PayPal for Alumni?
 

Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere; I did a search and couldn't find much.

Has anyone tried using Paypal for alumni to send dues / contributions / donations to Alumni Associations or House Corps?

We're thinking of trying it, but want to know if there are any pitfalls to watch out for. Is there a better system that would make it easy for alumni to send in money on their credit cards?

Thanks!

Jono
Pres. Alumni Association

I guess we did it on our website before I became the president. We haven't added it yet on our new website my husband is making. I am sort of weary of it because a very good friend had $1000 stolen from someone who hacked in. He got it back, but it took a lot of work and time. I recommend letting the alums know that they should have a different password for pay pal than what they usually use, something much more secure.

Jono and I discussed and cussed this one nite. I for one dont care for PayPal. Maybe just me.

What we at my Chapter have done is go to Omega Financial. Yes they do take a % but so do paypal. Omega Financial is the collector, and they will go after scoflaws. Not sure about the Alum thing as It is set up for the Active Chapter. I was against it at first, but having seen the gains we have made from not having to do it ourselves, it has paid off!:)

They will be more than happy to sue for the money and the parents are envolved as well.

We had 3 who were really behind, they are now caught up, used credit card to pay the bills outstanding to get straight!:D

The important thing is, that if one/two/ or more do not pay, then it becomes a hardship on the rest.

Omega Fi takes a pretty substantial cut. It's useful for billing actives, but for alums, their model doesn't work well if the membership pays fairly low dues.

Paypal might actually be a pretty damned good option.

I did speak with someone at Omega Fi and this was an area for which they are developing services. So this could all change (and may have already changed).

Really, really do your research on Paypal before using it for anything. Do a Google search to find some web sites and info on lawsuits against them. Paypal has been beefing up their security because of several problems with hackers getting in & taking funds. They still have a problem, though.

Another MAJOR issue for them has been the fake Paypal scammers that send email that looks extremely convincing. It directs the recipient to go to a clickable link to "verify account infrmation" or prevent their Paypal account from being closed. Of course, that link doesn't go to Paypal at all. If the recipient is fooled by the scam, they coiuld lose the money in their accounts.

If you just use Paypal for payment of alum dues and not for selling merchandise, you shold not have the problems with Paypal locking up your funds because of disputes over merchandise.

Also just take a look at www.paypalwarning.com as well as
www.paypalsucks.com. Do your research and consider the options.

Good luck!

my alum chapter investigated using paypal but decided against it. our chapter dues aren't very much, so the amount paypal takes out for usage was just too much in the long run.

I know that another NYC sorority alumnae association uses paypal for their dues. They said that they like it and recommended it. Since I have no experience with paypal, I can't endorse it.

i'm the treasurer for my alumnae association and we use paypal. we currently do not have a website but in our emails to alumnae we reference the paypal option. they do take a %age so we have to ask alumnae to pay another $3.00 or so to offset and they don't seem to mind (dues are $30). it's a bit of a pain to set up but relatively easy to transfer funds into your affiliated bank account.

we're a relatively new alumnae assoc (about a year old) so we've had not problems so far.

hope that helps.


Alpha Delta Pi
First. Finest. Forever.

is there any other way besides paypal to accept credit cards? we are going to be holding a big alumnae event and i think it would be really helpful if we could use it for this.

From what I can tell there's no simpler or cheaper way, especially for an individual, small business, or organization. You'll notice that a lot of sellers on ebay take Paypal because it's virtually the only way that a buyer can pay an individual and put it on a credit card.

I personally have had over 300 transactions both sending and receiving funds via Paypal and have never had a problem.

I'm hoping our alumni board of directors will approve trying it out, since it makes it easier for our members to contribute, and just one extra dues payment will more than make up for the percentage it costs for all the rest! Anything above that is increased revenue that we can use for us and the chapter!

Jono

Setting up a Credit Card system with your bank
 

Maybe it's just the businessman in me, but why not talk to you bank about getting setup to take credit cards. It would help both Activies and Alum, wouldn't it? I know that this fall, if all works out for me, I would love to use my credit card/debit card for dues, etc. I rarely use cash or checks anymore.