PayPal for Churches: Key Insights, Challenges and a Better Alternative

PayPal for Churches

Join us as we explore the potential of PayPal for church. We'll discuss how churches use this platform for tithing and other donations. Additionally, we'll explore the costs associated with these services, providing a clear picture of PayPal's fee structure for churches.

Can a Church Have a PayPal Account?

Can churches use PayPal for online giving? Yes. PayPal for church tithing helps churches collect payments from church members for a variety of reasons, including tithes and other donations. PayPal is a well-known platform that is easy for members to use to transfer money securely to their churches. However, there are number of drawbacks to consider for churches.

Should Churches Use PayPal for Online Giving?

As online payment processors and technology evolve, many organizations are considering new solutions. While PayPal for churches can serve a valuable purpose for congregations, churches’ needs are more specialized compared with retailers, so many are looking for platforms that can meet these needs.

Specifically, churches are more focused on processing donations, either recurring tithes or campaign-related donations. Here are eight reasons why using PayPal for church giving might not meet churches’ needs.

1. Inspiring Generosity

Churches want to be sure their members feel connected to the causes their ministries support. Unlike PayPal’s drop-down menus that only provide short, generic names for the causes that are listed, churches want to share the story of each cause with rich visuals and descriptions that increase churchgoers’ generosity. Find out how powerful, image-based storytelling can inspire your congregation to give.

2. Need for Recurring Donation Options

When it comes to recurring donations, PayPal only offers church members the option to give monthly. According to Vanco’s 2023 Definitive Churchgoer Giving Study, only 20 percent of churchgoers prefer to give monthly, so additional options are a must. Also, using text to donate with PayPal isn’t an option.

3. Technical Support

PayPal customers have a very difficult time getting help when they need it, and talking to a live person for support is virtually out of the question. Worse yet, organizations are often notified of random, unexplained 21-day holds that they can’t fix on their own, and they can’t reach anyone for help.

4. Integration Needs

PayPal doesn’t focus on the integrations churches need to run their organizations effectively, especially with church management software programs. Integration with church software is critical because it saves staff time and increases the accuracy of records.

5. Church-Specific Functionality Needs

PayPal for church tithing doesn’t have church-based functions. It provides functions related to raising funds, but churches need more. For example, many churches rely on online platforms to manage their events (tickets, seating) and social connections (worship services, church group chats, interactions with church leaders).

6. Added Processing Time

The process of receiving funds via PayPal involves first receiving the money in a PayPal account and then transferring it to a bank account. This creates additional processing time and delays access to the funds.

7. Potential Cost

What does PayPal charge churches? It’s more expensive than it looks at first glance. This is because PayPal charges confirmed charities a 1.99-percent (plus $0.49 per transaction) processing fee for ALL donations and payments, which is not the case for many vendors including Vanco.

Expensive Fees for Donations via Bank Transfers

While PayPal’s rates for ACH payments are the same as their credit card rates (1.99 percent), for many church giving platforms, the cost for bank transfers is much cheaper. In many cases, it is roughly half the cost. According to Vanco Payments Churchgoer Giving Study, which interviewed 1,000 churchgoers across denominations on their giving preferences, 34 percent preferred to give through ACH. With so many churchgoers giving by ACH, this extra ACH cost can really add up.

8. Potential Fraud

The bedrock of a thriving church is trust. Your chosen provider should recognize that. That's why it's imperative that your provider conforms to Level 1 PCI, 3.2 certification. Set and upheld by leading credit card brands through the PCI Security Standards Council, including American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard and Visa, these standards ensure every transaction is secure.

With a PCI-compliant provider, your church can rest easy knowing your members’ data is secure, allowing you to concentrate on your core missions. At a time when the security of personal information and specifically of online transactions is a central point for people, this is a difference-maker.

Yet even though PayPal offers secure giving, donors are still susceptible to fraud. This happens when a fraudster mimics a charity and accepts funds on its behalf, but there’s no way for churches or donors to recover those funds.

