Technology for Fundraising

Re: RE: How do you process credit card transactions?

Jarbah — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:44:46 GMT

Hey Justin,

I thought your explanation makes sense. I do have a very little nonprofit organization and do have a pay-pal account. The pay-pal button will take your donors to pay pal website to transact whereas I would like the transaction to take place on my website. What I looking for is to be able to customize my donation page as that of all pages on my website just like yours. I would be glad to learn more from you.

Joseph Jarbah

Re: RE: How do you process credit card transactions?

jtmerch — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:50:27 GMT

Just to be fair I know that NPC is a TechSoup partner but the companies but the feature provider on MerchantSeek doesn't require a personal guarantee or Social Security number either. The processing providers that we work with are very Non-Profit friendly so I can assure you that NPC isn't the only option for Non-Profits not wanting to sign a personal guarantee.

I think ther 3 that you got in touch with are just ultra-conservative as some processors are. But the featured providers that we work with only provide proof that you're a 501c3 and you won't have to sign a personal guarantee or give your Social Security Number, and their Virtual Terminal only option is a tad bit cheaper than NPC's (under $10 to tal per month.)

And to dispell the myth, direct banks are not always the best payment system providers. Often times they're too conservative (as banks can be sometimes) and behind on technology (as banks can be sometimes). A full time merchant provider that registers with a Visa/MC acquiring bank is essentially on the same level as many local banks (they're both registered ISO's) and that full time provider or processor has more knowledge because that's all that they do.

But I'm happy to hear that you're finding luck with NPC (I'll say that they are better than a local bank), but not the only company that offers a real merchant account for Non-Profits and don't require a guarantee.

Just putting that out there. Feel free to ask any questions.

Joe (MerchantSeek)

E: msinfo@merchantseek.com

Re: RE: How do you process credit card transactions?

rsaldana — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:29:02 GMT

I would be interested in knowing your thoughts now regarding NPC in light of the recent offering made available via TechSoup. Our small nonprofit org is looking to start accepting credit card transactions, both for online & in-person transactions

Re: How do you process credit card transactions?

BruceStrom — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:07:41 GMT

We are a low-income legal service provider and prior to my forming this organization I represented many non-profits in private practice and Robert's advice is right on the mark. Thank you.

As far as credit card processing we use Pay Simple. We started with Pay Pal but some donors did not like registering with them and it was not easy to set up recurring payments. Pay Simple was much less expensive but they are pretty new and we have had problems with their service. I am currently investigating E-tapestry for seemless integration of on-line giving with a donor database.

Does anyone have any experience with e-tapestry?

Bruce, Administer Justice, www.administerjustice.org.

Re: How do you process credit card transactions?

rweiner — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:33:49 GMT

Dear Jenniedb,

By "passive solicitation" I mean having an online donation form that anyone can find. The Charleston Principles suggest the following:

An entity that is not domiciled within a state must register in accordance with the law of that state if:

a. Its non-Internet activities alone would be sufficient to require registration;

b. (1) The entity solicits contributions through an interactive Web site; and

(2) Either the entity:

i. Specifically targets persons physically located in the state for solicitation, or

ii. Receives contributions from the state on a repeated and ongoing basis or a substantial basis through its Web site.

These principles were put together by the National Association of State Charity Officials (NASCO). Although NASCO is made up of Attorneys General and Secretarys of State, the principles are only advisory.

Robert

Re: How do you process credit card transactions?

jenniedb — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:52:49 GMT

Thanks so very much, Robert. You've helped a great deal--one last question--how is "passive solicitation" defined?

We will follow up with our own legal counsel.

Jenniedb

Re: How do you process credit card transactions?

rweiner — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:24:53 GMT

Dear jenniedb,

Welcome to TechSoup!

As far as I know, that issue is still unresolved. It was discussed in the "Jurisdictional Issues" section of this TechSoup article.and in this discussion. And here's an old FAQ on the subject from idealist.org. I haven't seen anything recent that contradicts this.

The general advice I've heard is that if your online fundraising is passive -- just a web site that anyone could give to -- you are not considered to be actively soliciting in other states (although some states have disagreed). But that changes if you actively begin soliciting those out-of-state donors, even if they originally gave via your web site. So, if you plan to resolicit your out-of-state online donors, you should look into multi-state filing. You can cover most states using the Unified Registration Statement at http://www.multistatefiling.org/

Another alternative is to use one of the nonprofit online donation sites like justgive or network for good. They act as your fiscal agent and say that their clients don't need to register with the states. I don't know whether that's been proven in court, though.

Since this is a gray area, you would be wise to consult your own attorney.

