There are two ways that PayPal can be used to accept charitable donations for your non-profit. Note that both will require you to verify your non-profit status and show a linked bank account in order to use the “donation” button and accept charitable contributions.

The first is to integrate Donate buttons into your web interface. You will need to have an account set up and verified, and then can use the “Make a PayPal Button” option. You can use one button throughout the website, or create dedicated buttons for use on specific programs. That way you can identify where the donations came from (which page or program) and allocate funds appropriately. The buttons won’t look any different but will contain a code that aligns with your account to tag the incoming funds for a specific program.

https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/paypal-payments-standard/integration-guide/donate_step_1/

The other is PayPal.me. This is a simple link that anybody can use to share their payment page with others. You can add a dollar amount to the end of the url: paypal.me/mycharity/25 for example to make a suggested contribution appear. Or you can simply provide the link. This may be easier and faster to get set up but allows for less configuration on incoming funds.

In both cases, users will leave your website and arrive on a branded PayPal site. Today, that should not concern too many donors as this is a fairly standard process. PayPal is a great low-cost way to integrate charitable contributions into your website. For confirmed charity accounts, current rates are 2.2% for online transactions and 2.7% on card readers, flat rate. Need help? Contact us today!