Three Online Donation Support Sites

            Some non-profit organizations (NPOs) can use various online resources to receive donations.  These services can be helpful for organizations with websites, or those without a website.   Some of these sites are:

• Firstgiving.com
• Chipin.com; and,
• Paypal.com.

Each of these websites provides a resource that can be very helpful as NPOs develop their specific fundraising platform.  The main thing that should be considered is which service would provide the NPO with the best means to receive funds.

Donations and Fundraising

NPOs rely on the generosity of donors and fundraising projects, therefore, it is necessary to reflect upon the user-friendly nature of any particular service you plan to use to generate funds.  Is the service easy to use?  Does it allow donors to receive an automatic acknowledgement?  Does it permit donors to pay the fee associated with their online donation?  Can the funds be easily transferred into the organization’s bank account?  Each of the funding services can be helpful; however, NPOs should become familiar with each site to comprehend their usefulness.

Firstgiving.com:  Firstgiving.com is a useful resource for NPOs.  Individuals or NPOs can create a fundraising page for any registered non-profit.  Registered NPOs are recognized via Guidestar.org, and serves as a means in which individuals can research the reliability of an organization.  Once an organization has become a 501(c)3, the designated individual within the organization should send the IRS information to Guidestar.org, and within a few days, they will listed.  This information is shared with organizations, such as Firstgiving.com, which then proceeds to list the NPO in its database of organizations.  As donations are made to the NPO via Firstgiving.com page, funds are collected (minus their service fee), and monthly checks are mailed to the NPO.

           

Chipin.com:  Chipin.com is similar to Firstgiving.com; however, it does not have the in-depth donor management application as Firstgiving.  In my opinion, Firstgiving.com allows organizations to manage the fundraising process a lot better than Chipin.com; however, Chipin.com is good for organizations who are starting and are not quite ready to become a 501(c) 3.  It has many of the bells and whistles, such as a fundraising bar., which can be very helpful to ascertain the percentage of donations collected.

Paypal.com: Many people have heard of Paypal.com.  Paypal can be another helpful option, and it is easy to start.  One of the benefits of Paypal.com is that donations can be received and transferred into the NPO’s bank account; however, many of the fundraising tools are not available on their platform.

Each of the above-mentioned resources can help NPOs collect donations via credit cards, debit cards, or through their bank accounts (Paypal.com).  There is a small fee in some cases, yet it is worth considering as a form of online fundraising tool.


More to come in the upcoming book this Spring!