Andrew Taylor on the Business of Arts & Culture
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So you want to accept donations on-line?
  Posted: December 7, 2005
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TechSoup has a useful report excerpt exploring the various ways smaller nonprofits can accept donations on-line (the full report is also available on-line from Idealware, but requires your name and e-mail to access it). The report authors reviewed 27 lower-priced online donation tools that can be used with an existing website.

Since each user has different needs, and each service offers different strengths, the report sets up useful guidelines to help organizations find the best fit. Among the essential decisions in the process:

• Consider whether donations are just a small piece of a larger puzzle
  ie, do you need an on-line donation service, or a more integrated data system?
• Decide whether to use a vendor’s merchant account or your own
  a merchant account connects credit card transactions to a bank account to receive the funds
• Calculate the size and volume of donations you expect to get
  your choice of monthly fees and per-transaction costs will depend upon these variables
• Decide if the donation form needs to look like your website
  uncustomized options are cheaper, but won't be consistent with your on-line 'brand'
• Weigh the time required to import donations into your donor database
  don't make extra work for yourself or your staff if you can help it
• Decide on critical features
  do you really need the Cadillac, or will a hatchback do the trick?

Also included is a handy fee chart that helps you determine the best fee structure for the volume of contributions you expect to receive.

Thanks to Idealware for their hard work in preparing such a useful report on such an essential topic. I look forward to more...