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Donations

Sep 11
0

Giving Tuesday Is Coming! Here’s How to Prepare for a Successful Giving Tuesday

By | Donations | No Comments

Giving Tuesday, often referred to by its hashtag #givingtuesday, occurs the first Tuesday after the American Thanksgiving holiday (and for those in other countries, American Thanksgiving is always the third Thursday in November).

Started in 2012 by the United Nations Foundation and the New York City 92nd Street Y, Giving Tuesday began as a grassroots effort or “hashtag movement” to counteract the gross commercialism that often occurs on Black Friday. It’s not uncommon in the United States for eager Christmas shoppers to push, shove, and generally behave  rudely in their quest for cheap goods on the first official shopping day of Christmas. Sad, but true.

These charities began the Giving Tuesday movement in an effort to focus people on the more positive message of giving back to their communities. Instead of crass commercialism, the emphasis is on charitable giving. And that’s good news for your organization if you can leverage the momentum of Giving Tuesday.

In 2017, the last year for which figures are available, approximately $274 million was raised in total, with $45 million raised through Facebook donations.

Your nonprofit can ride the surge of donations generated through the hashtag campaign by ensuring an easy way for people to donate. A little preparation now may result in a surprise on #givingtuesday.

Revamp Your Donation Page

Don’t wait until the night before Giving Tuesday to update your donation page. Take the time now to make sure it’s as enticing as possible.

  1. Update your branding. If you’re using PayPal or a similar payment service, customize your checkout pages and thank you pages. Add your nonprofit’s logo, slogan, URL and any other information to remind donors that their donation is making a difference.
  2. Remind donors of your impact. Another great use of the donation page is to remind donors of the impact that your organization makes on the constituents you serve. An animal nonprofit may wish to include a link or stories, photos and other media showcasing their work with animals their charity helps. The best time to remind donors of the impact that their generosity makes is at the time they’re giving. It reinforce their feelings of good will and strengthens the bond between your organization and the donor.
  3. Add monthly giving options. Sure, a one-time donation is great, but what about monthly giving options? You may be able to add monthly giving options so that donors can choose to give in regular increments rather than in one lump sum.
  4. Make it friendly: Make sure that your page can be easily read by multiple devices including desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. Responsinator is a free tool that allows you to see how your webpages look on mobile devices.

Don’t Be a Stranger

One of the best ways to leverage your participation in #givingtuesday is by letting your constituents know ahead of time. Start several weeks before the promotion to let your donors know that your nonprofit is participating in the event. As the date draws near, send more frequently emails. A good sequence is a thank you message on Thanksgiving; email reminders on Sunday and Monday; and a big announcement email on Giving Tuesday.

Incorporate Social Media

Giving Tuesday is a social media-driven campaign; be sure you’re actively participating on social media in the time period leading up to the actual day. Update your social media banners and set up automated messages using tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to make it even easier to keep a steady stream of messages flowing to your constituents.

Remember to use the hashtag #givingtuesday on all posts related to the big donation day. People searching under that hashtag can see your posts; it will show up in the results for the hashtag search. That’s another great way to reach potential donors!

Giving Tuesday, One Great Day Among 365 Other Donation Opportunities

Giving Tuesday is a great event – but so are the remaining 364 days in the year. Every day is an opportunity to connect with donors and raise awareness for your nonprofit. In fact, many of these tips can (and should) be implemented year-round as part of your fundraising and marketing activities.  With a little planning and follow-through, you can expand upon the idea of “giving Tuesday.”

Welter Consulting

Welter Consulting bridges people and technology together for effective solutions for nonprofit organizations. We offer software and services that can help you with your accounting needs. Please contact Welter Consulting at 206-605-3113 for more information.

Jun 11
0

Choosing the Right Payment Processing Service to Accept Online Donations

By | Budget, Cryptocurrency, Donations, Fiscal, Fundraising, Nonprofit | No Comments

Most nonprofits accept donations through their website. If you don’t, you are missing out on many potential donations. Donors motivated to respond to an online solicitation, email, or news articles about the cause your work supports may wish to donate immediately rather than write a paper check and drop it in the mail. Accepting online donations provides a simple, easy pathway for people to give when they are able and motivated to do so.

