💳 Save money on credit card processing with one of our top 5 picks for 2025
Using PayPal to accept donations online is super easy, but nonprofits can also take advantage of PayPal’s many tools and features to fundraise almost anywhere.
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Expert Contributor
Last updated onUpdated
REVIEWED BY
Expert Contributor
Nonprofits may think of PayPal as mainly an eCommerce platform and digital wallet, but PayPal has much more to offer nonprofit organizations than just a Donate button.
In this guide to using a PayPal nonprofit account, we’re highlighting all aspects of PayPal for nonprofits — features, policies, and integrations — that can facilitate fundraising, bookkeeping, and other nonprofit needs. We’ll also detail PayPal nonprofit fees and discuss the main alternatives to using PayPal for nonprofit fundraising.
Table of Contents
Among the many benefits of PayPal for registered nonprofits is discounted processing rates for donations. Once PayPal verifies your organization’s 501(c)(3) status and confirms your nonprofit PayPal account, you’ll qualify for a special donation processing rate.
If you’re wondering how to register your organization as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, our resources can help you with this process.
Beyond the discounted PayPal processing rate, PayPal’s universally recognized and widely trusted brand can be reassuring to donors when they consider the trustworthiness of your organization and the security of their donations.
PayPal gives nonprofit organizations many other reasons to use its services to raise money.
PayPal’s universal brand recognition and charity-friendly fundraising features make it a solid processing choice for most nonprofits. However, PayPal is far from a perfect processor.
One major factor to remember is that PayPal is a third-party processor (also known as a Payment Service Provider or PSP).
With third-party processors, the signup and approval process is quicker and easier than that of a traditional merchant account provider. However, individual transactions are more heavily scrutinized when processed by a PSP, which increases the risk that an innocent transaction might trigger an account hold.
If you go with PayPal, you’ll want to understand the steps you can take to minimize the risk of merchant account holds, freezes, and terminations.
Let’s go through some of the other downsides of using a PayPal nonprofit account:
If you don’t think PayPal will meet the needs of your charity, there are several other discounted payment processing options for nonprofits to consider. You might also want to compare the features and pricing of the best credit card processing providers more generally.
| PayPal Fees | |
|---|---|
| Standard Online Donation | 2.89% + $0.49 |
| 501(c)(3) Charitable Donation | 1.99% + $0.49 |
| In-Person Donation w/PayPal Zettle | 2.29% + $0.09 |
| Apple Pay | 2.59% + $0.49 |
PayPal’s standard processing fee for donations is 2.89% + $0.49 per transaction. However, registered 501(c)(3) charities are eligible to pay just 1.99% + $0.49 per transaction. However, payments from non-US credit cards are subject to an additional 1.5% transaction fee.
Note that PayPal nonprofit rates do not apply when you accept in-person donations via the PayPal Zettle mPOS app, which charges a 2.29% + $0.09 per transaction fee for all card-present transactions. You’ll also be able to process donations via QR code at this rate. We’ll have more to say about Zettle later.
PayPal also lets you accept contactless payments via Apple Pay. Though the PayPal nonprofit discount won’t apply, you can receive donations via Apple Pay at 2.59% + $0.49 per transaction, which is lower than PayPal’s standard donation rate (though not the nonprofit rate).
PayPal has a Micropayments plan for those that typically take payments of less than $10. Under this plan, you pay 4.99% + $0.09 per online transaction instead of PayPal’s regular processing rate. When small payments are processed, the higher percentage rate is more than made up for by the lower fixed fee.
Sadly, not all PayPal users can sign up for the Micropayments plan. If your organization processes lots of small amounts from donors, it can’t hurt to ask PayPal if you’d be eligible for Micropayments pricing. However, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be approved for the plan.
The subject of PayPal pricing has become significantly more complex over the last few years. Luckily, we can help you make sense of PayPal’s fee structure.
If you’re wondering how to set up PayPal for a nonprofit organization, here’s what you need to do.
If your nonprofit organization does not yet have 501(c)(3) status, you’ll have to pay the standard per-transaction donation fee.
Lastly, large organizations that process more than $100,000/month will need to call PayPal to make special arrangements.
Let’s examine the various ways PayPal can be a boon to your nonprofit fundraising.
Nonprofits can accept in-person donations via the PayPal Zettle mobile POS system. With PayPal Zettle, you get a modern chip + contactless + PIN card reader ($29 for the first reader, $79 for all subsequent readers). You’ll then be able to process in-person donations at big fundraising events, charity galas, etc.
Transactions processed by Zettle are subject to a 2.29% + $0.09 fee. Unfortunately, nonprofits cannot pay a discounted processing fee when using Zettle. Keyed-in transactions will be subject to a higher 3.49% + $0.09 fee.
You can also send out invoices via the PayPal Zettle app. Invoices are free to send, but when you get paid, you’ll be paying the 3.49% + $0.49 rate that PayPal charges for standard non-donation online transactions. What’s nice about the ability to send invoices is that for large donations (four figures or more), you can just send an invoice, thereby creating a paper trail. That can come in handy later!
Whether your nonprofit organization is running a charity auction or is selling branded merchandise at a gift shop or other “meet space” location, PayPal Zettle is a solid mobile processing option. Furthermore, if you need a POS system with more feature depth than Zettle, PayPal integrates with more robust POS systems as well.
The 2.29% + $0.09 PayPal rate for in-person transactions applies regardless of your POS partner, but you will incur additional software fees for the POS system itself.
We’ve done in-depth testing of each and confidently recommend them.
There are several alternatives to using a nonprofit PayPal account, both in terms of payment processors and dedicated online fundraising platforms. Let’s start by exploring some other payment processors offering nonprofit benefits.
If you’d rather use an all-in-one donation platform for your nonprofit’s operations, know that these platforms tend to come with higher monthly fees than do standalone processors. However, they also offer more built-in fundraising tools.
PayPal won’t prove to be the ideal payment processor for every nonprofit. However, when it comes to accepting online donations, PayPal just might be the simplest tool out there.
With support for in-person payments, invoicing, reporting, nonprofit-specific discounts, and a massive list of integrations that fill any functionality gaps left by PayPal’s in-house solutions, PayPal for nonprofits makes considerable sense.
PayPal also makes for a solid supplementary payment option if you primarily accept donations via other means.
Our nonprofit hub is a great place from which to discover all our nonprofit-related resources. If you’re looking to take your nonprofit’s organizational capabilities to the next level, check it out!
Want to help shape the future of the Merchant Maverick website? Join our testing and survey community!
By providing feedback on how we can improve, you can earn gift cards and get early access to new features.
Whether you're looking to save money on processing or to get approved for a merchant account, PaymentCloud can help.
Get Started
Help us to improve by providing some feedback on your experience today.
The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
Whether you're looking to save money on processing or to get approved for a merchant account, PaymentCloud can help.
Get Started
