Membership dues, fees, donations, tithes and charitable revenue streams are the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations. And if your client is a nonprofit organization, that means they should be a priority for you, too.
Ask yourself this: “Am I leaving growth opportunities on the table without even knowing?”
If your client is using traditional payment processing, the answer to that could be yes. Integrated payments help streamline revenue and they can also greatly improve the member experience. Built-in payment processing essentially creates an all-in-one solution that frees up more time for you and your clients to focus on more important aspects of building your organization.
Read along to learn more about the benefit of integrated payments for nonprofit organizations.
Simplifying payment processing
No matter the size of the organization, a nonprofit needs to be able to keep up with the expectations of the members or donors that contribute. Part of that includes accepting a full range of payment types, which provides an important level of convenience that makes it easier to give and ensures that the money keeps coming in.
It also ensures a streamlined process for the organization’s staff. That may sound like a no-brainer, but managing all of those various payment revenues can be strenuous and lead to costly errors if not tracked and processed correctly. No one wants to get burned by a transaction.
For example, imagine you have a church client that relies heavily on member donations and tithes, but also offers a daycare as part of its facilities. The daycare is open to the public and has a budget, expenses and collections that must be separate from the church. Consider for a moment all the tender types the church receives. Cash or paper checks in the offering plates during service. Long-term tithing set up via bank accounts or credit cards. The list goes on. Now add the billing and payment processing needs of running a daycare on top of that and you can see how the client could have a confusing mess to sort through.
By offering more payment types like online payments, pay-by-app and even adding a simple POS solution at the daycare desk where parents can pay by digital wallet, everyone can get what they need. For parents and church members, a robust payment solution offers ease of use and peace of mind knowing their payments are simple and handled with care. For staff, accepting payments quickly and securely, with the ability to separate and track revenue streams automatically makes a big difference. With less paperwork to manage and fewer problems to sort out, they can get back to more important things, like building the church and enriching the lives of families in their community.
A delicate balance
Another important aspect to consider for any nonprofit organization is security. As mentioned earlier, when people give money to nonprofits, they expect their funds to go where they’re supposed to and to do so in a safe, secure manner. Unfortunately, fraudsters frequently target nonprofit organizations due to their potentially limited resources and technical savvy. Partnering with a payments processor that understands the sensitivity of cardholder and payment information is vital. That’s where PCI compliance resources come in. Your processor needs to be able to ensure no sensitive information is stored, while actively working to reduce the chances of a security breach.
Automation functionality that does the work for you
Integration isn’t just about offering convenient payment methods. It also gives you and your clients the ability to benefit from a variety of automated features. Take an alumni association for example.
In order to fund campus programs, keep scholarships viable and more, an alumni association needs to keep their members up to speed on where their donations go, what’s being funded and how they can start, or continue, to help. Members also need the ability to easily register, renew their registration, change their contact information and update payment information. That’s a lot for a staff of any size to keep up with. So why not automate some of those tedious tasks?
The right partner should be able to offer a range of automated functionality from renewal and payment reminders to recurring billing and automated card updates. These tools not only make accepting payments easier, but also help reduce missed membership dues and declined transactions. And that means more money coming in and making a difference.
Enhancing the membership experience for nonprofits
You and your clients should also have access to comprehensive reporting and analytics that can help you both make smarter strategic decisions. These tools range from real-time and historical transaction reporting to alumni data and trend reporting.
Another lucrative reason to invest in a partner who can help their ISVs with data and analytics is because harnessing that information can help boost the member experience for any nonprofit organization. And better member satisfaction can lead to better cash flow.
Beyond payments, an integrated partner can offer a myriad of other ways to help non-profit orgs connect with and retain members at all touch points of their journey. Here are a few benefits to keep in mind:
Online forms:
Collects membership information directly within your client’s member management software so members aren’t forced to redirect to a third-party website. This also saves any financial burden of working with yet another third-party vendor.
Event management:
Send automated event reminders and collect event registration fees via text or email ahead of time, then set up a QR code to enable seamless and contactless check-in on the day of the event.
Trust building:
Offer advanced security features, like encryption, tokenization, and EMV® technology, so members can be sure their payments and sensitive data are as safe as they are seamless.
Intentional marketing:
Leverage member data and demographics to better understand your client’s members and develop personas that are more personalized and, in turn, increase member engagement.
The added value of integrated payments
These are just a few of the ways working with an integrated payments partner can help ISVs with membership management software grow their revenue, streamline workflow and build better donor and member relationships.
We’ve covered everything from seamless due collection to enhanced security, but we also know choosing the right partner takes time — nonprofits should be supported in a way that meets their specific needs. At Global Payments Integrated, we understand that and are fully committed to finding the right solutions by working with you at a level that sets us apart from other integrated partners.
We also know that creating a better payments experience for everyone should go hand in hand with offering our ISV partners ample opportunities to monetize their payments offering. If that sounds like something you'd like to learn more about, you can contact our sales team to learn more. We’d be happy to speak with you about your pain points and how our integrated solutions can help.
Hillary Mokris
Copywriter
