Nonprofit payments, right on the phone in your pocket
Stripe Connect built into a nonprofit-native iOS app. Tap-to-pay, ticketing, program tagging, and platform fees as low as 0.5%. No card reader required.
Every board member's phone becomes a mobile payment terminal. Every payment auto-tags to a program, event, or campaign so the bookkeeper does not spend the next week deciphering what got paid where.
Because Stripe has no front end.
Once Form 990 tracking and grant management were built, the next question at Children’s Orchestra Society was what else the day-to-day of running the organization made harder than it needed to be. The answer came back fast: taking payments in person. If someone wanted to donate, buy a ticket, or register for a class using a credit card, they had to go to the website to do it. There was no way for a staff member at a rehearsal, an event, or a table to accept a card in real time.
The gap is a Stripe-shaped gap. Stripe is the payments infrastructure the organization already used for online transactions. Stripe has no front end — it is an API and a dashboard, powerful for developers and bookkeepers, useless to a program coordinator standing next to a donor with a card in hand. The organization either sent people to the website, handed them a paper form, or watched the payment fail to happen.
A nonprofit that already has a Stripe account and cannot use it in the field is not a Children’s Orchestra Society problem. Every nonprofit accepting online payments through Stripe hits the same wall the moment a person wants to pay in person. The gap is universal.
So we built Stripe payments into Giving Toolbox. The iPhone in a staff member's pocket became the payment terminal. Stripe Connect kept the money flowing to the organization's existing account. And the transaction knew what it was for at the point of sale — program, event, or campaign — not when the bookkeeper tried to piece it together later.
The website still works for anyone giving online. It just is no longer the only path.
Retail fees. Hardware costs. Zero nonprofit context.
Square, Stripe direct, and PayPal charge nonprofits the same rates as retail. Card readers cost hundreds and take weeks to onboard. And none of the retail POS options know what a 501(c)(3) is, let alone a grant fund.
Retail rates on every dollar
Square runs 2.6 to 3.5% depending on tier with no nonprofit discount. Stripe direct is 2.9% + $0.30, the same as every coffee shop. On a $50,000 gala that is $1,750 in processing fees that were supposed to fund the mission.
Hardware paywall
A card reader costs $300 or more and needs weeks of vendor onboarding. By the time it is set up, the event is over. Field staff go back to carrying cash and donations get lost or delayed to the bookkeeper for a month.
No program, event, or campaign tagging
Retail POS lands every payment in one bucket. There is no way to tag revenue to a program, an event, or a grant fund. Reconciling to the books takes days that could have been spent on the mission.
Built for how nonprofits actually accept money.
Every feature exists because a Children's Orchestra Society board member, a PTA treasurer, or a small-nonprofit ED asked for it after an event or campaign ran into a payment problem.
Tap-to-pay on iPhone
iOS 16.7 and later has a built-in NFC reader that accepts contactless credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. No external hardware. Any staff iPhone becomes a payment terminal.
Stripe Connect (funds land in your account)
Every payment lands in your organization's Stripe account. Not held by Giving Toolbox. Connect an existing Stripe in sixty seconds or set up a new one in about ten minutes.
Platform fees built for nonprofits
1.5% platform fee on Free, 0.5% on Pro, on top of Stripe's standard 2.9% + $0.30. The lowest platform fee on any nonprofit-native app.
Donor covers processing
Optional checkbox at checkout asks the donor to cover Stripe fees so 100% of the gift reaches the organization. Industry data shows the majority of donors say yes when asked.
Auto-tag to program, event, or campaign
Every payment carries its context. Revenue flows into event P&L, program totals, and grant fund balances as it lands. No manual reconciliation later.
Cash, check, and refunds
Record cash and check gifts with the same tagging as card payments. Void and refund workflows with a full audit trail on every transaction.
From Stripe connection to first tap in four steps.
No training deck. If your team can send a text, they can take a card payment.
Connect Stripe
OAuth into your existing Stripe account in about sixty seconds. If your organization does not have a Stripe account yet, signing up takes about ten minutes and you keep the account for life.
Enable staff to accept payments
Toggle the can-accept-payments flag on any staff invite code. Volunteers, board members, or field staff take money on the organization's behalf without needing admin access.
Tap the card or Apple Pay
Donor holds their card, phone, or watch over the back of the iPhone. Payment authorizes in seconds. Optional email or SMS receipt with the organization's EIN.
Tag to program, event, or campaign
Choose a program, event, or campaign at the point of sale. Revenue flows to the right P&L or grant fund balance instantly. Bookkeeper export packages the day for QuickBooks, Aplos, or Xero.
How Giving Toolbox compares to Square and Stripe direct.
Most nonprofits accept in-person payments through Square, Stripe direct, or PayPal. All built for retail. Here is what changes when payments move into an app built for a 501(c)(3).
