PayPal Processes $8.5 Billion In 2017 Donations

More than $1 billion was donated to charities and nonprofits via the PayPal platform over the holidays, marking a milestone for the company, PayPal announced in a blog post.

“This is the first time that we’ve ever crossed the $1 billion threshold for holiday giving … building on our record-breaking #GivingTuesday results, [which] truly shows the giving power, compassion and global reach (people donated from more than 180 countries) of the PayPal community,” PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman said in the post.

#GivingTuesday and PayPal’s holiday campaign, which ran from Nov. 27 through Dec. 31, 2017, helped to bring the total amount of money donated on the PayPal platform in 2017 to more than $8.5 billion.

Following 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, PayPal was a payment option on the American Red Cross website, where users were able to donate in amounts from $10 to $500 via the nonprofit’s online portal.

In addition, Americares accepted donations via PayPal through its website, which also allowed those donating to submit money by entering their checking account information. Web users could have also given money via PayPal through the All Hands website.

Last year’s PayPal-processed donations surpassed the $7.3 billion in contributions it processed in 2016, according to a report, which cited data from PayPal’s interactive tracker. PayPal also found that 8 million users in 181 countries gave to more than 282,000 charities.

The report also noted that, based on PayPal’s data, 21 percent of gifts were made via a mobile device during the holidays, which is a 12 percent increase from 2015.

In 2016, the company also hit a milestone by making its way into the Guinness World Records book — thanks to #GivingTuesday and charitable givers. Through #GivingTuesday, PayPal users helped the website set a record for “most money raised online for charity in 24 hours” from Nov. 27 through Dec. 31 of 2015.

The total donated in 24 hours was $45.8 million, which PayPal noted was more than double its previous record of $19 million.