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  • 1.  Payment Methods

    Posted 10-04-2023 07:32 AM

    Good morning!

    Our university currently accepts only credit cards as payment on our giving site.  We are now looking into alternate payment methods.  An informal survey of about 15 institutions seems to indicate that there's not a frontrunner or preferred vendor.  Half of the sites I looked at accepted credit cards only.  Of the remainder about half offered PayPal, and the rest were either Venmo or Google Wallet.   Our Annual Giving team would like to use Apple Pay to engage a younger audience.

    My question is, did you see a bump in giving or see other measurable benefits when you began to offer more up to date payment options?  Or even anecdotally, did you observe greater donor satisfaction?

    We have a great many projects on our list for this year, so I'm trying to assess where in our priorities this should fit.

    Thank you as always for your help!



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    Marcy Serkin
    Temple University
    marcy.serkin@temple.edu
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  • 2.  RE: Payment Methods

    Posted 10-04-2023 07:45 AM
    Hi Marcy -

    You don't mention your platform(s) or if there will be any significant investment of resources to enable the ability to accept donations from additional payment methods. Obviously, that's something you'll want to consider.

    I don't have any anecdotal information to share, but my take has always been to try and "fish where the fish are." All things being equal, if you have the ability to enable additional payment methods and that might make the experience better or more seamless for your donor, why not turn it on?

    I'm oversimplifying, of course, because making any change like this won't be completely seamless for your back-office, but in general I have found that providing additional options to improve the customer experience for your donor is worthwhile.

    Matt Bain

    Executive Director, Advancement Services

    Division of University Advancement

    Kennesaw State University

    470-578-7719







  • 3.  RE: Payment Methods

    Posted 10-04-2023 08:28 AM
    Smarter words have yet to be spoken! And if your processor only accepts Visa & Mastercard, it is time to find a new processor!

    Rather than asking whether giving has gone up when adding a new feature, you should ask if you have lost any donors you didn't know about. Why not offer everything? And I'll add to that equation cryptocurrency. Some vendors offer the ability to facilitate those donations and gifts of securities. If one donor asks for a giving method, and the only cost is the transaction fee, it's probably worth it!

    John

    John H. Taylor
    Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier St.
    Durham, NC   27705
    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987





    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Payment Methods

    Posted 10-04-2023 10:11 AM
    Hi, everyone,

    Related to this question, we are exploring switching to GiveCampus as an option for our online giving platform, and they offer a lot more payment options than we can currently offer, specifically with digital wallets.  

    Have any of you switched to GiveCampus in the last few years, and if so, do you have good data on how your ability to accept payments through its digital wallet options has increased your dollars raised or your giving participation with younger donors?  (Or if you just saw an increase because it is an improved donor experience?)

    I'd appreciate any and all notes about this.  Thanks for starting the conversation, Marcy.

    Thanks,

    Stephanie

    Stephanie M. Ottone
    Director of Advancement Services
    The Episcopal Academy
    1785 Bishop White Drive
    Newtown Square, PA 19073



    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Payment Methods

    Posted 10-04-2023 10:51 AM

    We use GiveCampus, and yes, they accept many payment types. I've seen an increase in Apple Pay, and recently a few bank transfers (I'm not a fan of these). IMHO and generally speaking, when a donor has more options they have a better experience.

     

    Heidi

     

    Heidi Findlay

    Senior Gifts Manager

    Rollins College

     

     




    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Payment Methods

    Posted 10-05-2023 03:06 PM

    Hi Stephanie!

    We switched to GiveCampus a little over a year ago and have been very pleased. We have seen an increase in dollars and donors, a decrease in expense, simplified set-up and management, streamlined back-office processing, and a better donor experience. Perhaps more interesting to your specific question, 47% of our donors gave by digital wallet last year through the GC platform (53% credit card) and 45% gave from a mobile device. 

    Hope this helps!

    Ryan



    ------------------------------
    Ryan Elliott
    Webster University
    relliott@WEBSTER.EDU
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Payment Methods

    Posted 10-04-2023 08:01 AM
    Marcy, there are many vendors who can accept more payment options, including Apple Pay, such as Classy and Donorbox. If you haven't found a payment platform that supports your requirements, don't settle - there are likely some options available to you. Feel free to ping me directly, I can look at my product matrix and offer some additional options. 


    Thank you,
    Isaac Shalev
    Data Strategy Expert
    Sage70, Inc.
    (917) 859-0151
    isaac@sage70.com

    Schedule a 30-minute consultation now:






  • 8.  RE: Payment Methods

    Posted 10-04-2023 12:08 PM

    We did recently change our payment gateway, and it supports several options, which is what led to this conversation.  Thank you, as always, for the collective wisdom of this group!

    Marcy



    ------------------------------
    Marcy Serkin
    Temple University
    marcy.serkin@temple.edu
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Payment Methods

    Posted 10-04-2023 03:51 PM

    Marcy,

    We implemented PayPal as a payment option just before giving day and it ended up being used by for about 10% of the transactions. It would not be easy to determine whether any of these would not have happened without it of course.

     

    I do think it improves the donor experience and can be highly useful for calls to action when it feels like there is a short window for reaction before you could lose them – like at events. An advantage the standalone apps have is that they can validate using facial recognition which really speeds up the response. If I am making a gift to an organization that has PayPal, I always select that option for just that reason.

     

    Best to you in your evaluation.

     

     

    John Smilde

    Director of Gifts and Records Administration

    Advancement and Alumni Relations

    George Mason University

    4400 University Drive, MSN 1A3

    Fairfax, VA 22030

    703.993.8680

    jsmilde@gmu.edu

     

    This electronic message contains confidential information which is, in whole or in part,

    subject to exclusion from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act pursuant to

    §2.2-3705.4.7. of the Code of Virginia.

     

     

     






  • 10.  RE: Payment Methods

    Posted 10-23-2023 01:43 PM

    Hi Marcy,

    We utilize Slate for our database of record, and also serves as our payment processor (they utilize Stripe). We are able to take; credit card, ACH, Google Pay, Apple Pay, venmo and paypal through our giving form and when they use this form, the system will automatically reciept the donor and populates the gift in our system automatically.

    We had seen an increase as soon as we turned on capabilities to support google pay, apple pay, venmo, and paypal last year (around 20% increase in number of gifts and 11% in total dollars of gifts). We have been able to increase giving at events by offering QR codes on the tables and they could pay through any of those channels, and that has been a big hit.

    Quinn Phillips (she/her/hers)
    Associate Director of Advancement Finance, Data and Technology
    qphillips@albion.edu



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    Quinn Phillips
    Albion College
    qphillips@albion.edu
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