More people than ever are making donations to charitable organizations via the internet. They already shop, work and play online, why not give? If your group is not yet taking donations online, now is the perfect time to start. The tools that make online giving possible are becoming much more user friendly for both the charity and the donor. Plus the technology is more affordable than ever.
Now, to be sure there are many companies eager to help you with this task, from standard credit card processors to those specializing in nonprofits. After all, they make a percentage each time a transaction is made. But don’t let this commercial aspect or the cost deter you from taking online donations. The benefits can far exceed the small hurdles of setting up the donation capacity and paying the fees.
There’s a more extensive list of companies on the online fundraising directory page. But today I’m going to focus on my three favorite providers, Network for Good, Firstgiving and Click and Pledge. Why did I pick these three? They offer lots of features and benefits for you, are low cost, and are great for nonprofits who are just starting out in the online donation world.
Network for Good provides customized donation pages that will match your current website. It allows you to collect both one time and recurring donations. They also have an optional email newsletter tool to help you keep in touch with supporters. There’s a one time set up fee, monthly service charge and 3% per transaction. However, there are no long term contracts.
Network for Good also offers free training, advice and resources through their website Fundraising123.org. There’s a free newsletter and other tools that are available there, whether you sign up for their services or not.
Firstgiving has unique benefits for nonprofits raising funds online. Two of their claims to fame are the personal fundraising pages and team fundraising pages. Why is this important? Friends asking friends to donate is a powerful way to raise funds! It’s the concept behind walk-a-thon participants who solicit pledges, marathon runners who raise thousands of dollars and other organized programs. This is one of the fastest growing areas of fundraising.
In fact, the drive for online donations doesn’t even have to start with the charity. Anyone who supports your cause can create their own personal fundraising page, send it to friends and family and bring in donations for you. There are two types of accounts, basic and premium with varying benefits and costs. There’s no monthly fee with Firstgiving.
Click & Pledge is my newest favorite online donation system. I was impressed with its features and benefits when I saw a demonstration at the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) conference. Besides online donation capacity, you can sell event tickets and merchandise through this platform. It also offers volunteer and event management functions.
Their system is called Trio, since besides online donations, there are two additional modules for donor management and website management. Each module is priced separately so you only pay for what you need. For the online donations, there are two flexible payment plans, one has a monthly fee with lower per transaction costs, while the basic account has no monthly fee.
Comparisons
The great thing about these three providers is that they each offer quite different unique features. Do you have 5K’s where your runners raise funds? Then Firstgiving is the way to go. With individual and team pages they are a perfect match. Does your group have special events and sell branded merchandise? Then consider Click & Pledge. Of course all three take straight online donations!
| Network for Good | Firstgiving Basic | Firstgiving Premium | Click & Pledge Standard | Click & Pledge Premium | |
| Secure Online Donation Processing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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| Automatic email receipts to donors | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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| Recurring donations | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
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| Sell products | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
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| Person-to-person online fundraising pages | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
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| Team Pages | No | No | Yes | No | No |
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| Event registration | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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| Email Newsletters | Yes * | No | No | No | No |
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| Volunteer Management | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
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| Website Management | No | No | No | No | Yes * |
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| Setup Fee | $199 | $0 | $0 | $50 | $150 |
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| Monthly Fee | $29.95 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $25 |
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| Processing Fee | 3% | 7.5% | 7.5% | 4.5% | 3.95% |
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| Per Transaction | $0 | $0 | $0 | 35 | .35 |
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| Annual Fee | $0 | $0 | $300 | $0 | $0 |
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| * Extra charge applies | |||||
April 29th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Thanks for this great overview. I was just looking around and find this very helpful. I have one question.
Do these services easily allow for recurring gift setup? Some people would like to give on a month by month basis.
April 29th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Great question, Niels! So I added it to the features chart above. Depending on the size of the organization there may be an advantage with setting up recurring donations offline. I set up a monthly giving system with a nonprofit with their bank (a local “hometown” bank) and they didn’t charge any service fees. While we’re on the topic I’d recommend Harvey McKinnon’s fundraising book Hidden Gold which is all about monthly donors and giving clubs.
April 29th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Hi Sandra,
Thanks for the additional information. That looks great.
Niels
May 19th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
My understanding is that technically any fundraising on the Web would require registration plus annual reporting in each of the 39 states with laws regulating charitable solicitations. Do any of the vendors include registration and annual reporting in their service?
September 21st, 2009 at 11:31 am
Thanks for the info, but I have to question your definition of great. Do you really think 7.5% transaction fee is “Great?” Do you reaally think that FirstGiving deserves to get $7500 for every $100,000 that an org raises? That deosn’t sound “Great” to me.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Syam, while the service fee is higher with FirstGiving, they don’t charge a monthly fee (with the basic plan). It depends on the volume of transactions that an organization expects to see coming through what fee structure will work best for them. I won’t comment on whether a company “deserves” a certain amount or not. These service providers have to strike a balance between what is best for the customers and what is sustainable for them as a business. Ultimately it’s the customer that has to decide what’s best for their needs and the companies that are best able to meet these needs, not just with a good fee structure but also with customer service and features will be the ones that prosper.
The transaction fee is one of several factors to consider when choosing a provider. It also depends on what functionality the charity needs. One of the benefits of FirstGiving is the team based and individual fundraising pages that are often used with walk-a-thons, for example. (There are a few other providers like Artez.com that also have that functionality.) Other nonprofits may not need this feature but need online event management or something else and go with another provider. That’s why it’s important for the group to first decide what their goals are with online giving, what functionality they need and evaluate each provider according to those goals/needs first.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Sandra based on that rationale would one be correct in assuming that you are comfortable with a fundraising consultant that works solely on commission? If not, could you explain what is different about it? Thanks!
October 26th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
No I do not endorse fundraising consultants take commission. Online donation service providers do not directly solicit donors like a consultant would.
You’ve raised a lot of good points and I appreciate your comments. But let’s be honest, you work for a competitor to these companies. You have a great website and may have an excellent service, so its certainly one for nonprofits to consider. However, I’m not going to personally say one service provider is better than other simply because of the one factor - the percentage.
As I said before, I believe what makes a fee structure best for one nonprofit or another is their volume of transactions and other individual circumstances. Nonprofits should look at all the options and decide for themselves which is best for their needs.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Thanks for your opinion. It’s a good discussion topic. I agree that online donation service providers do not directly solicit donors like a consultant would. That’s all the more reason that they shouldn’t receive commissions. They don’t do antyhing to raise the money regardless of the amount given. At worst, they should be charging a flat transcational fee that is above and beyond the credit card discount rates. This is much more fair because they won’t charge more based on transaction size b/c frankly, they don’t do any more or less work based on the amount donated. Thanks again.