Yet with so many choices of online payment processors, credit card payment gateways, bank payment systems, third party payment processors, and now even cryptocurrencies, what’s a nonprofit to do?

We’ve tried to make it as easy as possible for you to understand the many possible methods of accepting payments and help you sort through both the pros and cons of each. When you’re ready to proceed, if you still have questions, please call Welter Consulting at 206-605-3113. We are happy to help.

How Online Payment Systems Work

Nearly everyone reading this has purchased something online, so you should be familiar with how online payments work from the consumer end. The consumer end is called the “front end” or the “interface.” The shopping cart system is fairly straightforward, with variations to allow for different goods or services purchased. An online clothing retailer may have a spot for discount or coupon codes; a nonprofit may have a spot to share a message if the donation is in honor of someone.

Behind the interface or shopping cart  is a complex network of information shared by multiple parties to complete a credit card transaction online.

Encryption

Encryption means coding the information sent over the internet so that it cannot be ready unless someone has the key to decode it. After clicking “pay” or “order”, your credit card information is encrypted for security purposes. It then goes to an aggregator or a bank processor.

Aggregators

 An aggregator is a company that processes payments. As the name implies, aggregators collect payments from multiple entities such as merchants, nonprofits, and others to accept credit card payments and bank transfers without the need to set up a special merchant account. The aggregator makes an agreement with the merchant bank and batches multiple companies under their account for processing. In return, they assume a greater risk since they are dealing with multiple entities and may charge more for their services.

Acquirer (Bank)

 Merchant accounts are created by a merchant bank (called an acquirer). The bank settles and deposits the funds from the transaction into your bank account. They are responsible for ensuring that payment is rendered to your account once the transaction is approved.

Cryptocurrency Wallets

 Yet a third payment method available to nonprofits today is cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, Ether, LiteCoin and many other alternative payment methods are all potential forms of donation. Accepting donations in such coins is a slightly different process than accepting direct payments.

Cryptocurrencies are sent via the blockchain. An exchange facilitates sending and receiving cryptocurrencies. Senders can transmit their currency to the receiver’s wallet, a unique address that can be shared on your site to accept payments.

To set up a wallet, you’ll need to create an account with an exchange and submit information to pass KYC (know your customer). Cryptocurrencies received through the exchange can be changed into dollars or other government-backed currencies and deposited into your bank account. The exchange subtracts a fee for the transfer, which varies according to the exchange.

Pros and Cons of Each Payment Method

There is no clear-cut, single answer about which payment method is best for a nonprofit. You’ll need to weigh each factor in your decision.

Aggregators

 Pros:

  • Easier and faster to set up an account since aggregators tend to accept all types of businesses including new nonprofits.
  • Aggregators tend to be on the alert for fraud even more readily than banks because they accept riskier clients.
  • Better for small nonprofits with lower volume of monthly transactions.

Cons:

  • Charge a higher fee than banks.
  • Less customer support and service.

Merchant Banks

Pros:

  • Better for established nonprofits.
  • Better if you have higher volume of monthly transactions.
  • Better customer service than aggregators.

Cons:

  • Higher fees.
  • Pickier about who they accept, so if your nonprofit is new, banks may turn you away.
  • Tends to be better for high or steady volume, so if you can’t predict donation volume yet, may be costly.

Cryptocurrency Exchanges

 Pros:

  • Adds a new donation method to your nonprofit.
  • High appeal to young donors – millennials, Generation Z, etc.
  • Extremely high level of security through the blockchain.
  • Transactions cannot be reversed by the donor.
  • Transparency on both ends – donor can see that you received the money through blockchain confirmation.

Cons:

  • Fees can be high on some exchanges.
  • Nonprofit must pass KYC.

Clearly, there’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to processing donations. Thankfully, there are plenty of choices, and you can use what suits your nonprofit the best. Sorting through your choices may be the most complex part of the process, but if you need help, please contact us.

 

Welter Consulting bridges people and technology together for effective solutions for nonprofit organizations. We offer software and services that can help you with your accounting needs. Please contact Welter Consulting at 206-605-3113 for more information.