• Home
  • About
    • About
    • Policies
  • Submissions
    • Op-eds
    • News / Announcements
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

eJewish Philanthropy

Your Jewish Philanthropy Resource

  • News Bits
  • Jewish Education
  • Readers Forum
  • Research
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Using Technology Wisely / Online Giving – What to Consider

Online Giving – What to Consider

March 11, 2009 By Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy

As we’ve discussed before, it’s very important that all nonprofits offer an online giving option on their website. Simply put, many donors expect to be able to give online…and some may decide not to give if there isn’t a simple donation form available to quickly donate with a credit card online.

Now that you’ve agreed that you need online giving, the next question is “How do I implement it?” I received a really good breakdown of what nonprofits should consider when deciding how they want their online donations to work in my inbox the other day. This email was from Mission Research, the maker of GiftWorks Fundraising Software (full disclosure: GiftWorks offers their own online giving module that is integrated with the base donation management software). You can find this information on their eNewsletter here.

The key decisions they discuss include:

1) Integrated or standalone? Integration with your donor management system is preferred, as the donation information is automatically entered instead of requiring manual entry of the gift data into the system. However, some donor management systems do not have this option. And this type of solution is often more expensive to implement. Integrated online giving makes the most sense when the nonprofit’s donation management system offers the functionality and the nonprofit expects to receive a large number of online donations.

2) Merchant account or aggregator? Aggregrators (like NetworkforGood or Justgive) is easier to set up and often has no (or lower) monthly fees. However, aggregators may not allow you to customize your donation page, they often have higher per transaction costs, and you don’t get the money immediately. Probably most importantly, a donor can choose to give anonymously through an aggregator, so the nonprofit may not be able to adequately thank the donor and connect with them in the future. Merchant accounts often require more effort to set up, but can offer lower per transaction fees and more customization on the donation page.

These decisions will also require considering what giving options you want to offer (recurring gifts?), how much management time is available to process online gifts, and how many online gifts you expect to receive.

Are you offering online giving? If so, how have you implemented? What have you learned from your experience? Let us know in the comments!

from the Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy Technology Program blog – reposted with permission

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Using Technology Wisely Tagged With: online fundraising

Click here to Email This Post Email This Post to friends or colleagues!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kevin Martone says

    March 11, 2009 at 8:59 pm

    Just a note about the Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy Technology Program Blog…we’ve moved! All new blog posts can be found at http://blog.gijptech.org.

    Thanks,
    Kevin Martone
    Technology Program Manager
    Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy

  2. Dan says

    March 11, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    Thanks Kevin. We’ve updated the link.

Primary Sidebar

Join The Conversation

What's the best way to follow important issues affecting the Jewish philanthropic world? Our Daily Update keeps you on top of the latest news, trends and opinions shaping the landscape, providing an invaluable source for inspiration and learning.
Sign Up Now
For Email Marketing you can trust.

Continue The Conversation

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Recent Comments

  • Bruce Powell on An Invitation To Transparency: Reflections on an Open Salary Spreadsheet
  • Sara Rigler on Announcement: Catherine Reed named CEO of American Friends of Magen David Adom
  • Donna Burkat on The Blessings in 2020’s Losses
  • swindmueller on Where Do We Go From Here?
    Reflections On 2021
    A Jewish Response to These Uncertain Times
  • Alan Henkin on Where Do We Go From Here?
    Reflections On 2021
    A Jewish Response to These Uncertain Times

Most Read Recent Posts

  • What Title for Henrietta Szold?
  • Jewish Agency Accuses Evangelical Contractors of “Numerous Violations” but Denies They Evangelized New Immigrants
  • An Invitation To Transparency: Reflections on an Open Salary Spreadsheet
  • Why One Zoom Class Has Generated a Following
  • The Blessings in 2020’s Losses

Categories

The Way Back Machine

Footer

What We Do

eJewish Philanthropy highlights news, resources and thought pieces on issues facing our Jewish philanthropic world in order to create dialogue and advance the conversation. Learn more.

Top 40 Philanthropy Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2020

Copyright © 2021 · eJewish Philanthropy · All Rights Reserved