When nonprofits include electronic bank transfers as a payment method, it benefits your donors, your organization and your mission. 

Electronic bank transfers are done over the ACH Network, which is best known for Direct Deposit and used for depositing salaries and government benefits straight into bank accounts. It's also known for paying bills online. This trusted, secure payment method also is a great option for nonprofits to increase their donations and encourage ongoing electronic giving. Using electronic bank transfers, donors give to your organization directly from their checking or savings account, rather than using a check, cash or card.

Learn More: The ACH Network

• Lowering Processing Costs. Electronic bank transfers are often less expensive to process than cards and checks, meaning more of each donation will go to the programs that donors care about and the overall mission. Ask your financial institution or platform provider for details.
• Making Receiving Donations a Snap. Unlike cash or checks, donations made by electronic bank transfers go directly into the organization’s bank or credit union account. There’s nothing to count or carry. electronic bank transfers also use bank-level encryption, protecting donors’ information rather than a check passing through multiple hands.
• Empowering Sustaining Donors. With recurring payments that are easy to update, donors can set up and control the amount and cadence of their donations. Donors tend to make regular continuous donations when using electronic bank transfers.
• Aligning with the Needs of Donors. People are increasingly not carrying checks or cash, but they are familiar with electronic payments. Plus, it’s easy to sign up.

Getting Started

With just a few simple steps your organization can get started with electronic bank transfers, which make it quick and painless for nonprofits to collect donations. Depending on whether your organization already uses ACH (e.g., Direct Deposit for payroll), you’ll take one of two paths to get your organization set up. 

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Toolkit

Our Nonprofit Toolkit has everything you need to get started with electronic bank transfers. It is broken down into: Getting Approval, Getting Started and Getting Donors on Board. 

Learn More About the Toolkit Download Full Toolkit

Additional assistance getting started with electronic bank transfers can be found using the ACH Quick Start, a tool for your nonprofit to learn how to pay or get paid electronically.

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Articles, webinars, podcasts and more to help guide you through the benefits of and transition to electronic bank transfers. 

• Success Story: Iowa PBS:  More than half of Iowa PBS sustainers give by EFT - and they also tend to be more generous. (Opens a PDF)
• Success Story: SPIRE Credit Union-NetGiver: Learn how a credit union used a unique app, built around electronic bank transfers, to maximize their donations’ impact. (Opens a PDF)
• The How and Why of the Nonprofit Toolkit: Hear from electronic payments experts on the recent overhaul of our Nonprofit Toolkit.  (Listen to the podcast online; no download.)
• Increasing Sustaining Donors: Adding a new payment option (like electronic bank transfers) or more aggressively promoting an existing payment option can improve donor retention and increase sustaining donations by 3 -5% or more. (Free registration required to watch webinar.)
• Drive Customers to Electronic Payments: It’s hard to get customers to change payment behavior. We hear that all the time. In many instances, it’s the customer that chooses how to pay. And billers/suppliers, don’t want to inconvenience customers. While that seems like good business sense, you can influence customer payment behavior without causing any ill effects.