Monthly cost
$0 base
$0
Built for
Retail businesses
501(c)(3) nonprofits
Nonprofit platform fee
1.5% + Stripe
Donor covers fees
Yes
Auto-tag revenue
No
Program only
Hardware needed?
No
Bookkeeper export
CSV only
Stripe payouts only
“Free” nonprofit platforms cost your supporters.
Retail payment tools are one side of the market. The other side is a group of nonprofit-specific platforms — Givebutter, Zeffy, Donorbox, RallyUp — that charge the organization nothing and default a tip of 15 to 20% onto the donor's checkout instead. The board sees $0 in platform fees. The dashboard never shows the supporter who reached checkout, saw a $7 tip pre-selected on a $40 ticket, and closed the tab.
A $10,000 gala ticket push. 250 tickets at $40 each. On Giving Toolbox at the Free tier's 1.5% platform fee, the organization pays $150 and all 250 tickets sell for $10,000 net.
of buyers abandon their purchase when they hit an unexpected 17% tip ask at checkout — Zeffy’s default.
Chance2Win checkout analysis of tip platforms
On the tip-funded platform, 75 of those 250 tickets never sell. $3,000 in lost sales to “save” the $150 platform fee.
Independent research bears out the pattern. NextAfter documented a 107% conversion lift when a nonprofit ended donor tipping. FundEasy switched off tips after Chance2Win’s checkout analysis showed 30 to 40% abandonment when buyers hit surprise costs. And when donors are asked transparently to cover the processing fee for the organization directly, roughly 60% of them say yes with no conversion loss — the model Giving Toolbox uses.
There is a second reason to care. On Giving Toolbox, your nonprofit is the merchant of record. Every dollar lands in your organization's own Stripe account. Your name is on the donor's card statement. Payouts follow Stripe's standard schedule. On Givebutter, Zeffy, and RallyUp, the platform is the merchant. The platform holds the money. The platform's name is on the donor's card statement. The platform pays out on the platform's terms.
The “free” math depends on hoping donors do not notice the tip ask. The transparent math depends on trusting them to see the fee and cover it directly. About 60% do.
Straight answers about in-person nonprofit payments.
What executive directors ask before switching from Square or Stripe direct.
Do I need a card reader?
No. iPhones running iOS 16.7 or later have a built-in NFC reader that accepts contactless credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Any staff iPhone becomes a mobile payment terminal.
How does the platform fee compare to Square, Stripe direct, Givebutter, Zeffy, Donorbox, and RallyUp?
Square charges 2.6 to 3.5% depending on tier with no nonprofit rate. Stripe direct is 2.9% + $0.30, same as retail. Donorbox is 2.95% base plus a 3.95% event surcharge. Givebutter is free with a 15% default tip ask to donors, or 1 to 5% platform fee with tips off. Zeffy is free — donors cover a 17% default tip ask. RallyUp is free with a tip ask or up to 6.9% per module without it. Giving Toolbox Free is 1.5% platform fee charged to the organization, never the donor. Pro drops it to 0.5% — the lowest on any nonprofit-native app that does not fund itself through donor tips.
Where do the funds go?
Directly to your organization's Stripe account. Giving Toolbox never holds the money. Stripe follows its standard payout schedule (typically two business days) into whatever bank account the Stripe account is linked to.
Can donors cover the processing fees?
Yes. Admin can enable a "Cover the processing fee so 100% goes to [Organization Name]" checkbox at checkout. Industry data across nonprofit payment platforms shows the majority of donors accept when asked. On most transactions that effectively reduces the organization's net cost to zero.
What is the difference between Free and Pro on payments?
Free tier includes in-person payments at 1.5% platform fee. Pro drops the platform fee to 0.5% — a full 1% discount on every dollar processed. At $5,000/month in payments that is $50/month in savings. Pro's $34.99 monthly subscription pays for itself at about $2,335 in monthly transaction volume, which most organizations running any real event activity clear on their first event.
Does this work at events with poor WiFi?
Payments require an internet connection at the moment of the tap for Stripe authorization. If cellular is available, tap-to-pay works normally. If not, the app queues cash and check records for later sync, but card payments need a live connection.
Do you compete with Square or Stripe for retail?
No. Giving Toolbox is built for 501(c)(3) nonprofits. The nonprofit-specific features (990 category mapping, grant fund tagging, program allocation, donor acknowledgment PDFs with EIN) do not apply to retail. Small nonprofits using Square today typically save on platform fees and get proper 990-ready accounting by moving to Giving Toolbox.
Start accepting nonprofit-rate payments today.
Download Giving Toolbox free. Connect a Stripe account in about a minute. Take the first in-person donation before the next board meeting.
Free: unlimited submissions, 100 AI receipt scans/month, single grant reporting. Pro ($34.99/mo) adds unlimited users, multi-grant tracking, fundraisers, and full 990 prep.
How this fits together
One app for the whole organization
This is one part of a mobile-first nonprofit operations app that also handles expenses, grants, events, volunteers and donors, and keeps working offline.
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