How can donors give monthly recurring donations to ad hoc mutual aid?

September 7, 2021 10:12 AM

What platforms can a mutual aid group use to accept recurring monthly donations, if the group is not registered as a non-profit and does not have an official bank account?

I'm part of an ad hoc group of people who distribute food and supplies every weekend. We currently accept donations in cash, and via a Venmo account, which was set up by an individual. We don't have any kind of registration with the government or official paperwork. We would like an option for some of our supporters to be able to set up a recurring monthly donation. We would then transfer that money into one of our personal bank accounts, and then use Venmo to distribute reimbursements to people purchasing food and supplies.

What web sites/platforms have the best options for setting up a recurring monthly donation in this way?

posted by andoatnp to Work & Money (4 answers total)

The mutual aid we contribute to uses https://donorbox.org/. Need not be a non profit to set up recurring donations to send to..
posted by sandmanwv at 10:29 AM on September 7, 2021

A few local mutual aid groups I'm aware of use Patreon for this. Not sure if it's the best option but it may be one to look into.
posted by Stacey at 10:41 AM on September 7, 2021

A few around here use https://opencollective.com
posted by jameaterblues at 10:48 AM on September 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

If you approach a like-minded nonprofit, they can collect donations on their platform in your name. That will help the nonprofit's balance sheet, and your donations will be tax-deductible. (They may want to take a percentage; that's called "fiscal sponsorship," and it may be palatable to you given that they'll be doing all the legwork and accounting and you will be happy essentially donating a bit to them because you like their work.) This is not a scam; it's perfectly legit.
posted by Scarf Joint at 6:26 PM on September 7, 2021