Not every charity has the budget or time to set up an online donation mega system with a complex database and hundreds of reporting options. The reality is that implementing complicated donation systems take time, energy, and usually end up costing a lot of money. A lot of money, most likely, that a small charity may not have. 

I’ve come across many smaller charities who are frustrated because they want to start taking donations online but can’t because of financial or IT limitations. I’ve seen many instances where the system they really want will end up costing more than what they would receive in donations.

They are left with making a less than ideal decision (like having a downloadable PDF donation form), or with providing donors with no online donation option at all!

It doesn’t have to be this way, because taking donations from your website is now easier than ever. Here are five simple donation options you can set up quickly to get your site ready for the last quarter of 2015.

PayPal

Most people are familiar with PayPal, but many people don’t know they offer a special discounted rate for registered charities. Setting it up is as easy as visiting: https://www.paypal.com/ca/webapps/mpp/fundraise. Once your account is active, you can add a “donate” button on your website and then PayPal will take care of the rest. Your donors can pay by PayPal, Visa or MasterCard. If you are a CRA registered charity, you will get a lower fee on their per-transaction charges. Although not as sexy as the other solutions, this is by far the easiest and quickest to do.

WuFoo

Wufoo is a tool that lets you build forms for anything you want like events or for collecting donations. Once you create your donation form, you can easily embed it (like a YouTube video) on any of your web pages. It will look like it’s a part of your website so people can donate right from your website.

Setting up forms are very easy. Here is a quick tutorial to get you started: http://www.wufoo.com/guides/create-a-donation-form/ 

CanadaHelps

This popular donation tool recently got a much needed upgrade: now charities can embed their donation form right on their website. Previously charities would have to send donors away to the main CanadaHelps website, where they would have to compete with other charities (which I am sure led to lower conversion rates). With the new embed feature charities will most likely see higher donation rates. Check it out here: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charity-life/fundraising-2/new-embed-your-donation-form-in-your-website/,

Seamless Donations (WordPress)

This is a popular plug-in installed across 10,000+ WordPress websites. To use this, your site will need to run on WordPress and you will need a PayPal account. The best part of this plug-in is that unlike other online donation systems, there is no per-transaction fees except for PayPal. The tool allows the ability for users to assign where funds go, or donate in honour/memory of someone. For more info visit this link: https://wordpress.org/plugins/seamless-donations/ 

Give (WordPress)

This is another plug-in that works on the popular WordPress platform. Give, like Seamless, is a free plug-in and the only charges are the transaction fees. It currently works with PayPal, Stripe and a few other credit card providers. Give provides back-end reports to allow you to see how your online donations are doing. All information can also be exported to Excel. To learn more visit their site: https://givewp.com

Additional donation form advice

These five donation solutions are just the tip of the iceberg. There are literally hundreds of solutions now online - which can be quite overwhelming, unless you are a web developer. 

Here are three of the common challenges we constantly come across, and you will want to look out for:

• Donation forms designed exclusively for US donors. This is more common than you might think, so check the documentation of the frequently asked questions to make sure it works for Canadians (with provinces, postal code etc.)
• Extra transaction fees. There are many slick donation systems that will tack on an extra service fee (like 7%) on top of the regular credit card fees. So you might only get $90 for each $100 donation. Make sure to find out the real costs of using the system.
• Long-term contracts and other fine print. Some systems may require you to subscribe or even pay upfront for a full-year term. We’ve also seen a few that ask for start-up fees. So be careful to read the fine print before you sign up.

Did I miss any systems? What donation system do you use on your website? I’d love to hear about it - you can reach out to me via Twitter at @envisiontodd.

A tireless explorer of new developments on the web, Todd Jamieson has been keeping pace with its constant changes since 1996. Through EnvisionUP.com, Todd and his firm have worked with over 100 non-profits and charities. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and two young boys. Follow him via twitter.