Best Credit Card Processing for Nonprofits in 2021

PayPal is a recognized leader in accepting payments online and in-person, able to accept international currencies as well as payments of any size. It charges by transaction, and has no limits on how small or infrequent they are, but can also handle large volumes and amounts. PayPal purchased BrainTree to increase its functionality for marketplaces as well as to provide other payment processing capabilities like ACH and digital checks.

The two rank highly for features and customer satisfaction, earning 4.44 out of 5 stars for PayPal and 4.46 out of 5 stars for BrainTree. Users give PayPal a much higher ease-of-use score, while BrainTree fared better for features and customizations. Either is an excellent choice for a nonprofit, and both are popular with 501(c)(3)s of all sizes.

Stripe is a popular competitor to PayPal for payment processing because it, too, offers good rates and works on a per-transaction schedule rather than requiring a lengthy contract. It gives 501(c)(3) nonprofits a discount on processing fees. It does not have special tools for nonprofits, but its feature set is comprehensive. Some crowdfunding platforms that offer nonprofit fundraising also work with Stripe.

It scored 4.41 out of 5 stars. Users rated it as highly as PayPal for ease of use. Its pricing is complex, and it does not have specific functions for nonprofits. However, it does offer a build-your-own POS system, a user interface (UI) for creating buttons, and integrations with over 450 programs, making it a highly versatile payment processing system.

Built for nonprofits, iATS is an all-in-one payment solution for international credit card and ACH payment processing. It works with charities of all sizes and offers PCI certification and advanced fraud tools. It integrates with CRM and donation-oriented software and companies.

Over 14,000 nonprofits work with iATS, and it partners with 55 different CRMs, event management, and charitable services. Of note is its mobile app for accepting donations and payments anywhere, such as at a local craft show or civic event, and its Salesforce payment processing app, Brickwork. If you use Salesforce for CRM, Brickwork makes it easy to take donations, simplify donor updates, and keep donor information and transactions on the same platform. This credit card payment processor depends heavily on integrations for the functions others on the list handle natively.

Dharma Merchant Services is a direct credit card processor that works with nonprofits as well as regular businesses. It not only offers discounted processing fees but also ensures you are registered with credit card companies to receive the lowest interchange rates. If you handle more than $10,000 in transactions per month, it’s a good service to have.

Dharma loses some points in our scale because it does require a monthly fee in addition to transaction fees, and it does not offer extra fundraising tools like many of the services on our list. However, it does provide a virtual terminal for offline donation processing, and it integrates with 4aGoodCause, which manages donation pages for a monthly fee. Users that reviewed Dharma liked the service. We give it 4.01 out of 5 stars.

Square is a highly popular POS system and credit card processor for small businesses. Its tools are extremely flexible, making it a good service for nonprofits as well, especially those that sell items or events. It offers CRM functions for communicating with your donors and tools for monitoring campaigns and setting up recurring donations.

Square takes a small hit for not having reduced pricing, which all the other processors on our list offer. However, it’s still competitive, and the lower base rate (10 cents vs 30 cents) makes it a better option if you take many small payments rather than fewer larger ones. The POS system is a plus, but otherwise, it offers few fundraising-specific tools. Users give it high marks for ease-of-use. Overall, a solid 4.0 out of 5 stars.

If your nonprofit runs multiple different campaigns, maybe even simultaneously, then having a solution that can handle everything from events to regular donations could save you hours of time, not to mention headaches. Charity Engine is a fully-featured fundraising solution that includes payment processing.

Charity Engine earns 3.3 out of 5 stars mainly because there is nothing about pricing online. You’ll need to call to get a personalized quote. Also, users did not rate its interface as well as others on our list. Nonetheless, they do praise the features, and there are a lot! You can run events, set up regular donations, have a website, manage direct mail campaigns, run peer-to-peer fundraisers, and more. It can process funds from credit cards, digital checks, and direct transfers/ACH. It’s an excellent system and worth calling to inquire about pricing for your organization.

Most people know GoFundMe as the crowdfunding tool individuals go to when they have immediate financial needs. However, it has services specifically for charities. The Free plan has a flat transaction fee with a guaranteed donation net amount of 97.5%, and the Flex plan, which has a higher processing fee and a platform fee but gives donors the option to cover the charges. In this way, you could get 100% of the donation.

This service earned a 3.15 out of 5 stars on our scale because of its specific crowdfunding purpose. It does not process in-person chip/swipe/tap payments, for example. It also does not process digital checks or ACH payments. Finally, its integrations are few and mostly CRM or charity fundraising-related. Nonetheless, the rates are competitive, and in addition to the GoFundMe website, which increases your visibility, you can accept donations via your own website.