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Lower Your Transaction Costs by Offering ACH Donations

By: Abigail Schulz

The buzzword these days, in relation to processing transactions, is fundraising websites. Fundraising websites involves crowdfunding and recurring donations to nonprofits, churches, charities, and independent causes that need consistent donor support and contribution. Churches and nonprofits want to utilize the convenience of the internet to collect electronic funds through the processing of credit and debit transactions for online donations. However, they don’t always understand that there is a cost associated with credit and debit transactions based on an interchange rate that is fluid and ever-changing. As interest in online fundraising grows, one fundraising website, Continue to Give, constantly looks for ways to minimize processing fees related to electronic transactions. One way they recommend to effectively combat fees is to promote and collect online donations in the form of ACH processing.

First, what is ACH?

The Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) is an electronic payment delivery system that processes credit and debit transfers for institutions nationwide. This safe, secure and simple process is done by electronically moving funds from one bank account to another. Think of ACH as an online check. ACH is an option used by businesses to collect account receivables and nonprofits to accept donations.

What Can an ACH Processing Account do with Fundraising Websites?

Most of you have heard of PayPal, one of the many payment processing platforms within the online transaction industry. PayPal does not necessarily offer lower rates on ACH transactions, even though ACH is the lowest cost of the transaction types (credit, debit, ACH); with PayPal you pay a flat rate regardless of transaction type. However, there is a solution! Now that VeriCheck has teamed with Continue to Give software, all VeriCheck accounts not only beat PayPal in price, but they also offer a better solution in the nonprofits and churches online giving market.

Imagine this:
● Going to a church’s website and giving via ACH
● Setting up a recurring donation cycle with a few clicks via your bank account
● Giving through Text to Donate and QR code fundraising via ACH
● Crowdfunding with ACH

The possibilities are endless, and now ACH is just as convenient as a credit or debit card transaction!

So what does this mean?

ACH processing is not lost in the payment processing world. It’s an underutilized, cost effective process that most people do not think about. Would you rather pay 3% on a credit card transaction or .5% (maybe less) on an ACH transaction? We say the answer is obvious. Why, then, do small churches and nonprofits spend more money on credit and debit transactions? Since ACH is not as popular as credit and debit, small churches and nonprofits may not know that they could be saving money by using ACH for donations on their fundraising websites. Hopefully, we explained the benefit of moving to a higher ACH processing platform.

VeriCheck’s ACH program is fully integrated into the Continue to Give Online Donation and Fundraising Website suite. Start fundraising today with Continue to Give.[/fusion_text][fullwidth backgroundcolor=”” backgroundimage=”” backgroundrepeat=”no-repeat” backgroundposition=”left top” backgroundattachment=”scroll” video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” bordersize=”0px” bordercolor=”” borderstyle=”” paddingtop=”20px” paddingbottom=”20px” paddingleft=”0px” paddingright=”0px” menu_anchor=”” equal_height_columns=”no” hundred_percent=”no” class=”” id=””][/fullwidth]