Donation Page vs PayPal Donate Button: Which One Should You Choose?

Your donor is ready to give your organization a gift. Great! But what are the steps they have to take to actually donate?

Do you have a “Donate” button that leads them to a page with different branding than your own? Do your social media followers have to follow a link to your website only to then be directed to an external payment processor such as PayPal?

Each step in your donation process is a friction point where someone can drop off. Today, many nonprofits are simplifying the donation process through a donation page.

Let’s dive into the ins and outs of donation pages and how they compare to having a PayPal “Donate” button to help you make better decisions about how you want to collect donations.

What Is A Donation Page?

A donation page is a critical component of any nonprofit website. It’s a pivotal factor in the success of fundraising efforts. While driving visitors to your website is essential, the ultimate goal is to convert those visitors into donors. However, if your donation page is poorly designed, cumbersome, or confusing, it can hinder your fundraising efforts.

There are two types of donation pages:

• Website Donation Page (Embedded): This type of donation page allows donors to contribute directly on your website without being redirected to a third-party platform. A custom-branded embedded form builds trust and can result in six times more donations. 

• Free-Standing Campaign Donation Page: These pages are used for event-specific or program-specific campaigns, often not directly embedded on your website. You can utilize an online donation platform to run the campaign where donors make contributions through a dedicated  form. 

Whether embedded or free standing, a donation page can be customized to include your organization’s branding, copy, or multimedia. 

What is a PayPal Donate Button?

The PayPal “Donate” button is an embeddable button. It’s an easy way to collect donations from a website, social media account, or any online marketing materials.

Once it’s clicked, a donor is brought to the PayPal payment processing page. While donors don’t need a PayPal account to go through with the transaction, it’s definitely helpful.

The button itself is recognizable to many donors, and PayPal is known to be safe and reliable. However, it was built for individuals, e-commerce, and small businesses and is not optimized for nonprofits.

What Features Are You Looking For?

As you can see, both donation pages and a PayPal “Donate” button are effective at completing the actual transaction. However, there are pros and cons to both tools. Using common features you need to accept donations, let’s get a better grasp on which tool is right for you.

Customization

Donation Form

PayPal branding is recognizable, but it’s not yours. You can add your logo and custom donation amounts but not much else.

On the other hand, a customized donation page is just that— customized! This means you maintain the same logo, colors, and information on your donation page. Your donors won’t have to “leave” your branded website and risk drop-off.

According to recent insights, a staggering 76% of respondents emphasized that they are more inclined to contribute when the donation page bears the organization’s branding and exudes a professional appearance. This not only caters to their aesthetic preferences but also instills confidence in the organization’s credibility.

While the payment processing is still done by a secure third-party processor, donation forms that retain your specific branding look polished, are easy to use, and convert more donors so your mission goes further.

Donation Tiers

PayPal offers donors the flexibility to determine their donation amount by simply entering their chosen contribution. However, this approach can sometimes result in a lack of clear reference points for typical donation amounts or their potential impact, potentially leading to lower overall donation levels. Furthermore, it’s worth noting that 68% of donors place importance on understanding how their gift creates an impact.

Donation pages offer donors the flexibility to select their preferred donation amount, and they go a step further by incorporating a valuable feature: customizable suggested donation tiers. With this functionality, you gain complete control over the descriptive text accompanying each giving tier, articulating the tangible effects associated with each donation amount.

We’ve discovered at CauseVox that unveiling the direct impact of their contributions can be a potent motivator for donors, encouraging them to contribute more. This revelation is particularly relevant in addressing the primary concern of Gen Z donors, which is understanding precisely how and where their donations will be utilized. 

When designing a donation page, you can vividly elucidate this by presenting donation tiers such as “$50 provides school supplies for one student for the semester.” This approach effectively bridges the gap between donor intent and impact, fostering greater engagement and support from this generation of donors.

The Loma Public Education Fund was able to raise $403,675 by using CauseVox Donation Pages. CauseVox users have reported a 2x increase in funds raised and gift size when switching from using a PayPal “Donate” button. 

Donation Receipt

When donors donate using the PayPal button, they will receive an email branded with PayPal that confirms their transaction. You will then have to set up a separate email to be sent from your organization if you want them to receive custom text, tax-deductible information, and your branding.

When you have donors donate through a CauseVox donation page, you have control over their donation receipt and can completely customize it to be on-brand for your organization. Plus, you can customize your automatic receipt to be up to tax-deductible standards, saving you the time of needing to manually issue tax receipts later.

Ease Of Use

PayPal is very simple to use. You will need your nonprofit’s bank account information and someone to add the button to your page. But, you’re left with a generic yellow button that doesn’t convey a professional appearance.

Donation pages can also be set up in a matter of minutes through CauseVox. Our new and improved donation forms include an intuitive site and page designer with these features::

• Drag and drop modules that let you effortlessly move the order of page elements,
• Custom, stand alone pages to help tell your story in more detail,
• Flexible layouts to showcase your latest success stories and highlight upcoming events,
• Embedded codes to trigger a donation page pop-up right on your website,
• And so much more!

Plus, CauseVox donation pages are built to be easy for donors too.

All it takes is a mouse click to bring the donor to a mobile-friendly donation page that looks great on any device.

