Nonprofit Insights, Spring 2011

Fundraising: Putting PayPal to Work

Millions have discovered the ease and convenience of using PayPal to pay for eBay auctions and online purchases. Now, savvy nonprofits are using this popular payment tool to solicit cash donations.

PayPal offers a suite of simple-to-use online fundraising tools, making collecting donations and spreading the word about your cause just a click away. You can receive secure online payments using a credit card or bank transfer 24 hours a day from anyone in the world who has an e-mail address.

Donations appear in your organization’s PayPal account along with the donor’s name and donation amount. PayPal even sends donors an e-mail receipt. Record-keeping is easy, and nonprofits are charged only a small transaction fee (there are no setup fees or recurring monthly charges).

Add it to your website – You can easily set up a PayPal “Donate” button on your homepage. Or, create a series of “Donate” buttons in incremental dollar amounts. PayPal also helps small and growing nonprofits build a fundraising site with no setup charges or hosting fees.

Grab a widget – A custom PayPal Giving Widget enables nonprofits to raise money on social networking sites like Facebook. You can even share the app with others, who can add it to their sites.

Use your e-mail address – If you don’t have a website, just include your e-mail address on your printed materials and explain that supporters can send donations by logging onto their PayPal account and sending cash to your e-mail address.

Your Webmaster can find detailed instructions on how to set up the payment options and buttons by visiting http://www.PayPal.com. 

For more information, contact a Barnes Dennig representative at (513) 241-8313. To read more articles from Nonprofit Insights, including previous issues, click here.