BEST CHOICE FOR DIFFERENT PAYMENT METHODS
Below are the fixed transaction costs that come with the different payment methods. All these costs are set by the different credit card and banking services involved, like you would have in any other industry. The percentages below represent non-profit rates from the different providers.
- The best choice for general giving to Chasm Solutions is Bank to Bank (ACH) transfer. Even though it costs a small percentage versus writing a check, it requires no volunteer time for receiving the check, depositing at the bank, and entering the gift into the donation system. And as Chasm grows, it will become the most cost effective method.
- The best choice for large one-time gifts is a mailed check.
SECURE GIVING PORTAL
Chasm Solutions uses a service partner called Five Two Foundation and their donation product called Grass Roots.
After looking over many different products to provide a secure and reliable giving portal that both allows a persons control over giving and reduces the administrative costs of processing donations, we arrived at the Grass Roots product.
The reality of all online giving is that it costs to give. Many non-profits hide the costs up front and pay for them out of administrative fees later or they raise money with foundations to substidise the cost for other donors. No matter how it is presented, every non-profit shares the same reality of costs for giving online. Even the time it takes a non-profit worker to cash and process a check has a measurable cost in time and labor. This is the reality.
Chasm Solutions leadership has weighed all this in selecting the Grass Roots platform. It is a balance of providing the tools of giving control to our partners, like a private giving portal, giving method management, print on-demand tax receipts, communication tools, multiple payment methods, etc., and keeping the cost of giving as low as possible.