Paying by credit or debit card

[RonBin79]

Can anyone put me on the right road to getting a system that will allow visitors to our church web site who wish to make a donation to our church, either by visa debit or credit card be able to do so please?

I have a set of suitable icons but need the engine to drive the system. Unfortunately, I know nothing about this sort of thing at all and am completely in the dark, therefor any help I can get will be very much appreciated.

Kind regards,

RonBin79

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Well first up Ron a lot depends on the security of the system that you and the donator use.
I don't know of any programs that will do what you want and I am assuming you have a server for your church site?

 

[Barman58]

Hello Ron,

your first stop would probably be your website hosting company, it may be that they have a pre built application that can be added to your website, that can handle donations, most hosting companies will have shopping facility's that can be added to the site suitably modified this could suit you perfectly as it retains all control "in House"

Another alternative would be one of the various charity donation sites eg. just giving - Online fundraising donations and ideas - JustGiving that handle this type of thing for individuals and small groups.

anoher option would be to create a paypall account for the church and a simple form on your site will allow visitors to make fixed or variable donations, visitors will need a paypall account in order to pay but quite a few if not most of those who are likely to give this way would have such an account already


Hope this helps

 

[Sir George]

Can anyone put me on the right road to getting a system that will allow visitors to our church web site who wish to make a donation to our church, either by visa debit or credit card be able to do so please?

I have a set of suitable icons but need the engine to drive the system. Unfortunately, I know nothing about this sort of thing at all and am completely in the dark, therefor any help I can get will be very much appreciated.

Kind regards,

RonBin79

The following site has some very good information;

Credit Card Processing - Options for Nonprofits

I have worked for a credit card processing company and the information from the above link is concise and easy to understand.

HTH

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Ron,
I have two credit cards with one being for my personal purchases.
The other (with smaller amounts in it) for online purchases and or donations. This way only a small amount is at risk.
Then I only use their PayPal accounts when making donations etc...

Barman has some good ideas for you church in setting up a PayPal account or check out his other options for your church.
Best of luck,
THW

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Another vote for using Paypal.

 

[MilesAhead]

If you expect a large volume of donations you might consider the merchant account. But for small volume, ease of use etc.. it is tough to beat PayPal. All you need to do is fill out a form on PayPal(once the church has a paypal account) to generate code for a Donate Button. The donator after pushing the button, is presented with the option of using the supported credit cards or logging in to their PayPal account. Generally you associate an email account with the donate button. Once set up anyone may send you money.

The only thing that may be a bit cumbersome is donations in other than US Dollars. But for US currency it's quite straight-forward. You paste the button code into the web page at the point you wish the button to show.

 

[Sir George]

If you expect a large volume of donations you might consider the merchant account. But for small volume, ease of use etc.. it is tough to beat PayPal. All you need to do is fill out a form on PayPal(once the church has a paypal account) to generate code for a Donate Button. The donator after pushing the button, is presented with the option of using the supported credit cards or logging in to their PayPal account. Generally you associate an email account with the donate button. Once set up anyone may send you money.

The only thing that may be a bit cumbersome is donations in other than US Dollars. But for US currency it's quite straight-forward. You paste the button code into the web page at the point you wish the button to show.

The link I provided includes PayPal;

(quote)
There are commercial third party processors as well, such as PayPal, a widely used processor used by small businesses and many nonprofits. PayPal transaction fees range from 1.9% + $.30 per transaction for nonprofit organizations with over $100,000 monthly volume and 2.2% + $.30 per transaction for organizations with less than $100,000 monthly volume. PayPal offers several options for nonprofits, including a giving widget that the nonprofit can use on its own website.
(end quote)

Just an FYI; The fees quoted for PayPal are higher than what may be available on a commercial account.

 

[Barman58]

One thing we have to remember here is that Ron is in the UK, US and UK rules for Charitable donations and how they are handled by the likes of PayPal are completely different

 

[MilesAhead]

One thing we have to remember here is that Ron is in the UK, US and UK rules for Charitable donations and how they are handled by the likes of PayPal are completely different

Good point. I should have noticed the flag. I must've been a cup short of a coffee.

 

[RonBin79]

Donations to our Church

Thank you for all your great support and responses, very helpful indeed. It looks to me as though this is an exercise that is going to be more complicated than I ever thought:huh:

I suspect there is two ways of doing it, one is to go through someone like "JustGiving" and the other is to use PayPal. 80% of the people that view our web site www.stmargaretschurchifield.org are over likely to be 75 years of age and maybe even older, so the chances of them using PayPal is very remote as they very seldom if ever buy anything on line.

I had thought of another way, which was to create an account at our bank, then hyperlink a button to that account, but am not sure how that would work either, it's not as if they can put a pound coin in a slot or a collection bag but I am sure there must be a way around it all.

Kind regards,

RonBin79

 

[Barman58]

Ron,

your third option would be possible via an add-on to your hosting package for your website, assuming whoever you use provides some form of e-commerce facility, of course if you host your site yourself this may be more difficult, unless you can get someone to code something for you. check with your web hosting company, it's possible that they already have something coded that will meet your needs.

The Paypal option does allow a visitor to enter their card details for regular credit or debit cards but also has an easy payment option for those who hold a Paypal account. the submission of card details will be a requirement for all payment options available, so there is always going to be a potential trust issue for those who do not regularly buy things online, an this may be a major issue with older visitors.this is where perhaps the direct payment option, (your third option), may be an advantage as your visitors will be more likely to trust you than an outside agency.

 

[Solarstarshines]

Can anyone put me on the right road to getting a system that will allow visitors to our church web site who wish to make a donation to our church, either by visa debit or credit card be able to do so please?

I have a set of suitable icons but need the engine to drive the system. Unfortunately, I know nothing about this sort of thing at all and am completely in the dark, therefor any help I can get will be very much appreciated.

Kind regards,

RonBin79

Honestly you should set up a Paypal account and put a Donate button on the website Paypal will charge 10% of each Donation but it's quick easy and painless

Sorry but i came late to the party everyone already suggested this

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I'm elderly and use PayPal frequently. You just have to provide your donors with detailed directions.

 

[RonBin79]

Lady Fitzgerald

I am old too, 82 in fact and I have a PayPal account but don't really like using it for some unknown reason, just an age thing I suppose. I don't see the need for it because I can pay direct to the vendor in most cases using my credit card. I could be quite wrong but I suspect PayPal might be middle men taking off a percentage of every purchase but I don't know because I am too old.....

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I am old too, 82 in fact and I have a PayPal account but don't really like using it for some unknown reason, just an age thing I suppose. I don't see the need for it because I can pay direct to the vendor in most cases using my credit card. I could be quite wrong but I suspect PayPal might be middle men taking off a percentage of every purchase but I don't know because I am too old.....

PayPal does take a cut—they are a business, they have to make money somehow—but it's the vendor who pays that cut. In the OP's case, the recipient of the donation will pay the cut; I believe someone here said it was 10%?

While I have a dedicated debit card, which has the same protections as a credit card, that I use for internet transactions and I put money into only just before making a transaction, I still prefer using PayPal when it's available to put an extra layer between any crooks and my card.

 

[RonBin79]

Thanks for that Jeannie, I will work my way through it, lose some more hair and probably some sleep until I get it sorted. I will have to talk to the Church Treasurer and get his viewpoint, trouble is, he knows nothing about computers at all.

Thanks again,

RonBin79