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Online Giving - Easy Tithe
A great feature that you could add to your website is the ability to give online. Any user in the world can log on to your site, give, and money can be directly deposited into YOUR account.
Now, how do you do it?
There are 2 easy options I will tell you about: Paypal and Easy Tithe.
First, Paypal. Paypal is pretty much the standard of online transactions and is a partner of Ebay to help with all the money that that site moves. Being such, they are incredibly convenient and easy to set up.
A few things you want to know about Paypal:
- There is no monthly fee - only fees come from transactions (about 2.9%, I believe)
- The money is held by Paypal like an bank account, it doesn’t go directly into your account though it is simple to set that up.
- A giver can give in a variety of methods and doesn’t even need to sign up with Paypal.
Now, Easy Tithe. Easy Tithe is really optimized for churches and it shows. It makes things very simple and has many options that might push you toward that.- Givers can set up scheduled giving (so they never miss)
- Powerful reporting features to graph all the giving
- Donations are always in your control, directly deposited into your accounts.
- Can setup different funds to give to on the website
- Can use it for camp registration, for example, and have options (like a shirt, etc.) that can change the price.
- Costs $50/month to use the program but can be used for an unlimited number of users and has no transaction fees. (only fees are from your merchant account you set up with your bank)
Some churches have seen dramatic increases in giving through this, and it is at least something to think about to increase the value of your website to visitors and members alike.
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You should also check out our company — PaySimple. We host a secure web-payment form that allows your non-profit to accept payments online. There is a small start-up fee for small businesses, but we will waive that for non-profits. So for a small monthly fee, a flat 55 cents for ACH transactions, and competitive credit card rates you will have access to a configurable webform that requires no html knowledge.
Another great feature is the ability to set up recurring giving plans. Studies have shown that recurring giving will increase donations. Here is a great case study of how we have helped with online giving in the past:
http://www.paysimple.com/articles/casestudy_origins.html