Robert

Re: How do you process credit card transactions?

jenniedb — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:09:32 GMT

In order to accept donations online do you have to register your charitable organization with the Attorneys General in every state?

Re: RE: How do you process credit card transactions?

MeganKeane — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:49:48 GMT

Thanks for keeping us posted on what happened with this--it's always helpful to here back from posters after they've tried a solution. I'm glad you had good luck w/ NPC.

Best,

Megan

Re: RE: How do you process credit card transactions?

Affinity4 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:12:06 GMT

Here's an update on my experience. I tried three different merchant accounts services (two were banks) and every one of them did require a personal guarantor for the merchant account. So I caution everyone to read the fine print because they do not explain that upfront (or at least it was not explained to me until I read the fine print - and there is LOTS of fine print when you try to sign up for a merchant account).

However I did have luck with NPC which is offered through Techsoup. NPC waived the personal guarantor requirement and we now have a merchant account set up using authorize.net. The virtual terminal feature which allows me to take payments/donations over the phone is very convenient.

RE: How do you process credit card transactions?

jtmerch — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:47:24 GMT

Most merchant providers will not require a 501c3 to sign a personal guarantee as long as you can provide adequate documentation (usually the simple statement/letter from the IRS showing that you are a 501c3 - this is something that all 501c3's get).

As for the account always be sure that the features match the need. In cases of Google Checkout and Paypal they may seem attractive at first, when you simply want to add a buy now button to your site and nothing else. But when looking for something like a Virtual Terminal so that you may manually enter the card info yourself (this is useful in cases where someone wants to make a donation via a faxed form or give you the card over the phone), or recurring billing, often times a reasonably priced real merchant account works best.

If you have any questions regarding these types of issues feel free to email msinfo@merchantseek.com.

Joe

RE: How do you process credit card transactions?

Affinity4 — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:14:00 GMT

Are you all finding that these merchant accounts require a personal guarantor?

RE: How do you process credit card transactions?

elliotharmon — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:50:00 GMT

Hi everyone,

This is a great discussion! As a number of you have pointed out either here or by email, a service like Google or PayPal may be more appropriate for many nonprofits than a full-blown merchant account. I thought it would be good to draw more attention to that distinction by featuring this discussion on the blog. I even linked to some of your donations pages.

And Justin, I love the idea of giving the donor the choice to pay the processing fee. Explaining how the fee works is a great way to ask for help without insulting the donor's intelligence. It reminds me of Librarything's sliding scale membership fees.

It's almost Friday!
Elliot

RE: How do you process credit card transactions?

dojiggy1 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:50:00 GMT

As a software services provider, we work with two great Merchant Account providers that focus exclusively on non-profits. They are Processing for a Cause and Dharma Merchant Services.

Both of these providers use Authorize.net as an end processor, which is an industry standard, and also allows for e-check transactions. They provide a fully integrated merchant solution that allows constituents to easily make donations or transactions without leaving your website, which we have found most people much prefer to PayPal. Also, both donate a percentage of their gross profits back to your organization or to another non-profit organization of your choice.

We have also had several clients rave about the quality of service for both of these merchant providers, as they really focus on clients' needs.

Check them out here: http://www.processingforacause.com
http://www.dharmamerchantservices.com

Lisa Bennett
DoJiggy

RE: How do you process credit card transactions?

jenniferannsgroup — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:16:00 GMT

My organization doesn't process a great deal of online transactions (< 100 per month) but have found that PayPal works perfectly for us. As a non-profit org this is what we have with a "Website Payments Standard" account:

no set up charges
no monthly charges
2.2% + $0.30 per transaction (1.9% for > $100k in donations/month
donors can pay via credit card OR paypal
after donation the donor is automatically redirected to a page on our website
the donors receive an email confirmation that can be used as their tax receipt

.. and here's the link to the non-profit features on PayPal: https://www.paypal-promo.com/donations/faq.html They lowered the transactions charges earlier this year and I notice that the URL above has the word "promo" in it so I'm not 100% sure that these fees will remain forever. I hope so though!

Eventually I'm going to be working on driving more donations through our website; it's much more efficient. Check out our implementation of the online donation service if you'd like by visiting our website at: http://www.JenniferAnn.org and scroll to the bottom (after reading about our mission and goals first) and you'll see our donate button on the bottom left. One thing I like about PayPal is that we were able to customize a donation button - I think it turned out pretty nicely. When you click on the donation button it brings you to the PayPal page for donating. I believe that for a monthly fee we could instead have it remain on our website but I'd rather save money and am fine with the way that PayPal handles it. If you want to make a donation to our organization then you can see the *entire* process (and of course we'll gratefully accept any donation!). :-)

Drew Crecente

Founder and Executive Director

Jennifer Ann's Group