Online donations

August 25, 2009 9:42 AM

What is the best way to accept donations for a nonprofit organization electronically?

I've looked at paypal and google checkout... is there a simple way to collect donations that would allow the donators to indicate what they want their donations earmarked for? line by line if possible? Would welcome any hints or suggestions. Have you used google checkout? They dn't seem to have the ability to break down the donations in this fashion, unless I'm missing something.

posted by chickaboo to work & money (10 comments total)

Have you looked into Just Give?
posted by geekchic at 10:02 AM on August 25

I receive PayPal donations on my website and have received notes from people together with their donations, so there is a space for that. Just put something on your "How to Donate" FAQ that says, for example:

"If you wish to earmark your donation for certain areas of our campaign, please include a note while processing through PayPal. We intend to respect all such requests."
posted by bunnycup at 10:04 AM on August 25

Auctionpay lets you do this. We use it for all manner of transactions (donations, earmarked donations, registrations, etc.) and it is a very good product.
posted by FergieBelle at 10:07 AM on August 25

I should clarify, I would like to be able to email the invoice to people, not use a button on a website.
posted by chickaboo at 10:09 AM on August 25

Well, this website might help you.
posted by kall at 10:14 AM on August 25

If you create/use your own shopping cart to front paypal or google checkout you can get around whatever limitations they might have as far as details of the transaction goes. You don't need to use them for anything more than "bill this person this amount."
posted by toomuchpete at 11:08 AM on August 25

Groundspring are the big name in processing online donations and online fundraising efforts for non-profits. In my experience, they're rather good at it.
posted by eschatfische at 12:34 PM on August 25

Not sure about line-by-line allocations, but:

Click and Pledge is very decent and does a lot of the receipts, etc.

Kickstarter is totally different (and not built for nonprofits), but it's another good tool for the fundraising toolbelt, particularly for project-based needs.
posted by asuprenant at 4:18 PM on August 25

chickaboo: "I should clarify, I would like to be able to email the invoice to people, not use a button on a website."

PayPal lets you email an invoice with a payment link.
posted by turkeyphant at 4:57 PM on August 25

An example of Just Give that I have implemented (follow the Just Give link under "accepting donations online")

There is a place to designate where you want the money to go, as well as what information you want to share with the NPO.
posted by ijoyner at 12:25 AM on August 26