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How can they not be willing to pay a transaction fee from even PayPal for donations? Seems their options right now is to take donations via a service like Payp

by imjk 11y ago

How can they not be willing to pay a transaction fee from even PayPal for donations? Seems their options right now is to take donations via a service like Paypal with a transaction fee, or just take no donation.

pc86 11y ago
You would be surprised at how unreasonable people can be once you start talking about taking a percentage of money they get (be it donations or business revenue or something else). It's the financial equivalent of having a tumor that will kill you and refusing the surgery because the doctor says you have a chance of dying on the table.
fredleblanc 11y ago
I don't want to speak for them or go into their financials, but in a literal sense, every dollar counts. When we were talking about taking donations and registrations online, they were frazzled about the transaction fees, and I suggested working them into the costs. (It was only, say a $3 increase in membership price.) The truth of the matter is that some people don't have that much to spare. Of course, that conversation happened way before the site was used as a credit card validator. Trying to explain to them the bad side of charge backs and why this is a big deal is an on-going challenge. The last time I discussed it with them, they kept asking me if they were going to get stuck with all the transaction fees. And, being a developer, my first gut instinct is stepping back and saying "you're wasting money here and here and here and here, cut down these inefficiencies and it'll all balance out." However, it's not as simple as that. Everyone needs to be on board, and the people in charge of these things are already overworked and not highly paid. A catch-22, I suppose. I try to stay out of it as best I can. I made them the site for free in exchange for our two kids to use the club's stuff for free, and with those inefficiencies I hinted at, I can't afford to get caught in being the role of business consultant too.
milesvp 11y ago
They may actually not have a choice. My wife is a lawyer who does a lot of work with non-profits, and maintaining non-profit status can require jumping through a lot of legal hoops. A quick google suggests GBCA is a 501(c)3 non-profit, so it's very possible that adding a gateway in front of a donation that is tax deductible may create some legal risk (real or perceived), or be outright not allowed by current laws.
- phonon 11y ago
  What the heck are you talking about? Fundraising expenses and overhead are totally ordinary and expected for non-profits. Obviously if it would be very high, it's problematic (as percentage of donations going to program expenses would low--think hiring a fundraiser, and giving them 50% of every dollar they bring in.), but a ~2% credit card processing is unexceptional.

by imjk 11y ago

pc86 11y ago

You would be surprised at how unreasonable people can be once you start talking about taking a percentage of money they get (be it donations or business revenue or something else). It's the financial equivalent of having a tumor that will kill you and refusing the surgery because the doctor says you have a chance of dying on the table.

fredleblanc 11y ago

I don't want to speak for them or go into their financials, but in a literal sense, every dollar counts. When we were talking about taking donations and registrations online, they were frazzled about the transaction fees, and I suggested working them into the costs. (It was only, say a $3 increase in membership price.) The truth of the matter is that some people don't have that much to spare. Of course, that conversation happened way before the site was used as a credit card validator. Trying to explain to them the bad side of charge backs and why this is a big deal is an on-going challenge. The last time I discussed it with them, they kept asking me if they were going to get stuck with all the transaction fees. And, being a developer, my first gut instinct is stepping back and saying "you're wasting money here and here and here and here, cut down these inefficiencies and it'll all balance out." However, it's not as simple as that. Everyone needs to be on board, and the people in charge of these things are already overworked and not highly paid. A catch-22, I suppose. I try to stay out of it as best I can. I made them the site for free in exchange for our two kids to use the club's stuff for free, and with those inefficiencies I hinted at, I can't afford to get caught in being the role of business consultant too.

milesvp 11y ago

They may actually not have a choice. My wife is a lawyer who does a lot of work with non-profits, and maintaining non-profit status can require jumping through a lot of legal hoops. A quick google suggests GBCA is a 501(c)3 non-profit, so it's very possible that adding a gateway in front of a donation that is tax deductible may create some legal risk (real or perceived), or be outright not allowed by current laws.

phonon 11y ago
What the heck are you talking about? Fundraising expenses and overhead are totally ordinary and expected for non-profits. Obviously if it would be very high, it's problematic (as percentage of donations going to program expenses would low--think hiring a fundraiser, and giving them 50% of every dollar they bring in.), but a ~2% credit card processing is unexceptional.