Why You Should Have a Nonprofit Paypal Account

This blog was written by Korrin Bishop with collaboration from PayPal.

Accepting PayPal for online fundraising and donations is a way to reach a wider donor audience by giving supporters another, preferred payment method. Nonprofit payment processing is about more than rates and fees. is about more than rates and fees. Nonprofit credit card processing makes it easy to give and meet your donors where they are, which we know is mostly online.

The ROI of PayPal:

Our newly released Fundraising Trends and Predictions for 2022 features flexible giving options as number one. We’ve been monitoring the results of PayPal specifically through our Classy internal platform data and saw that:

Below, we’ll share more about what PayPal is and how your nonprofit organization can use Classy Pay to accept donations via PayPal on the Classy giving platform. We’ll also detail three reasons why you’ll want to have a PayPal nonprofit account to give your donors more options. 

What Is PayPal?

PayPal is a fast, easy, and secure global payment form with over 400 million accounts that enables PayPal users to buy, sell and send money. In a Statista Global Consumer Survey conducted in the United States in 2020, about 90 percent of surveyed U.S. consumers who had used a digital wallet in the past 12 months had used PayPal.

PayPal is one of the most trusted digital wallet options available. (1)

Digital wallets securely store individuals’ payment information, including credit cards, debit cards, and direct bank transfers. When a customer is ready to pay, they can select any of their payment options held in the digital wallet for a safe, easy payment experience.

Of donors surveyed in the United States, 37 percent said they would give recurring donations to a nonprofit organization if PayPal were a payment option. (2) Likewise, more than half of donors surveyed in the study who made monetary payments to a nonprofit in the U.S., said they are likely to donate again if PayPal is a payment form offered.

These figures are just some of the many reasons why PayPal will be available through Classy Pay beginning in fall 2021.

If you’re currently using the Classy platform or have Classy Pay activated, here’s how this addition will work:

• As with the current experience for ACH, credit cards, and other digital wallets, donors will be able to select PayPal as a checkout option
• Selecting this option will prompt donors to log in to their account with PayPal and donate seamlessly directly using their preferred payment option.
• The transaction data will be stored in Classy Manager just like a normal online payment
• After completing their transaction, the donor will be routed back to the confirmation page to review a summary of their transaction and share it on social media
• PayPal will begin as an account level setting, enabled or disabled at the organization level

The PayPal integration allows your nonprofit to give your supporters more donation payment options, meeting them where they are by presenting them with the same technologies they interact with every day.

Benefits of Having a PayPal Nonprofit Account

At the core of why your nonprofit should accept donations via PayPal in the Classy giving platform is the ability to drive your conversion rates. Below are three of the examples a PayPal option offers for helping conversions.

1. Donors want flexible payment options.

Payment flexibility drives conversion. Our report, The State of Modern Philanthropy 2021, found an 11 to 14 percent increase in mobile conversion rates when digital wallets are enabled. Additionally, unpublished research from Classy saw that 39 percent of donors say providing multiple mobile payment processors, including PayPal, could help provide an excellent online giving experience.

As one of the most trusted digital wallets-with more than 400 million active consumer accounts-The PayPal integration could help you increase online fundraising. A modern checkout option like PayPal meets your donors where they are, allowing them to give how and when they want.

As one of the most trusted digital wallets, PayPal can help increase online donations. A modern checkout option like PayPal meets your donors where they are, allowing them to give how and when they want.

2. The PayPal brand can help increase donor trust.

PayPal has been a trusted brand for over 20 years and was recently ranked the second most trusted brand globally by Morning Consult. Donors are familiar with the company and what PayPal offers in regards to fraud detection, 24/7 monitoring, and encryption technology. (3)

In fact, 77 percent of donors who responded to a recent study, believe that a PayPal donation payment is the safest form, according to donors who made monetary payments to a nonprofit in the U.S. (4)

The same study found that 76 percent of surveyed donors feel confident using PayPal to send payments on unfamiliar websites. Meanwhile, unpublished Classy data shows that 72 percent of millennials and 66 percent of Generation Z are most likely to partake in a PayPal donation if they know an organization they want to support is soliciting donations this way.

Offering PayPal as a payment method means you can reach donors with an online payment brand they trust.

3. Barriers to payment processing are barriers to donations.

A donor may want to give to your campaign, but at that particular moment, they’re unable to physically get their credit card or debit card to enter all of their payment information into your donation form. They may also not want to have to look up their bank account number and routing details to set up an ACH payment.

Unpublished data from Classy shows that 20 percent of donors have reconsidered charitable giving altogether because the nonprofit didn’t include the payment option they wanted to use. Having PayPal as a payment option on the Classy giving platform can minimize this friction and creates a modern donation experience. All your donor needs to do for an online donation on the Classy giving platform via PayPal is log into their account with PayPal and select from one of their pre-stored funding methods. Reducing friction in the donation process can help drive conversion.

4. PayPal is a global product. 

If you are hoping to reach a broader audience then PayPal is the payment method for you. PayPal is a global platform that will allow you to collect donations from donors across the globe. PayPal has global access to over 200 world markets meaning that your donors can customize their currency.

Leverage Classy Pay to Accept Donations Via PayPal

Donors value trusted payment options that meet them where they are. Use ClassyPay to offer PayPal as a payment method on your donation forms and give your donors the ability to donate using a payment method that is trusted, convenient, and safe.

1. Source: An online study commissioned by PayPal and conducted by Netfluential in November 2020, involving 1,000 US online shoppers ages 18-39 (Among Millennial consumers 24-39, n=814)
2. Source: PayPal study of 1,029 Respondents who made monetary payment to a nonprofit in the U.S., Logistica Research, March/April 2021
3. 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.
4. 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=1,029.