UU-Money

Sharing about Congregational Finances & Fundraising

The UU-Money email list is for "Information Sharing among Society Finance Leaders". This page goes beyond the limit of "finance leaders" to anyone in UU congregations who are concerned about finances and fundraising. If you have a resource to share, please add it here.

Online Donation Services

Which web donation services are you using? (Please answer all questions under the service you use or add a new one if yours is not listed there. Do not list Shopping Services that give donations here - you can start a new topic for that if you'd like.) Tips for using these services are in the Discussion section to this page, Talk:UU-Money.

NetworkforGood

• What are the benefits of this service over others? (If you don't know, describe what you find good about it. E.g. Does it allow one-time, monthly, and annual donations? Does it allow more than one kind of fundraiser for your organization at one time? Does it allow a custom designed web page for your donation page? Is it quick and easy to sign-up?)

Enter your answer here.

• What are the disadvantages of this service over others? (If you don't know, describe what you find bad or annoying or not optimal about it. E.g. Does it only allow one type of donation? Does it take a long time to sign up?)

Enter your answer here.

• What does it cost? As of what date? (This will need to be updated if changed.)

Enter your answer here.

• Who uses it? How long? How many donations have you received from this service? Please give a link to your donation information on your web site.

Enter your congregation or organization's information here.

Amazon.com Honor System

Link: Amazon.com Honor System

• What are the benefits of this service over others? (If you don't know, describe what you find good about it. E.g. Does it allow one-time, monthly, and annual donations? Does it allow more than one kind of fundraiser for your organization at one time? Does it allow a custom designed web page for your donation page? Is it quick and easy to sign-up?)
  • Amazon.com is a trusted name, most UUs will have bought something from the site at one time or another. There are several point-n-click options to create what are called payboxes to place on your website as well as a paypage, which is a "landing page" that fully describes how the Amazon Honor System works and answers questions users might have. Money is a one way deposit into your checking account, which reduces the chance of online fraud.

• What are the disadvantages of this service over others? (If you don't know, describe what you find bad or annoying or not optimal about it. E.g. Does it only allow one type of donation? Does it take a long time to sign up?)
  • Not everyone is an Amazon.com customer. Some people really don't like Amazon, and will choose not to support them. Limited customer service. Limited to U.S. customers only. You'll need to provide a credit card to register. Not suitable for anything other than asking for donations or selling "digital content".
  • Amazon asks you to put a link on your page to an image served from their servers, in which they put a customized message. This allows them to track visits by all users to your site (see Wikipedia:web bug). If the person browsing has an Amazon "cookie" indicating that they are an Amazon customer, the message is personalized to them. Both of these practices can be alarming to users, who may expect privacy when dealing with matters of religion.

• What does it cost? As of what date? (This will need to be updated if changed.)
  • As of 08/04/04, the rates are 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction.

• Who uses it? How long? How many donations have you received from this service? Please give a link to your donation information on your web site.

Enter your congregation or organization's information here.

CharityWeb.net

• What are the benefits of this service over others? (If you don't know, describe what you find good about it. E.g. Does it allow one-time, monthly, and annual donations? Does it allow more than one kind of fundraiser for your organization at one time? Does it allow a custom designed web page for your donation page? Is it quick and easy to sign-up?)

Enter your answer here.

• What are the disadvantages of this service over others? (If you don't know, describe what you find bad or annoying or not optimal about it. E.g. Does it only allow one type of donation? Does it take a long time to sign up?)

Enter your answer here.

• What does it cost? As of what date? (This will need to be updated if changed.)

Enter your answer here.

• Who uses it? How long? How many donations have you received from this service? Please give a link to your donation information on your web site.

Enter your congregation or organization's information here.

PayPal

• What are the benefits of this service over others? (If you don't know, describe what you find good about it. E.g. Does it allow one-time, monthly, and annual donations? Does it allow more than one kind of fundraiser for your organization at one time? Does it allow a custom designed web page for your donation page? Is it quick and easy to sign-up?)
  • Many people have used PayPal as individuals and small businesses for years with no problem. PayPal Secuity Links are in the Discussion section for this page, Talk:UU-Money.
  • PayPal is owned by Ebay, which has increased customer service, services, and options since they bought the company.
  • PayPal can be used as part of a full ecommerce solution, more than just donations or pledges.
  • PayPal pages can be integrated to match the look and feel of your site.
  • There are options for recurring billing on a monthly basis, i.e. pledges.

• What are the disadvantages of this service over others? (If you don't know, describe what you find bad or annoying or not optimal about it. E.g. Does it only allow one type of donation? Does it take a long time to sign up?)
  • Some paypal users like Abiword have complained that they lost a bunch of money that people donated to them because someone stole it and paypal did not insure the loss (not being a "financial institution" or something like that) [1]. Most observers recommend that you withdraw money donated to you on a regular basis rather than leaving it at paypal as if it was a bank. See also paypalsucks.com. There is a class action suit for which PayPal is paying, though it claims no responsibility. You can see details about it at https://www.paypal.com/settlement/. Individual comments about this can be left on the "discussion" page (click on the tab at the top of the page).

• What does it cost? As of what date? (This will need to be updated if changed.)
  • As of 08/04/04, the standard charge is 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. There are discounts based upon monthly volume : 3,001 to 10,000 is 2.5%; 10,001 to 100,000 is 2.2%, and a monthly volume over $100,000 drops the rate to 1.9%. The discounted rates all have the baseline of 30 cents per transaction.

• Who uses it? How long? How many donations have you received from this service? Please give a link to your donation information on your web site.

Enter your congregation or organization's information here.

thedatabank.com

• What are the benefits of this service over others? (If you don't know, describe what you find good about it. E.g. Does it allow one-time, monthly, and annual donations? Does it allow more than one kind of fundraiser for your organization at one time? Does it allow a custom designed web page for your donation page? Is it quick and easy to sign-up?)

Enter your answer here.

• What are the disadvantages of this service over others? (If you don't know, describe what you find bad or annoying or not optimal about it. E.g. Does it only allow one type of donation? Does it take a long time to sign up?)

Enter your answer here.

• What does it cost? As of what date? (This will need to be updated if changed.)

Enter your answer here.

• Who uses it? How long? How many donations have you received from this service? Please give a link to your donation information on your web site.

Enter your congregation or organization's information here.

Fundraising Ideas

Enter your ideas here.