BPay – is it a lucrative option for Australian charities to offer?

There are hundreds of charitable organisations sending me appeals throughout the course of the year. Animal welfare, health, education, international aid organisations, and others send me appeals for one off and regular gifts. It is rare a non-profit organisation offers the opportunity to make the gift via BPAY. Is BPAY a lucrative option for Australian charities to offer?

CareFlight sent an appeal this week offering BPAY as a convenient way to make a donation. Prominently displayed on the response device, CareFlight informs me the biller code and my reference number. CareFlight use The Raiser’s Edge as their CRM. Most CRMs are capable of producing a BPAY and PostPay number for your supporters using the configuration required by your financial institution. The BPAY number is created upon creation of a record in your CRM.

Given the average age of most non-profit organisations donor base, why wouldn’t Australian charities offer BPAY and PostPay as an easy option for people to give. Young people likely find credit card easier. Older people may prefer to give via cheque or direct debit. But, BPAY and PostPay may be attractive to a subset of the older population.