PayPal Donations provides Christian Websites, Churches, and Non-profits with a simple low cost solution for accepting secure online donations.  With PayPal Donations your ministry’s members and donors may easily donate from your website using their credit card or bank account on PayPal’s secure server.  The advantages to using PayPal’s Online Donations for your Christian Website are similar to those discussed for NetworkforGood.org. 

PayPal’s Basic Online Donations includes the following advantages for your Christian organization:

• Receive secure online donations with little setup
• Low starting costs – PayPal online donations uses the same fee schedule as other PayPal payments
• Donor security and privacy are handled PayPal
• Receive detailed records of all online donation transactions

When using PayPal Subscriptions, your members and donors may:

• Setup regular automatic monthly donations through their credit card or bank account

One very nice feature of PayPal donations is that your Christian organization could setup donation links which may be included within emails to your members. 
Unlike, NetworkforGood.org, PayPal does not require your Christian organization to be an exempt nonprofit registered with the United States IRS.
One only needs a PayPal account in order to get started receiving online donations and your Christian website can begin receiving online donations in less than five minutes. 
PayPal provides the following seven step overview on their website:

1. Log in to your PayPal account
2. Click on the Merchant Services tab
3. Click on the Donations link
4. Specify the name, amount (optional; if you leave amount blank, your donor will be asked to choose a donation amount), and other details of the donation
5. Add more optional information such as a customized button graphic and the ability to include a note with the donation
6. Click Create Button Now and the Button Factory will generate customized HTML code
7. Paste the HTML code on your website to create your Donate button

From my experience, the “Donations” link in step three is sometimes hard to find.  Donation buttons may be generated in the same place you find your PayPal button factory.  Also look for the donations link in the copy on the “Merchant Services” page, once logged in.

If you would like to skip using the online donations button factory, and just start taking donations from your Christian website immediately, you can use the following HTML form code:

<form name="_xclick" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="paypalaccount@yourministry.org">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Donation Entry Text You Would Like in Your Records">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="15.00">
<input type="image" src="http://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/x-click-butcc-donate.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make Online Donations with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
</form>


• The hidden form field titled, “business” should match the PayPal user id for your organization’s PayPal account. 
• The hidden form field titled, “item_name” provides the description for the online donation page and for your records.
• The “amount” field is the pre-populated amount you would like your online donors to give. 
• Please make sure you review PayPal’s latest usage agreements before using the code above or the code below.  Remember, the agreement may change.

The following html code provides a PayPal online donation form and the option to use PayPal subscriptions so your online donors may choose to automatically donate a set amount each month to your Christian ministry.  Again, remember to check your PayPal service agreement when using this code to take online donations.


<h4>Online Donation</h4>
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" class="donateform" id="donate1" title="Online Donation">
            <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick">
    <input type="hidden" name="business" value="paypalaccount@yourministry.org">
    <input type="hidden" name="return" value+"http://www.yourministry.org/onlinedonate/thankyou.php">
    <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Donation Entry Text You Would Like in Your Records">
    <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="Optional Donation Item Number for your records">
    <input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="1">
<p>Give a one-time donation:</p>
<p>$</p><input type="text" name="amount" size="10"><br/>
<input type="image" src="http://images.paypal.com/images/x-click-but04.gif" border="0" name="submitdonate1" alt="Make online donations with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
</form>
<h4>Set-up monthly donation</h4>
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" id="donate2" title="Monthly Online Donation">
            <p>$</p>
            <input type="textfield" name="a3" value="5.00" size="10">
            <p>for</p>
            <input type="text fields" name="srt" value="12" size="3">
            <p>months.</p>
    <input type="hidden" name="p3" value="1">
    <input type="hidden" name="t3" value="M">
    <input type="hidden" name="src" value="1">
    <input type="hidden" name="sra" value="1">
    <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick-subscriptions">
    <input type="hidden" name="business" value="paypalaccount@yourministry.org">
            <input type="hidden" name="return" value="http://www.yourministry.org/onlinedonate/thankyou.php">
            <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Monthly Donation Entry Text You Would Like in Your Records">
            <input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1">
            <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
            <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/images/x-click-but20.gif" border="0" name="submitdonate2" alt="Make monthly online donations with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
</form>