GiftTool

Vendor Site: www.gifttool.com
Example Client: www.sierraclub.ca/bc/

GiftTool is a solid choice for middle-of-the-road needs, particularly for organizations that need to support events or product sales as well as donations. They offer complete integration of their clean and user-friendly donation form into your website, though it is not currently possible to customize the form with fields that GiftTool has not already considered. As a Canadian company, they offer additional receipt and language options to support Canadian organizations.

Fees and Transaction Costs
Setup Fees: Low   Fees When Few Donations: Medium   Fees When Many Donations: Medium

• $100 setup fee
• $25/month and $1.23 per transaction
• If using GiftTool’s merchant account there is an additional 3.3% per transaction fee
• Organizations can also use their own merchant account. Pricing for merchant accounts vary, but range from about 3.3% per transaction to $50/month and 2.1% per transaction. In most cases a gateway monthly fee (typically about $25) would apply as well

Merchant Account: Either

• The organization can use GiftTool’s merchant account, but typically organizations select their own
• GiftTool will help the organization to setup a merchant account if desired; they have a relationship with several merchant account vendors
• If using GiftTool’s merchant account, the charge will show up on the donor’s credit card as made to “GiftTool”

Company Background: Excellent

• GiftTool is a Canadian company that specializes in payment processing of various sorts – events, products, membership fees, and donations
• They report that an integrated email/ newsletter service will be launched by the end of 2006
• Both the company and the online payment functionality is currently profitable
• They were founded in 1999
• They have more than 500 clients and about 10 employees

Setup and Support: Excellent

• GiftTool staff will setup the donation form to match the organization’s site in about 2-3 days
• GiftTool staff will make any needed changes free of charge, or organizations can make the changes themselves through administration tools
• Support is available via phone and email 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM PST, or 24 hours a day for emergencies
• Several current customers report that GiftTool’s customer service team is friendly, responsive, and helpful

Donation Form Appearance: Excellent

• The donation form is completely tailored to the website, including the navigation, colors, and fonts
• Their standard donation form is very clean and user-friendly
• A small GiftTool logo at the bottom of the form cannot be removed under ordinary circumstances

Donation Form Flexibility: Good

• Organizations can choose to include sections – including a tributes section – but cannot add any custom fields at the moment. They are working on a release, scheduled for 2006, that will include this feature
• The organization can customize the text that appears at the beginning of each section
• It’s not currently possible to include a newsletter sign-up field
• They support premiums and thank you gifts
• It’s possible to setup multiple donation forms – for instance, to go with different campaigns
• In addition to a standard receipt, they can send Canadian donors receipts that comply with all Canadian regulations
• They donation form can appear in English , French or Spanish

Payment Processing: Excellent

• Commonly process Visa, Master Card, American Express, Diners Club, and Discover
• They support recurring donations and provide tools that allow the organization to manage this process; for instance, to follow up on cards that are going to expire
• They do not support eChecks
• They can process credit cards issued by banks outside North America
• Fraud prevention is a strength – they do a number of automatic and manual checks to try to flag and investigate anomalies

Reports & Data: Excellent

• A web-based administrative interface allows organizations to view donor information
• Organizations can view a comparison of the amount of money donated per month over a several year period
• Organizations can download reports into an Excel format; no customization is available
• Data is available in an XML format for organizations who would like to build a programmatic feed.

Money Distribution: Excellent

• If the organization is using their own merchant account, money is deposited directly into the organization’s merchant account within a few days after donation
• If organizations are using GiftTool’s merchant account, checks are mailed monthly