Online Donations via YouTube, Facebook, and more
I conduct an online seminar on online donations, and this time around we got several questions about donations through YouTube. I wasn't familiar with what they offered in this area, so I did a little quick research.
YouTube does support online donations, via Google Checkout. So you can create a YouTube channel that features your videos (or other people's videos), and add a Donate button. That Donate button is supported by Google Checkout - which means there's no transaction fee at all (it's completely free), but at least as of about two months ago the flow was really not friendly to donors - it was geared to people purchasing items (anyone know if this is still true?). See my post specifically on Google Checkout for donations for more...
If you're using YouTube, I don't see any harm in setting up the Donate button, but I don't think this is a substitute for a more general online donations capacity on your website, for those donors who aren't really interested in videos. You could always just put a Google Checkout Donate button on your website too... though there are likely to be better options.
We got a questions about Facebook Causes as well. This seems very similar to me, from an online donations strategy perspective. Certainly it doesn't hurt to setup a Cause for folks who use Facebook already, but it doesn't make sense to me to route all your online donors through it.
And with a number of easy and inexpensive options for online donation tools - for instance, Network for Good and Click and Pledge - if you're going to look for online donations, I don't see any reason not to have an online donation functionality on your website itself.
YouTube does support online donations, via Google Checkout. So you can create a YouTube channel that features your videos (or other people's videos), and add a Donate button. That Donate button is supported by Google Checkout - which means there's no transaction fee at all (it's completely free), but at least as of about two months ago the flow was really not friendly to donors - it was geared to people purchasing items (anyone know if this is still true?). See my post specifically on Google Checkout for donations for more...
If you're using YouTube, I don't see any harm in setting up the Donate button, but I don't think this is a substitute for a more general online donations capacity on your website, for those donors who aren't really interested in videos. You could always just put a Google Checkout Donate button on your website too... though there are likely to be better options.
We got a questions about Facebook Causes as well. This seems very similar to me, from an online donations strategy perspective. Certainly it doesn't hurt to setup a Cause for folks who use Facebook already, but it doesn't make sense to me to route all your online donors through it.
And with a number of easy and inexpensive options for online donation tools - for instance, Network for Good and Click and Pledge - if you're going to look for online donations, I don't see any reason not to have an online donation functionality on your website itself.
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2 Comments:
That's intriguing about YouTube and Google. Just be advised that Network for Good and some other places like First Giving do charge pretty heavy transaction fees. Also, NFG disburses cash to non profits on a monthly basis. So, if non profits can usually get a better deal elsewhere.
Thanks - good point! Yep, Network for Good charges a 4.75% transaction fee. What constitutes a "better deal," though? You can certainly find lower per transaction fees, but generally you then need to pay a monthly fee ($20-$30/month) - that will certainly be cheaper if you have a high volume of donations, but may not be for those just getting started...
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