Square payments for non-profit - any precautions?
September 11, 2015 3:29 AM Subscribe
Our PTA wants to get a Square reader for the stuff we sell at fundraisers. Are there any potential pitfalls we should be aware of?
The PTA at my kids' school is increasingly funding its activities from the sales of things like T-shirts, pencils, travel mugs, etc. It's all been cash so far, but I've brought up the idea of getting a Square reader.
We want to be diligent, though, as a non-profit, so I'm looking for any input from folks who have used Square in the context of a non-profit.
The primary concern is, whether or not we would need to get a dedicated iOS device to pair with the card reader. I understand basically how the Square app works, but we are all unsure to what extent it is married to the device on which it's being used. Is it the case that anybody on the PTA could install the app and plug in the dongle, and safely accept payments? Or does doing so tie that person's phone/iPad to the Square account and/or the checking account?
As I understand it, the Square sales app is "deposit-only," which makes me think it's safe for anybody to accept payments on their device. But we need to be sure about that. What's your experience with this? Do we need to buy a dedicated iPad that always stays with the dongle? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
The PTA at my kids' school is increasingly funding its activities from the sales of things like T-shirts, pencils, travel mugs, etc. It's all been cash so far, but I've brought up the idea of getting a Square reader.
We want to be diligent, though, as a non-profit, so I'm looking for any input from folks who have used Square in the context of a non-profit.
The primary concern is, whether or not we would need to get a dedicated iOS device to pair with the card reader. I understand basically how the Square app works, but we are all unsure to what extent it is married to the device on which it's being used. Is it the case that anybody on the PTA could install the app and plug in the dongle, and safely accept payments? Or does doing so tie that person's phone/iPad to the Square account and/or the checking account?
As I understand it, the Square sales app is "deposit-only," which makes me think it's safe for anybody to accept payments on their device. But we need to be sure about that. What's your experience with this? Do we need to buy a dedicated iPad that always stays with the dongle? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Yep, beagle has it. We used Square for fundraisers at a non-profit where I worked. Our Finance Director set up a Square account linked to the org's bank account. Then we used our own iPhones and iPads to log in to that Square account after downloading the app. We could all run transactions at the same time. It would be nice if you could provide free wifi to people volunteering their devices so they don't have to use their own data.
posted by Pearl928 at 5:59 AM on September 11, 2015
posted by Pearl928 at 5:59 AM on September 11, 2015
Make sure that the Square account you use has your nonprofit's EIN on it, and it deposits directly into a bank account owned by the nonprofit! A couple years ago my wife and I signed up for an account for a nonprofit club that we belong to to accept money at a fundraiser. However we put my wife's SSN on the account instead of the nonprofit's EIN. Fast forward a couple years and we get a letter from the IRS claiming unreported income on our personal income tax. We eventually cleared it up, showing deposits from Square going directly into the nonprofit's bank account in the exact amount claimed by the IRS.
posted by zsazsa at 7:52 AM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by zsazsa at 7:52 AM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
Adding to the chorus: I staff a nonprofit science-fiction convention, and we run all our transactions (art show, dealers' payments, registration, t-shirt sales, etc.) through Square. My husband supplies extra devices when needed (he's an iOS developer and has a few out-of-date test devices), but many of the staff have their own and swap the readers out with no problem.
posted by telophase at 8:31 AM on September 11, 2015
posted by telophase at 8:31 AM on September 11, 2015
(I have quietly encouraged a couple of local non-profits to investigate this, so I am glad to see it's a real Thing that others do. I will press a little harder now!)
posted by wenestvedt at 10:12 AM on September 11, 2015
posted by wenestvedt at 10:12 AM on September 11, 2015
I used Square the past two years for my Girl Scout troop's cookie sales. The way we found it worked best is that I set it up, with deposits to go into our troop account, and then invited the other parents who were selling cookies to be my staff (from Square's perspective). That way all the reports I got from Square came to one place -- me -- and I could see who had done which sale, in case we needed to track down any oddities.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:46 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:46 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
And oh, yeah, we could swap the readers from phone to phone without a problem. Everyone used their own phone for the sales -- you'll want to make sure everyone has a device that can do them.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:47 AM on September 11, 2015
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:47 AM on September 11, 2015
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posted by beagle at 4:24 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]