Add BBMS service fee to the donation

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Gaye Collins
Gaye Collins ✭
Ninth Anniversary Photogenic First Reply
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
Hello all:

We are new to BBMS.  In the past, our donors have been able to click a button to add the transaction service fee to their donation.  Do you know how to do this or are any of you doing this?

 
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  • Jen Claudy
    Jen Claudy ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    If you are using BBMS with OLX (Online Express), this has been asked/discussed in a couple of Community threads, and may also be out in the OLX Idea Bank, but as I'm not interested in this option, I haven't gone to look for it/vote for it.  The most thorough of these discussion threads is this one.  If this doesn't give you the info you need, or you're using BBMS with a different portal site, then you may want to clarify and add to your original post.  =)

     
  • Gaye Collins
    Gaye Collins ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Photogenic First Reply
    Thank you for getting back with me.  I have been amazed that this option is not available.  We have been using it for several years with another vendor.


    We are now looking to see if we want to go back to that vendor because when we looked at the service fees we will be charge it is more economical for us to use them than RE......which is interesting don't you think?  I find it interesting that RE caters to non-profits but does not have an avenue to help support their donations in this manner.
  • Jen Claudy
    Jen Claudy ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic
    We find the option to ask the donor to cover the fees to be distasteful.  When we discussed this years ago (when we had a vendor that offered this option), it was decided that most donors already know how much they want to donate before they click on the Donate button, and if there is any chance of changing their mind, it will happen when they are selecting the donation amount.  If the donor knows that there are fees to be paid, we feel that most of the time they're going to have already adjusted their donation amount to accommodate that.


    Plus, as many others have pointed out, the credit card fees are a cost of doing business.  We don't send a letter to a donor who sends in a check asking for an extra couple of dollars to cover the cost of depositing that check to the bank, any account fees from the bank, or the cost of paper and postage to send the appeal or acknowledgement letter.


    I'm pretty sure there is a suggestion in the Idea Bank for this, though, and I would suggest you find it and vote for it.


    As for the cost of OLX versus another vendor, for us, on the transaction fees (OLX is part of what we get with our NXT package), the breaking point is at $65.  Donations under $65 cost us a little bit more with OLX than with our old vendor, and anything over $65 is less, with $65 being exactly the same.  Our defaulted/suggested donation amount on most of our Donation Pages is $75, and most of our actual online donations are more than $75, so we're quite happy with OLX and the value provided.  Coupled with the fact that we use OLX instead of another (different) vendor for sending emails, the decrease in staff time for data entry (recording donations, which will only get better as OLX upgrades are released, and updating email lists between RE and the old vendor), and the ability with OLX to track who emails are sent to and what actions they take, we're coming out ahead overall.

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