Now that you understand some of the challenges churches are finding when they use PayPal, keep reading to learn more about another great option. Consider a platform built specifically for churches, with their unique needs, relationships and opportunities in mind.

What Should Churches Use?

As you probably know by now, one-size-fits-all solutions like PayPal don’t offer the best outcomes for churches. But what should you use in its place? Here’s an alternative that 25,000+ churches across the country trust to boost donations and build engagement.

A Great Alternative for Online Giving

In terms of collecting payments, churches’ needs are different from retailers, other organizations and even other nonprofits. Churches need easy, convenient and secure systems to collect tithes and other donations. But at the same time, they maintain special and personal relationships with church members and play an important part in these individuals’ lives. They are also key members of wider church communities, locally, nationally and around the world. It requires a thoughtful, comprehensive giving strategy.

For all these reasons, it’s important to choose online giving software that is built for churches — Vanco.

Compared with PayPal for churches, Vanco’s platform creates a better overall experience for donors while streamlining administrative tasks for church staff. In addition, Vanco offers features that help churches connect with church members both near and far.

Here are eight ways Vanco’s online giving software can meet churches’ special requirements.

1. Specific Causes

Ready for your church donations to tell a compelling tale? With a platform dedicated to church giving, like Vanco’s donation software, they're not just transactions anymore; they're heart-touching stories, brought to life with arresting visuals. This revolutionary approach ignites a surge of generosity and involvement within your church community.

It helps facilitate better communication with donors through multiple channels, keeping them connected to your mission.

2. Robust Technical Support

Let go of generic support and embrace dedicated providers like Vanco, which comprehends your church's distinct needs.

Vanco eliminates tech support fees and replaces them with prompt responses, 24/7 emergency phone assistance and quick issue resolution. We also streamline your journey with a church-specific onboarding process and an array of free templates and tools for nurturing your church’s growth.

3. Wide Integration

Let your giving solution and church management systems work hand in hand. A dedicated church giving provider isn’t just a tool – it’s a seamless extension of your church’s tech. Cut down on time-consuming administrative tasks and redirect your efforts toward your ministry. With solutions like Vanco integrating with over 60 church management systems, reconciling and reporting are incredibly simple.

4. Many Donation Options

Don’t limit the ways your members can donate. Opt for a dedicated church provider and endow your congregation with the luxury of diverse donation channels. Vanco’s system encompasses mobile readers for in-church card payments, text giving, online donation pages and a no-cost church app — everything you need at your disposal.

As church donors demand increased convenience with their giving, offering a range of options helps ensure you reach the widest possible range of potential supporters.

5. Specific Church Functions

In addition to an inspiring online giving experience, Vanco focuses on helping churches engage with their members, with several key functions:

• A robust event ticketing and management platform for church activities, fundraisers and much more
• A free mobile app that helps members connect with leaders and each other and form groups that can communicate easily without having to set up external group chats to keep up with members
• An engaging online worship experience that makes it easy for members to focus on sermons, review sermon notes, connect with each other and give without being pushed out to other sites and locations
• Guidance, coaching and support from professionals on best practices for engaging churchgoers
• Marketing materials to help roll out Vanco’s online giving platform to members
• Thought leadership, such as our Definitive Churchgoer Giving Study

6. Streamlined Processing Time

Many churches struggle with finances at certain times during the year, so you want to be sure you can collect donations regularly and quickly when members make them. For example, ACH payments often reach your church account the same day, debit donations normally arrive within 1 business day and credit cards usually take 2 to 3 business days (American Express takes 4 days). Receiving donations from members and visitors quickly is vital. Be sure you understand the payment processing time frames involved for each online giving platform you consider.

Vanco releases funds daily, directly to the church’s bank account with no manual input holding up the process. There are no processing delays in steering donations to important causes.

7. Security Plus Fraud Support and Solutions

Vanco’s system is Payment Card Industry (PCI)-compliant, the highest level of data security. If you run into potential fraud and the recipient won’t return the funds, Vanco will work with you to find a solution.