pricing, prepare product photos, configure payment processing, confirm your sales tax obligations, and decide on shipping or pickup before launching.
Do nonprofits have to collect sales tax on merchandise?
In most cases, yes, though rules vary by state and by whether the sale is considered directly related to the organization's mission. Nonprofit status does not automatically exempt merchandise sales from sales tax. Confirm your specific obligations with a tax professional or your state's department of revenue.
How much should a nonprofit charge for merchandise?
There's no single right markup for nonprofit merchandise. Start with your true cost per item, including production, shipping, payment processing, and other expenses, then set a price that leaves meaningful margin for your organization while still making sense for your audience.
What's the easiest product to start selling online?
Branded apparel and digital downloads are often practical first products because they require little to no physical inventory management, in the case of digital items, or a straightforward production and fulfillment process, in the case of apparel. Seasonal items and sponsorship packages are strong additions once the basic store is running.
Can a nonprofit online store also sell in person?
Yes. If your organization sells at events, community spaces, or a physical location, look for a platform where in-person sales share inventory with the online store and sync to the same CRM, rather than treating events as a separate sales channel that needs to be reconciled afterward.
Launch Your Nonprofit Store
No-code setup, unlimited products and variants, and every sale synced to Salesforce, online or in person.
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