I started donations today to two smaller EA nonprofits, but noticed that both had seemed to set up donation platforms in a more expensive way than necessary. I wrote both organizations (which I won’t name) and will complete donations to both. But I thought it was worth noting that optimizing fees could be low-hanging fruit. In addition to saving a few percent of donations, donors really don’t like the idea that a non-trivial chunk of their donations will be consumed by credit card companies and platforms.
Some options to consider in the US for organizations with 501(c)(3) status:
Meta doesn’t charge platform fees or credit card fees for donations made in Facebook fundraisers or through Meta Pay, whatever that is. I believe those route through the Network for Good DAF. A small nonprofit I advise (which is not part of the EA community) keeps a link to a current Facebook fundraiser on its homepage for exactly this reason.
Paypal doesn’t charge platform or card fees for donations made to its DAF through its Giving Fund, which routes funds through a DAF into the charity’s coffers. TLYCS is set up with them, for instance. My understanding is that, even if you don’t want to go that route, Paypal rates are somewhat lower for charities than the default rates if you get that set up.
I am less confident in—and haven’t recently researched—the best solution for donors who don’t want to go through Meta or Paypal. Donorbox is generally 2.3% for ACH transactions, 3.7% for cards, so that is worth checking as a benchmark against whatever an organization is using.
Although I’m sure various platforms offer various advantages to organizations and donors, my guess is that many EAs will be drawn to methods that reduce/eliminate fees if those do not involve any additional marginal work for the organization. My own reaction as a donor is to be impressed/pleased when an organization displays awareness about how to minimize transaction costs. (I am aware that I should be considering any extra cost to the organization, e.g., from handling paper checks, but it’s not obvious to me that there would be any from the three options listed above.)
So even if an organization decides to use a more expensive platform on its website for features or other reasons, it may still make sense to sign up for something more efficient as a secondary pathway and promote that where appropriate (e.g., on this forum during giving season).
Strong upvoted mainly to incentivise accompanying the pointing out of a potential problem with i) acknowledgement of counter-considerations and ideally ii) some contribution to the solution.
I started donations today to two smaller EA nonprofits, but noticed that both had seemed to set up donation platforms in a more expensive way than necessary. I wrote both organizations (which I won’t name) and will complete donations to both. But I thought it was worth noting that optimizing fees could be low-hanging fruit. In addition to saving a few percent of donations, donors really don’t like the idea that a non-trivial chunk of their donations will be consumed by credit card companies and platforms.
Some options to consider in the US for organizations with 501(c)(3) status:
Meta doesn’t charge platform fees or credit card fees for donations made in Facebook fundraisers or through Meta Pay, whatever that is. I believe those route through the Network for Good DAF. A small nonprofit I advise (which is not part of the EA community) keeps a link to a current Facebook fundraiser on its homepage for exactly this reason.
Paypal doesn’t charge platform or card fees for donations made to its DAF through its Giving Fund, which routes funds through a DAF into the charity’s coffers. TLYCS is set up with them, for instance. My understanding is that, even if you don’t want to go that route, Paypal rates are somewhat lower for charities than the default rates if you get that set up.
I am less confident in—and haven’t recently researched—the best solution for donors who don’t want to go through Meta or Paypal. Donorbox is generally 2.3% for ACH transactions, 3.7% for cards, so that is worth checking as a benchmark against whatever an organization is using.
Although I’m sure various platforms offer various advantages to organizations and donors, my guess is that many EAs will be drawn to methods that reduce/eliminate fees if those do not involve any additional marginal work for the organization. My own reaction as a donor is to be impressed/pleased when an organization displays awareness about how to minimize transaction costs. (I am aware that I should be considering any extra cost to the organization, e.g., from handling paper checks, but it’s not obvious to me that there would be any from the three options listed above.)
So even if an organization decides to use a more expensive platform on its website for features or other reasons, it may still make sense to sign up for something more efficient as a secondary pathway and promote that where appropriate (e.g., on this forum during giving season).
Strong upvoted mainly to incentivise accompanying the pointing out of a potential problem with i) acknowledgement of counter-considerations and ideally ii) some contribution to the solution.
https://www.every.org/ is another free platform I’ve found through this forum