In Use:
Donately is simple. It’s a platform that allows charities to “Custom Build the Perfect Donation Experience” by either creating a website from scratch or embedding a donation form on their own website. The webpages and forms are fully customizable and are mobile responsive – meaning the interface looks great whether viewed on a laptop or mobile device. Using the form builder – a charity can pick and choose what information they want to collect. Donately comes with the ability to set up recurring donations and offers different payment methods such as credit card payments, ACH payments or donations through PayPal. Donors can even opt to pay the processing fees – allowing the charity to collect 100% of the donation.

While Donately is mainly known for their form builder and fundraising pages – they also have other options that charities can take advantage of. Charities can optimize the text message tool to directly text their donors; peer-to-peer fundraising to spread awareness about their campaign; and a dashboard that the nonprofit can use to track donations and run reports and analytics.

When it comes to pricing, Donately has a “Free” version (plus a 4% platform fee). Among the features of the “Free” version are; customizable forms and donation pages, recurring donations, and live chat support. If a nonprofit organization wants to take advantage of more advantaged customizations and integrations, they will have to opt for either the Starter or Team version which starts at $19 per month (and 3.5% processing fees).

Ease of Use:
Each version of Donately offers customer support. Watch videos to get started on your first donation form or take advantage of the live chat support for any immediate questions. Charities who purchase the “Teams” version are assigned a dedicated account representative.

Many customers have noted how easy it was to get started with Donately - as well as the ease of tracking and reporting on donations.

Technology Needed:
Donately is a cloud-based fundraising platform with numerous integrations available thanks to their partnership with Zapier, a platform that automates the integration of web applications. With Zapier, a nonprofit can integrate data collected through Donately with many other applications -eliminating the need for manual uploads. Some of the apps included in Donately’s Integration Marketplace are - Salesforce, Google Analytics, Hubspot, QuickBooks and Wordpress. While Zapier is not free, it does offer over 1,000 integrations with platforms like Donately.

Recap:
A fundraising platform – Donately offers nonprofits the ability to create fundraising pages and customize donation forms. Charities can choose what information to collect from donors while giving donors the ability to set up recurring payments and/or pay for the processing fees. Payments can be made by credit card, ACH payments or through PayPal.

Besides custom forms and webpages – nonprofit organizations can take advantage of peer-to-peer fundraising and reporting. On top of that – Donately partners with Zapier – allowing their customers to integrate with over 1,000 different applications.

Advantages:
• Customizable forms with the option to embed the form into a charity’s own website
• Ability to set up recurring payments and have donors cover processing fees
• Free version of the platform
• Integrations with over 1,000 applications through Zapier

Disadvantages:
• Reporting is not robust
• Customers have noted that customer support could be more attentive
• Customers would like more customizable templates for both the forms and fundraising pages

My Opinion:
Donately is a great option for nonprofit organizations who are looking to create a fundraising page or donation form. With all of the integrations that comes with a subscription to Zapier – a nonprofit shouldn’t have any issues integrating Donately with their CRM, email automation tool, or accounting platform.

While the fee for the “Teams” version can be expensive for a smaller charity – the “Free” version comes with enough features that allows a nonprofit to set up a website and start collecting donations with just a 4% processing fee.

The most common feedback from customers have been the lack of robust reporting and the customer support. If a charity is OK with the minimal support and reporting capabilities –Donately is a great option for small-to-medium nonprofits who want to start fundraising with just a few clicks.