If your nonprofit carries out a avariety of types of transactions on its Web site -- for example, accepting donations and event registration -- what tools do you use to do so?
In TechSoup's article
A Few Good Online Payment Multitaskers, we'll show you expert-recommended tools for processing various types of payments on an existing Web site.
Tried any of these services or others? Share your feedback below.
Joined on 01-18-2007
TechSoup Member
Hi,
We can help you with setting up an on-line account. Please check us out at www.elevacion.org. We are a non-profit web design firm and would be able to help you out.
Best,
Team Elevacion
I used Chipin for Smile Network International's (
www.SmileNetwork.org) site. We're experimenting with individual Chipin widgets for mission participants to drive traffic to independently.
Up 'til now we'd used PayPal and it still works great for small ecommerce fundraising initiatives.
.
Joined on 11-15-2002
TechSoup Member
I was rather disappointed with this article...or perhaps just with the industry. I am looking for an integrated payment solution to handle event registration (primarily), membership, donations, and a few products. However, we cannot use a hosted solution because we want to integrate this solution with a database (preferably with our existing database, or a new mysql database). There do not seem to be any licensed software solutions that offer an integrated approach, and a custom solution may be out of our price range.
It seems that we will have to do the best we can to create a custom solution, but if anyone has ideas, I would appreciate it!
Joined on 08-19-2004
TechSoup Member
I would like to make a plug for eventbrite.com (formerly mollyguard.com). One of the organizations I work with uses eventbrite for conference registrations and special event ticket sales, but we have also adapted it to collect donations and membership signups. The basic service is free, and there are quite a few customizing options available. For a modest monthly fee, you have access to even more "premium" options. Transactions are handled by Paypal, so there are the usual transaction fees charged by Paypal. We have been very happy with eventbrite. It's user friendly and their tech support is very responsive. It's a great low-cost option for small nonprofits.
One issue to consider if you use the secure email approach described in the "Rolling Your Own" section: the IRS counts charitable donations made by credit card on the date the card was billed. If your donor submits a donation on 12/30/2007 but you bill the card on 1/2/2008, it's a 2008 donation. This will come as a rude surprise to your donors.
Robert
Joined on 11-07-2007
TechSoup Member
Great article. I work for PaySimple and just wanted to mention that we are also a great low-cost option for non-profits looking to simplify the way they collect donations and contributions or conduct fundraisers, which is a payment processor that integrates with your companies’ website, system, and design. We’ve helped companies like Boy Scouts of America to increase revenue raised and alleviate the amount of work fundraisers take to be successful. Read more about the Boy Scouts’ fundraising success
Click here. Also an excellent resource for non-profits is