The COVID-19 crisis has provided new insight to how viruses are spread and how businesses can take steps to slow or stop transmission in their establishments. In light of this new cultural awareness and pandemic fears, many businesses are exploring touchless payment options.
Even without the threat of virus transmission, statistics from 2018 show a 205% increase in online charitable giving and 25% of donors complete their donations online. Once this pandemic is safely behind us, it’s unlikely that consumer translation habits are going to go back to physical cash and traditional in-person payment types.
Today, we’re going to look at some popular touchless payment options that serve an increasingly digital world and can help alleviate any fears of COVID-19 for patrons or donors, to ensure your organization is doing all that it can to maximize revenue, even during uncertain times.
Mobile Card Readers
Low-cost card readers, also known as credit card terminals or mobile swipers, are a great option for touchless payments. These are small, pocket sized devices that allow you to take purchases by credit or debit card by utilizing your smartphone or tablet via a USB connection, wifi or Bluetooth.
One of the most popular card readers is Square. While Square can be good for low-volume merchants and their affordable chip card readers, they have a higher processing rate. If you manage a large volume of transactions, you may want to consider other companies, such as Leaders, Flagship, or PaymentCloud.
Each company has pros and cons to their packages and rates that make some better than others depending on your needs, so it’s important to do your research when choosing a mobile card reader provider. One very important detail regarding this kind of touchless payment service is that nonprofits can often get lower processing rates if they are able to produce their IRS documents that designate them as a 501(c)(3).
NFC Payments (Google and Apple Pay)
Completely contactless technology for payments are also increasing in prevalence. With near-field communication (NFC) capability on a payment terminal, patrons or donors with Apple Pay or Google Pay can wave their phones near the sensor rather than swiping a card. You can obtain card readers through these companies directly or by working with your payment processing vendor.
Online Donation Portals
In the age of Covid-19, physically being in the same place as patrons or donors might not be a reality. So the most important tool to have is a donation form, that is easily found as a landing page on your organization’s website or simply shared as a link in various online marketing initiatives.
There are many companies that offer full-service online payment system packages, including processing and customer service needs. Some companies that offer these services are Fundly, iATS payments, Snowball, CharityEngine, and many others.
Text-to-Give
Text-to-give is another great option for nonprofits specifically. This service makes it possible for a donor to send a text message and receive a response with a donation form to fill out. Some popular companies that offer this service are Snowball, OneCause, and Qgiv, but with some research it’s easy to find which service offers the best package and pricing for your specific needs as an organization. This is one of the most streamlined and user-friendly ways to collect donations.
In a post-pandemic digital age, it’s important to use every tool available to you as a nonprofit to make donating easy. Another benefit to these types of payments is that transactions are more easily tracked for your records.