Which hosting plan for a non-profit that takes online donations

The short answer: an association’s or NGO’s site is light, and one of the first shared plans is enough. What needs care is the online donation: donors have to trust you, and the money and the donor’s data must travel a safe path. The safest is usually not to handle them yourself.

What weighs, and what does not

Part of the site What to do
Donations Use a well-known payment service, which takes the money and the card details for you, and connect it with a button. The site must not store card details. See How online payments work.
Trust Say who you are, where you are, what you do with the money and how to contact you. Show real reports and photographs (with permission from whoever appears).
Donor data Ask only for what is needed. People must know what their gift is for. See Personal data protection.
Receipts and proofs Check with whoever does your accounts what the country’s law requires for donations. Do not promise tax exemptions you do not know about.
Campaigns On campaign days, visits jump suddenly: Preparing for a traffic spike.

How to choose, step by step

1 Start with the entry plan and a simple site: who we are, what we do, how to help.
2 Choose the way to collect donations and test a small donation from end to end, including the donor’s receipt.
3 Install SSL and confirm the padlock before you publish the link.
4 Have an organisation e-mail on your domain, not one belonging to a person.
5 Review the plan if the site gets a members’ area, a shop or many events: Which plan for a shop.
Never ask for donations through a form where the donor types their card into your site if you have no payment service behind it: it is a risk for them and for you. And beware of scams that use organisations’ names: see Fake WhatsApp messages in your company name.
Say clearly where each donation goes. Transparency is what brings the second one.

Building a site for an organisation with online donations? Tell us how you will receive the money.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

How online payments work: gateway, processor and merchant account in plain words

Personal data protection: what applies to your website

Preparing for a traffic spike: a campaign, a launch or a live event

Which hosting plan for a church or an association: a simple site, events and videos

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