Bike People,
I too have been meaning to chime in on this thread.  We've been using PayPal for many years and it's been an easy but buggy solution.  I know for a fact we lost many a potential donor because they got directed to  paypal and didn't have an account or had forgotten their password.  The result was no donation.

Also this year PayPal wanted to check our non profit status and put a limitation on our account.  This meant that we couldn't transfer money or update our account.  It was a total pain in the ass to resolve and I swear PayPal does everything possible to make it difficult to fix.

A couple of years ago we started using authorize.net which was a great step for us.  We can now accept credit card donations without a password or any third party crap.  We solicit donations for events, programs and memberships.  Last year 10% of our budget came in through the website. 

It's extremely important to have systems in place so when people give you money they get thanked.  We didn't have this in place for our first couple of years and it was so embarrassing when someone would say, I gave you guys money and I never heard anything from you.   I'd recommend that you have thank you letters, notes or postcards ready to go before you start soliciting money online.

Ride On!
Rich
Community Cycles
Boulder

On 1/3/2011 12:01 PM, Kelly Martin wrote:
Happy New Year everyone!

I'd been meaning to reply to this, but was reminded when I came in this morning and saw that on the last day of 2010 we received two very friendly donations via paypal.

We set up the donate button when we did our first ever fundraising campaign back in March and it really helped with that.  Since then we probably average $50-$100 per month, which covers a utility or phone bill.  Totally worth it!

We don't currently have a debit/atm or credit card scanner, so a couple of times clients have used it to donate for the services received.

When I sent out a newsletter in December with our holiday closure I included a "if you're looking for a place to make end of year donations for tax purposes, consider us...".  It didn't flood in, but it worked.

Lastly, it's really easy to set-up and PayPal doesn't take that much.

Good Luck!

kelly
On Dec 21, 2010, at 7:56 AM, Jess Linz wrote:

Hey everyone,

I've been wondering about how effective "donate" buttons (like Google Checkout for Non-profits) are on project websites.  Our cooperative has many active members, but also many sympathetic supporters, who would potentially donate to the cause without seeking membership (we have an annual membership fee which supports our operating costs).  Right now the only way to donate is to come down to the shop or mail us a check.

For those co-ops who use online donations, are they very effective for A)renewing memberships and B)getting support from non-members?
Thanks!

Jess

MoBo Bicycle Cooperative
Cincinnati, Ohio

www.mobobicyclecoop.org
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Kelly Martin, Operations Facilitator
The Bicycle Kitchen/La Bicicocina
706 N. Heliotrope Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90029

W 323.NOCARRO  |  M 213.210.5631
 


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