Venmo Implementation Guide - Admin Setup & Donor Experience

Manager Enablement  

We’re excited to announce the ability to capture Venmo donations and payments on all Giving and Payment forms. For your convenience, Venmo has been enabled on your account, and added to all your existing Giving and Payment forms. 
 
If you would prefer to only capture Venmo payments on specific forms, you can disable this payment option on individual forms by visiting the form’s Properties > Payment Tab > Accepted Payment Types and uncheck the box for Venmo.

Donor Experience  

Donors will have the ability to give using Venmo from a Giving Form from a desktop computer or a mobile device. Since Venmo is a mobile application, the experience on each device will vary slightly. 

Donating with Venmo from an iOS Apple Mobile Device (cell phone, personal tablet, etc.)

Note: Due to Venmo restrictions, donations using Venmo can only be completed from a Safari browser. To avoid confusion, iPhone users that have set their default browser to Chrome will not see Venmo as a payment method unless they manually open the form on their Safari browser. 

The donor will access the giving form and complete the fields as normal, select the Venmo payment method icon, enter their Name and Email address, click the Venmo button at the bottom of the form. 

The donor will automatically be redirected to their Venmo mobile app to complete their gift.

After clicking Agree & pay, the donor will be redirected back to the form in their browser, and a Thank You message will appear. 

Donating with Venmo from an Android device (cell phone, personal tablet, etc.)

Note: Due to Venmo restrictions, donations on an Android device using Venmo can only be completed from a Chrome browser. To avoid confusion, Android users that have set their default browser set to anything other than Chrome will not see Venmo as a payment method.

The donor will access the giving form and complete the fields as normal, select the Venmo payment method icon, enter their Name and Email address, click the Venmo button at the bottom of the form. 

The donor will automatically be redirected to their Venmo mobile app to complete their gift.

After clicking Agree & pay, the donor will be redirected back to the form in their browser, and a Thank You message will appear. 

Donating with Venmo from a computer

The donor will access your giving form and complete the fields as normal and select the Venmo button as their payment type. 

After entering their Full Name, Email address, and optional phone number, they will click the Venmo button at the bottom of the form.

They’ll immediately see a QR Code appear. The donor must scan the QR code with their phone to complete the gift from their Venmo mobile app. 

Once in the Venmo app, the donor will be asked to confirm the donation payment.  After clicking Agree & pay, they will be prompted to go back to the computer where they initiated their donation. Please note that the “Ship to” section is a Venmo requirement, and cannot be rephrased. 

Finally, the Thank You screen will appear on the computer where the donation was initiated. 

Which donors can use Venmo on which devices:

Reporting

Transaction/Donations/Gifts Payments Report: Venmo donations and payments will appear in the Transactions/Gifts Report as usual but will be indicated by a Venmo icon in the Source column. 

Deposit Report: Venmo transactions are processed through the PayPal processor. When looking for deposits for PayPal and Venmo gifts, you’ll want to select your PayPal depository bank account from the Dropdown Menu. 

Billing Report: When you see the Venmo transactions through the billing report, the transaction type will show all Venmo transactions as "Ewallet-PayPal" as shown below: 

How to Tell Donors (Sample Communication)

Informing your congregation about this new payment methods is very important! Without knowing that they have a donation option that won't require them to painstakingly enter card information during worship will increase the likelihood that they participate in giving! Use this downloadable Bulletin or Email sample copy to share this news, and don't forget to mention digital wallet options in service as well!

FAQ

Q. Venmo is turned on, but I don’t see it when I look at the form from my mobile device? 

A. Be sure that: 

1. Venmo has been enabled for that specific form.
2. Please double check your device and browser compliance using this chart:

Q. Can I use Venmo for recurring gifts?

A. No, currently Venmo is not available to be set up as a recurring gift (but we're in the works for implementing this feature).

Q. Why should I use Venmo on our giving form if I already have a personal Venmo account for my ministry/church? 

A. The three main reasons you should enable Venmo and all digital wallets on your giving forms are convenience, Security, and IRS compliance. See details below. 

• Convenience
  • Your givers are all set to make a donation and have arrived at the payment portion of your form. If they do not already have an account or did not sign-in to their Giver account, chances are, they will have to enter their Credit Card or ACH information using their tiny mobile keyboard. Not only is this slightly challenging, but it also allows room for error.
  • A Digital Wallet option such as Google Pay or PayPal requires only login credentials that users likely already have saved in their browser, allowing them to process the payment instantly and securely. No excessive typing, they simply tap the pre-saved card they want to use, and their gift is processed immediately.

• Security
  • Digital Wallet platforms offer advanced security features, ensuring safe and secure transactions. Donors seeing these options within your giving form also builds security confidence through the brand recognition that these digital wallets possess. 

• Compliance with IRS Regulations
  • Using a personal person-to-person digital wallet account, such as Venmo, PayPal, Apple Pay etc., to collect donations can lead to serious financial and legal complications. When enabled through your Giving Form, a business account is used, which ensures compliance with IRS regulations, including proper tracking of donations for tax purposes. Digital wallet Business Accounts are designed for transparency and help ensure that your organization’s finances are in order.

Updated November 20, 2024 15:33