Payment Options

PayPal’s payment options are somewhat limited. Donors can contribute manually using credit cards unless they have a PayPal account to link. Unfortunately, PayPal lacks the convenience of integrating popular digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay. Notably, Venmo is only accessible through the PayPal donate button.

Per the findings from our Giving Study, CauseVox offers a versatile array of payment options to enhance your donor experience, including the convenience of Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH (bank transfers), Paypal, and Venmo. You can also input offline donations manually into CauseVox so that they can be counted towards your fundraising goal and progress bar.

Fees

PayPal’s fee structure can be a bit tricky to decipher when you’re browsing their website. Depending on the plan you choose, transaction fees range from 1.99% to 2.89%, plus an extra $0.49 for each donation you receive.

Now, let’s put this into perspective. Imagine you’ve successfully received a  $1,000 donation through PayPal. Here’s how those fees add up:

• A transaction fee of 2.89% amounts to $28.90.
• There’s also a fixed fee of $0.49 for the donation.

So, the total fees deducted from your $1,000 would be $28.90 + $0.49, which equals $29.39.

After these fees are taken out, you’ll receive $970.61. This amount is directly deposited into your nonprofit’s bank account, and it usually takes about two business days.

But, here’s a twist: If you want instant access to your funds by linking an eligible debit card or bank account, there’s an extra 1% fee to consider. In this scenario, you’d pay an additional $10 on top of the previous fees. So, with instant access, your total fees would be $29.39 + $10, which equals $39.39.

When you crunch all the numbers, after fees, you’d end up with $1,000 – $39.39, giving you $960.61 if you opt for instant access.

So, if you raise $1,000, your total cost would be roughly $39, and you’d receive $960.61 after fees.

Flexibility With CauseVox

On CauseVox, you’re given the opportunity to pick between PayPal or Stripe (or both) for donation processing. CauseVox charges 2% per donation in addition to the standard transaction processing costs of 2.2% + 30 cents per donation. The good news is that both of these fees can be covered by your donors using the donation tipping feature.

So if you raise $2000, your cost is about $70, of which 100% can be covered by your donors. You receive $2000 after fees.

Maximize Your Donations with Lower Fees 

One major benefit for your nonprofit is the significantly reduced transaction costs associated with ACH and Venmo compared to credit cards.

This means you can allocate more funds towards your core mission. Donors are more inclined to give larger amounts when they know a greater portion goes to your cause.

ACH processing fees are only 0.8% with a $5 cap (compared to the standard 2.2% + $0.30 per donation with Stripe or PayPal). 

Venmo on the other hand has ZERO processing fees for debit card, bank balance, or Venmo balance transfers (in contrast to the standard 2.2% + $0.30 per donation with Stripe or PayPal), with a 3% fee for credit card transactions. 

To illustrate, if you’re currently paying 2.3% in credit card fees and make $200k in a year, that’s $4,600 in credit card fees. This cost can grow significantly as your revenue increases.

By focusing on ACH and Venmo payments, you can substantially boost savings over the years, channeling more resources into your nonprofit’s vital operations.

Security

PayPal is one of the most trusted and secure payment processors on the internet. But, regardless of safety, every time a donor is taken away from your website, it may raise a few red flags for donors.

Donation pages also use safe and secure payment processors like Stripe, which is an option on CauseVox. When donors are kept on your website to make a donation, your donors feel safer too.

Online security is essential, and there are now many options for payment processors that are certified to be safe and secure.

Donation Data Tracking

PayPal offers all its nonprofit users a donation database where you can search for particular transactions. However, the only donor data you can collect is the email address they used to make the transaction.

When you create donation pages on CauseVox, you can search, download, and maintain your records. The CauseVox Fundraising CRM automatically tracks and manages donation data for you, so you get more insights into your donors with less tedious administrative tasks.

(Backend of a CauseVox campaign page)

So, Should You Use A Donation Page Or PayPal Donate Button?

While donation pages and the PayPal donate button both capture donations, there are some major differences between the two.

The PayPal ‘Donate’ button provides a straightforward method for receiving donations. However, it may not offer the best giving experience and lacks a professional appearance. There are limitations in terms of customization, donor information management, and fee structure. Additionally, donors may be more inclined to discontinue the transaction when redirected to an unbranded page

Through CauseVox Donation Pages, your donors will have a more fluid experience, and your nonprofit will receive more data. With more control over branding and donation tiers, CauseVox users have reported a 2x increase in funds raised and gift size when switching from using a PayPal “Donate” button.

If you haven’t yet made the switch, you can easily explore how you can use CauseVox Donation Pages to make your nonprofit or charity’s fundraising easier and more effective.

Final Thoughts

With over half of today’s donors favoring online giving, having a top-performing donation page isn’t just advantageous; it’s a key driver in amplifying your fundraising endeavors. Overlooking its potential could mean missing out on significant financial support.

Here at CauseVox, we’re deeply committed to helping nonprofits thrive. This is why we’ve meticulously crafted an all-encompassing guide on building an impactful donation page that can power your mission to new heights.

Download the Complete Guide to Building Your Donation Page.

This post was originally published on 3/19/18 and was updated for freshness on 10/17/23.