Social Fundraising Is International: Make Sure Your Donation Tool Not Only Accepts Credit Cards, but PayPal Too

My Facebook friend, Phy, who is a Cambodian attending school in Japan messaged me telling me he really really wanted to donate to the America's Giving Challenge, but the Global Giving online donation tool doesn't support PayPal. He isn't the first potential donor to tell me that .. he is the 20th person from Southeast Asia has told me that they can't donate and have it count towards to the contest because of the lack of PayPal support.   

And it isn't the just the supporters of the cause from Southeast Asia, I just got an email from Roger Carr who just posted this reminder to his network.  There is an individual who would like to donate, but also only does online transactions via PayPal.

I've also heard from others about their preference to use PayPal over credit cards for online transactions.  Take for example, this tweet:

PayPal recently announced their nonprofit donation kit.  I got an email about it:

More and more non-profits are recognizing the importance of a strong online presence, and that online donations will be a big part of their future fundraising success.  In response to this, PayPal has released the PayPal Kit for Non-Profits to help non-profits get set up to accept donations via PayPal within 45 minutes.

The kit is so simple to use that it can be implemented by almost anyone with basic computer knowledge. 

It’s a simple 3-step process:

• Create a PayPal account

• Create a PayPal Donate button

• Place the button on your website

The PayPal Donate button is a safe, easier way for people to donate money.  Donors can trust that their donation is secure and that their financial information will not be exposed.

“Non-profits have found in the past that making PayPal available increases the amount of their donations and helps them find new donors among our 164 million account holders.  The PayPal Kit for Non-Profits will help non-profits tap into the $2 billion in stored PayPal balances around the world,” said Glenn Lim, senior director of alliances at PayPal.

In terms of the Sharing Foundation campaign, there has already been over $16,000 raised through the unselfish giving of over 600 people. If you have not yet donated $10 to this important cause, please click here and change a child's life. Make a donation on behalf of the Cambodians like my friend Phy that want to help us win this contest.  Together we can make a difference.

Comments

[May]

Good idea! I'm going to bug the appropriate people at work to add this to our website (www.bridgingthegap.org)

[Leyla Farah]

PayPal also recently added a Facebook application which again places it at the head of the pack when it comes to distributed funding for non-profits.

I'm not trying to promote PayPal, I'm just reinforcing the point that it's currently serving as the defacto standard for global transactions - and that non-profit organizations can't afford to ignore it.

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Leyla Farah
Cause+Effect
Public Relations with a Purpose

www.cause-pr.com
www.causepr.blogspot.com

[Andy Roberts theatre breaks]

Hi Beth, I just thought it might be worth mentioning, since we are talking international, that here in the UK the public is becoming increasingly irritated by being interrupted on the High Streets by young people who are employed by charities to solicit for regular donations. "Chuggers" ( charity muggers ) are clearly sucessful to some extent, since they're paid on a commission basis, and it costs the charity nothing to let them loose on the streets, but the damage to good causes in the longer term is clear. I just thought it would be worth being aware of that when conducting internet campaigns as well.

[Beth Kanter]

Andy,

My biggest fear: OMG, I'm an I-Chugger.

You are bringing up a good point, I think, about donor fatigue. Roger Carr, another blogger helping, wrote a good post about this:
http://www.everydaygivingblog.com/2008/01/when-is-enough.html

The contest has been on for 6 weeks - from mid-December and ends in a few days. Most of the campaigns I've done have gone on for at most two weeks. I think shorter "sprints" work better for personal fundraising online -- I was really concerned about donor fatique and also annoying my readers - but was motivated to help the children in Cambodia.

I'm going to very happy with this contest is over on Thursday and return to regular blogging!