PayPal Launches a New Fundraising Platform

With today’s launch of the Generosity Network, PayPal is expanding its fundraising efforts. The new Generosity Network allows individuals to raise money for themselves, other people in need, or organizations like a small business or a charity, unlike the PayPal Giving Fund, which lets people support charities through online donations. This puts the network more directly in competition with other fundraising sites that are crowdsourced, such as GoFundMe or Facebook Fundraisers.

The Generosity Network will be available only to PayPal customers in the U.S. at launch and will enable them over a 30-day span to build fundraiser campaigns of up to $20,000.

After seeing the progress in the peer-to-peer fundraising market following the coronavirus outbreak, the company says it was inspired to build the new service. It also noted that the pandemic made it hard for conventional charitable organizations to collect as they had previously. As a result of the economic difficulties driven by the pandemic, more than half of U.S. charities now plan to raise less money than in 2019, PayPal said, citing a survey (PDF) by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Moreover, at some point over the course of the pandemic, over 65 million Americans applied for unemployment, PayPal reports, which also led them to turn for extra support to families, friends, and their community.

This is not the first product created by PayPal, which focuses on social fundraisers. It launched Money Pools a few years ago, which would encourage friends and family to donate for a shared cost, such as a surprise party, group gift, travel fund, and more. The  Generosity Network is an extension of the previous initiative.

 

The new fundraisers of the Generosity Network can be generated directly from the website of PayPal and donations are deposited directly into the account of the organizer to distribute as required. On the Generosity Network website, the campaigns are even more widely spread, allowing them to reach millions of more individuals than the promoter would have been able to reach through their own posts and shares on social media and the internet.

PayPal users are also collecting disaster relief funds, funeral costs, medical expenses, community projects, and other groups.

 

PayPal’s Generosity Network would require payments, much like most fundraising sites. But at launch, the website notes that for a limited time it is waiving certain fees for donations made via credit and debit cards. However, cross-border fees and fees for currency exchange will also apply.

 

Facebook does not charge fees for contributions to charitable organisations, but for personal fundraisers, for comparison. (It is 2.60 percent + $0.30 in the U.S.). U.S. transaction charges from GoFundMe are $2.9 percent + $0.30.

 

We have asked PayPal to reveal the new platform’s fee schedule and will update this article if one is given. (In fact, the website provides no fee information, its FAQ also links to the Money Pools FAQ, which seems to suggest that this Generosity Network is not yet a completely fleshed out item.)

During the increased fundraising that normally takes place over the holiday season, PayPal is likely hoping to add customers and believes that a platform that waives fees would give it an advantage against the competition generated.

“From collecting money for grocery deliveries to high-risk populations to fundraising campaigns in support of teachers and frontline workers, we’ve seen an outpouring of generosity from the PayPal community using our platform to help one another during this unprecedented year,” said PayPal VP of Giving, Oktay Dogramaci, in a statement. “The Generosity Network was designed to provide an accessible, easy and secure way for our customers to raise money on behalf of causes, and connect them with millions of PayPal customers who can offer their support this holiday season and beyond,” he said.

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