How to accept online donations & payments on your website

Apr 23, 2018 by

Matthew Kurtz

You can use online donation and payment software to:

1. Accept one-time and recurring donations directly on your website.
2. Add payment fields to your online forms to accept online payments for registrations, event signups, and much more.

We launched our online giving platform, eCatholic Payments, to help transform the way Catholics give. Here are five ways eCatholic Payments can help your Catholic organization achieve success with online giving!

What you need for successful online giving

1

Online giving software that's easy to use

Online donation and payment software needs to be easy to use so that you and your team can harness its power...and save time. Here's what "ease of use" looks like with eCatholic Payments:

• Easily create Donation forms - Use the Donations module to create a donation form in mere seconds.
• Build powerful Payment forms - Drag-and-drop custom payment fields into your online forms using the Forms module.
• Enjoy a seamless back-end interface - Access the Payments Center directly on your website (instead of logging into a separate application) to view transactions, issue refunds, manage donors, and more.
• Let your donors manage their gifts - Activate Donor Self-Management to give your donors the ability to increase their gifts or update their information.

2

Convenient online giving tools

Your online donation and payment software needs to dismantle roadblocks that may make it more difficult for your donors to give. Visitors should be able to conveniently make a donation or payment without any hassle!

• Donors don't need an account to give - Requiring your donors to first create an account before they can make a donation creates an unnecessary hurdle.
• Use mobile-responsive forms - Guarantee a smooth experience for your visitors by creating beautiful donation and payment forms that automatically adjust to screens of all sizes (without touching a piece of complicated HTML code).
• Enable flexible payment options - Allow your visitors to make a donation or payment with the frequency (one-time or recurring) and payment type (credit card, debit card, or bank account withdrawal) that works best for them.

3

Secure online giving

Achieve peace of mind knowing that your online giving software is securely processing your online donations and payments. While the technical details of online security can become overwhelming, our eCatholic Payments team does the heavy lifting for you.

• Get an SSL certificate for secure online transactions - In order to securely process online donations and payments, your website needs an SSL certificate. Luckily, every eCatholic website hosting plan includes FREE SSL, which allows you to securely accept payments directly on your site!
• Become PCI compliant - To become and remain PCI compliant, your organization must simply complete an annual questionnaire. In fact, we've published a PCI compliance guide that will help you through the process.

NOTE: By becoming PCI compliant, your organization can take advantage of rapid funding. This means donations and payments will be deposited directly into your account within days after the transaction occurs (instead of the funds being held for several weeks by a payment processor).

4

Create a credible online giving experience

Your donation and payment platform needs to look legitimate; it must create a first impression that establishes trust so visitors have the confidence to enter their sensitive data. For example, your payment forms should be designed to match the font, color, and style of your website.

What a poor online giving user experience looks like

If your donation forms look dramatically different from the rest of your website (as illustrated in the example below), it can create a confusing experience for your donors.

What a credible online giving user experience looks like

With eCatholic Payments, your online donation and payment forms are located directly on your website (illustrated in the example below). To put it simply, your donors will stay on your website.

5

Affordable online giving

Your online donation and payment software needs to be affordable. With eCatholic Payments, you get affordable online giving with clear, simple pricing.

In fact, in order to truly transform the way Catholics give, we're giving back. Through a special partnership with Catholic Extension, 10% of our eCatholic Payments revenue helps support seminarian education and retired priests.