Nonprofits Say ‘Thanks For Giving’ as Next Gen Payments Power Contributions

By many accounts, we’re living during a golden age of philanthropy and charitable giving.

Urged on by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, 236 of the world’s wealthiest individuals have agreed to dedicate around $600 billion of their total wealth to charitable causes as part of the Giving Pledge, and the global reach of philanthropy counts more than 260,000 foundations in 39 countries. Three in every four of those foundations were established in just the past 25 years — and the late ‘90s don’t feel that long ago.

Nonprofits have a substantially larger presence compared to pure-play philanthropic organizations, with more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations (NPOs) registered in the U.S. alone – although this number also includes domestic philanthropies.

To be sure, the business of soliciting, tracking and collecting contributions is massive, and the payments revolution that transformed commerce with innovative online tools and digital platform solutions has similarly ushered in a sea of change across the non-profit and funding ecosystem.

E Pluribus Unum

The charitable giving landscape in particular appears to be moving away from its traditional practice of one lone titan of industry being the single source of capital available for disbursement and toward a multi-donor model.

In fact, in 2021, individuals were responsible for the largest identifiable source of U.S. charitable giving, contributing around 67%, or $326.87 billion, of America’s $484.85 billion total.

How did they do it? With the help of a variety of cashless payment options, the integration of which is becoming more and more essential for charities and non-profit organizations both big and small.

While handwritten checks and splashy in-person fundraising events, with their $10,000-a-head, black-tie-buy-this-table-please galas likely aren’t going anywhere for a while, online payment solutions have made it possible for smaller organizations to activate their audiences and email lists to a degree that would’ve never been possible before, well, email itself and the rise of the internet.

You’ve Got Mail

This fundraising landscape, born of email and the internet, has since evolved into the connected economy, making it possible for individuals and organizations to connect with each other over across digital and physical locations, safely, securely and in real time.

Donors give more when they have more options, and impact-focused organizations are finding that even their most ambitious fundraising strategies can be brought to life by payments technology that solves for ease of use, security and scalability, all while providing actionable user data. When offered payment solutions like ACH, PayPal and digital wallet options including Venmo and even cryptocurrencies, the average one-time donation of individual givers increased by nearly 1.5x.

Cart abandon happens in the world of charitable giving too, and payment options that fail to align with donor expectations may lead to them deciding to not make that donation.

In fact, one in five donors have reconsidered their donation when a preferred payment option isn’t provided by the recipient NPO — and more than half of donors indicate they want to give through digital options like PayPal and Venmo.

As Payments Evolve, So Does Giving

Biometric solutions, AI autofills and further hyperspecific personalized solutions tied to cloud keychains will one day make the physical card obsolete. The American Red Cross started accepting bitcoin in 2014, UNICEF maintains a crypto fund, and organizations as disparate as the Rainforest Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Save The Children all now accept cryptocurrency as ways for donors to support their mission.

As payments evolve, so too does giving. The American Red Cross started accepting bitcoin in 2014. UNICEF maintains a crypto fund, and organizations as disparate as the Rainforest Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Save The Children all now accept cryptocurrency as ways for donors to support their mission.

Third-party solutions have even sprung up in support of the crypto-giving space.

The Giving Block is a platform founded in 2018 with the goal of helping equip NPOs of all sizes with the ability to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrency donations. Thousands of NPOs, including charities, faith-based organizations, universities and more, use the platform to supplement their more traditional fundraising efforts. The platform claims that cryptocurrency represents the fastest growing donation method for Millennial and Gen Z donors.

As cryptocurrencies become a further socialized and supported payment solution across the giving landscape, other Web3 fundraising tools are beginning to pop up as well. Charity Blankets of Hope holds a now-annual NFT art auction called “Right-Click, Give!” and last fall, in response to August 2021’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, Hope For Haiti announced a fundraising auction featuring NFTs created around the theme of “Empowering the Next Generation of Haiti’s Leaders.”

Cashless fundraising tools offer an exciting path forward for mission-led organizations and NPOs as they look to engage an increasingly connected audience and donor base. Learn more about the digitization of payments with PYMNTS exclusive report, “The Digital Wallet Mandate.”