LoveGiving Module Overview (Online donations platform)
LoveGiving is an easy-to-use giving platform used by Churches and Charities to accept online donations and claim Gift Aid.
Here are some of the brilliant features:
- Quick to Set Up with a pre-built online giving page that you can customise in 3 easy steps.
- Easy to Donate - Our streamlined donation process takes less than 60 seconds!
- Automated Gift Aid - ExpensePlus integration helps maximise Gift Aid and minimise admin.
- Recurring & One-Off Donations - LoveGiving accepts both one-off and recurring donations.
- Fund-specific Giving Links - provide donors with a custom link when raising money for a specific fund or campaign
- Low Fees - An online donation of £20 with Gift Aid costs just 64p in fees (2.2% + 20p), and will provide your charity with an additional £24.36 income!
Watch this short video to learn more about the LoveGiving Module:
Why offer an online donation option?
Offering the option for donors to give online makes it more likely that your church or charity will receive donations that you might otherwise miss out on AND that a donor will complete a Gift Aid declaration too.
If someone visits your church or comes across your charity online, making it quick and easy for them to give online is a must. The online donation process with LoveGiving couldn't be simpler and enables a donor to give in under 60 seconds!
Donors want simplicity, and they want choice!
Whilst you could ask donors to write a cheque, give in person or set up a bank transfer, additional effort puts off many donors from giving, particularly where they are only wanting to make a one-off donation to your church or charity.
Furthermore, the chances of them finding, printing, filling out and either posting or scanning and emailing you a completed Gift Aid declaration is probably even lower, meaning that even if the donor does give, you will miss out on claiming Gift Aid on the donation.
Top Tip: Making it simple for donors to give and offering multiple ways to give will increase your charity's income!
What about the fees?
Whilst LoveGiving does have a small transaction fee, offering an online donations option is still far more financially beneficial to your charity than not doing so.
Here are the two most likely scenarios for a Gift Aid eligible donor looking to make a one-off donation of £20 to your church or charity, where there is no online giving option offered (both of which provide your charity with less money than if you offer an online donations option):
| Scenario 1: No simple online donation option, so the donor doesn't donate (so your charity loses out on the £20 donation). | In this scenario, having Love Giving would have increased your church or charity's income by £24.36 (£20 + £5 Gift Aid - fees). The time saving for the donor and charity is also considerable. |
| Scenario 2: No online donation option, but the donor makes the effort to set up an online bank transfer (so your charity receives the £20 donation, but no Gift Aid, unless the donor also goes to the effort to complete a Gift Aid declaration and send this to you). | In this scenario, having Love Giving would have enabled the donor to complete an online Gift Aid declaration as part of the donation process, and provided your charity with an income of £25 (£20+£5 Gift Aid). The fees for this would be 64p, providing a net income of £24.36 (which is still £4.36 more than receiving £20 via bank transfer that has no Gift Aid declaration). The time saving for the donor and charity is also considerable. |
Important Note: If you are a non-profit, to access Stripe's non-profit rates, you need to submit a support request to Stripe to register for their non-profit rates. Do this once you have signed up for a Stripe account by emailing nonprofit@stripe.com.
As part of the Stripe verification process, you will need to provide Stripe with:
- Your registered charity name and number.
- Confirm the email address associated with your Stripe account.
- Confirm the account ID of the account you want the discount applied to.
You will also need to declare that 'greater than 80% of your [Stripe] income is tax-deductible donations'.
So if 20% or more of your income collected via Stripe is sales income (i.e. invoice income, ticket sales, etc.) then you won't qualify for the non-profit rates, and will instead be charged the standard Stripe transaction fee, which is 0.3% higher (2.5% + 20p)
Note: Stripe charges a higher fee for any payments made using EU cards and non-EU cards.