Why Diversified Nonprofit Online Payment Processing Attracts New Generations of Donors

No transaction is complete until payment is processed, making nonprofit online payment processing a vital component of any fundraising strategy.

Our newly released Fundraising Trends and Predictions for 2022 features flexible giving options as number one. We’re breaking down how alternative donation payment methods like PayPal, Venmo (U.S. only), and cryptocurrency* are making it easy to offer a flexible and diversified experience for donors, and how each generation of donors may prefer to give.

Our latest research in Why America Gives 2022 unveils what’s most important to today’s donors after a year of accelerated tech innovation.

Consider This: 55% of donors are interested in giving through PayPal or Venmo if nonprofits present the options, and 20% have reconsidered making a donation when their preferred payment option was not included by a nonprofit.

With dedicated money-sharing apps, auto-populated credit card information, and cloud password keychains that unlock information with a scan of our faces, a donor can avoid physically pulling out cards or entering bank information to complete a transaction if they do not want to.

Nonprofits are innovative in nature, and now fundraising technology is finally catching up to deliver donors more ways to give than ever before. These new capabilities allow nonprofits to capture any generation of donors they’re looking to attract, but more importantly, convert donor intent into a completed donation.

*Donations of cryptocurrency are not available through PayPal or Venmo.

Innovative Donation Payment Options to Consider

In our 2021 Why America Gives report, we found that 58% of donors who donate online, have donated via a mobile site. Whereas in 2020, only 33% of donors noted a preference for mobile donations.

Digital Wallets and ACH for Nonprofits

Classy gives nonprofits the tools to support donors who wish to ditch their physical wallets. Using ClassyPay’s digital wallet and ACH payment options, organizations never have to miss a recurring donation because of an expired credit card.

Here’s a breakdown of that success from The State of Modern Philanthropy 2021 and a report by Finder.

• 11-14% conversion lift was reported on average when nonprofits enabled digital wallets on their Classy campaign donation pages
• 98 million Americans prefer digital wallets because it eliminates having to carry around physical cash and cards

This post will explore some newer forms of payment that promise the same benefits (or more), but let’s first start with the basics that have proven to be successful this year.

PayPal for Nonprofits

PayPal is a global payment system with over 400 million active accounts. It’s long been a way for users to buy, sell, and send money. In the last 12 months alone, 89% of surveyed U.S. consumers in a Statista Global Consumer Survey who used a digital wallet, used PayPal specifically.

Source: Statista Global Consumer Survey April 2020’

“Which online payment services have you used in the past 12 months?“;  Multi Pick; Base: n=2,403 online payment users

PayPal is ranked as the 2nd most trusted brand Globally.

Source: Morning Consult -The 15 Most Trusted Brands Globally. March 2021. Morning Consult surveyed over 330,000 consumers across 10 international markets to provide a global view on the current state of consumer trust across brands.

This trusted payment method could help bring your nonprofit brand credibility. Offering this form of payment may reduce the natural hesitation that occurs when people don’t see a familiar way to complete a purchase.

If you’re part of the Classy community, you’re in luck. As consumers use PayPal to complete their holiday shopping, you can give them that same seamless experience on any donation page with ClassyPay. We’ve already seen the impact of an ACH payment option increasing recurring donations by 55%. We can’t wait to see how donations via PayPal applied to both one-time and recurring donations could unlock generosity this giving season and into the new year.

35% of US respondents who have recurring donations set up use PayPal to make those donations.

Source: Logica Research, Commissioned by PayPal, March23-April 2, 2021. Logica Research conducted an online survey averaged 10 minutes among a sample of 4,306 PayPal user respondents from four countries (U.S., Canada, Australia, and U.K.) who made a monetary donation to a non-profit PayPal merchant. N=478.

Learn how to get PayPal up and running quickly for your next campaign.

Venmo for Nonprofits in the U.S.

Venmo has quickly become a topic of conversation in both the nonprofit and for-profit industries. Venmo uses a peer-to-peer model of sending, receiving, and holding money in an account to use for future use. It’s sometimes used as an option to split costs with friends, family, or coworkers without the hassle, or complete impromptu purchases without a wallet close by. Classy customers saw mobile conversion improve more than 2 points after activating Venmo on Classy Pay.

Nonprofits can tap into the power of Venmo donations to reach new donors in a way that feels like a natural extension of their daily routine. With 76 million active accounts, Venmo is making it easy to pay for charitable giving when presented with the option.

Classy’s PayPal and Venmo integrations will offer individuals the choice to donate through these payment methods across multiple campaign types, including:

• Website donations
• Peer-to-peer fundraising
• Virtual events
• Crowdfunding campaigns

Simply adding a payment method that feels modern and familiar can help improve conversion rates and donor satisfaction with simple payment reconciliation.

Cryptocurrency for Nonprofits

While donations of cryptocurrency are not available through PayPal or Venmo, cryptocurrency donations are a big topic of discussion at Classy and throughout the nonprofit sector.

Cryptocurrency can be used to purchase goods and services. The difference is that cryptocurrency tokens are completely digital and logged in a blockchain that decentralizes data by spreading information across multiple internet-connected devices.

The crypto marketplace is worth over $1 trillion with more than 100 million users across the globe. Between the tax benefits of crypto for donors and the security of every transaction, giving to charitable organizations in this way is an option we may see more donors lean on.

Not every organization is going to accept crypto right away, so there’s a prime opportunity for your nonprofit to build crypto giving into your donation pages early and promote it to donors who accumulate these alternative coins.

At the 2021 Collaborative, Edwin Goutier, The United Way’s Vice President of Innovation, explained why his organization was one of the first nonprofits to begin pursuing cryptocurrency donations, which you can watch here at your convenience to dive in further.

If you’re interested in donating cryptocurrency (or curious to see how it works), take a look at Classy’s Crypto Giving Fund. Classy partnered with The San Diego Foundation and Coinbase to give donors the ability to donate cryptocurrency to select nonprofit organizations.

Give Your Donors Options With Diversified Nonprofit Online Payment Processing by Generation

Shape your nonprofit’s online payment processing options by the donor segments you hope to engage today and in the future. Understanding generational differences can support the way you design a donor experience that feels relevant and converts more donations for your cause, especially as we head into the year-end giving season.

Why America Gives 2021 shares online payment preferences by donor age group:

How to Diversify Your Donation Payment Options on Classy

ClassyPay brings any payment option your donors could want directly to your donation form, and the setup is simple.

• Boost conversion rates with flexible payment options
• Improve donor retention rates with best-in-class tools
• Provide secure payment processing and prevent fraud
• Streamline your backend processes

ROI: Nonprofit Online Payment Processing Through Classy

See the results we’ve been monitoring through our Classy internal platform data for organizations that take advantage of diversified payment processing.

• For nonprofits that have activated PayPal Commerce in Classy Pay, one-time donations are 30% larger on PayPal than on credit card and Paypal donations were 20% larger than digital wallets
• So far this giving season, we’ve seen that organizations with Classy Pay and PayPal activated have a 4 point conversion lift, compared to organizations with neither

Enhance your donor experience where it matters with fresh ideas and actionable tips in Why America Gives 2021.