Ten Questions You Should Ask
If you have decided that online donations and payment processing is something that is right for your organization, you'll need to decide on a provider. If you have been through Donation University, you should have a good foundation about how the process works and what the most common industry terms mean.
With this knowledge you are ready to decide on a provider. The following ten questions are designed to provide you with the information to make your decision. Basic security, decisions regarding payment options and disbursement and fee structure questions to give you a detailed profile on each company.
We have included Qgiv's answers to these questions below. You can download a blank version of this question sheet here, you can then write in the answers as you ask other online donation providers.
1) What Payment Options do you offer?
2) Do I get my own Merchant Account?
3) How are funds distributed and do you ever have control of my organization's funds?
4) Will my donation form look EXACTLY like my website? And who does the initial customization of my donation form?
5) Do you allow recurring payments and are they included or is there an extra charge?
6) Do I have instant access to update my forms or do I have to send off a request and wait for it to be completed?
7) Are you PCI Compliant? Who performed your last On-Site Annual Audit?
8) Are you Certified by Visa as CISP Compliant? Are you Certified by MasterCard as Site Data Compliant?
9) What are your rates and fees?
10) Do you require time-limited contracts?