PostPay Archives - FundraisingForce

31 Jan 2019

Stephen Mally BPay, CareFlight, Charities, CRM, Non-profit, PostPay, The Raiser's Edge

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.

24 Nov 2016

Stephen Mally BPay, CareFlight, Charitable organisation, Charity, Non profit CRM, Non-profit, PostPay

Why are BPay and PostPay not widely used by charity?

You and I have the opportunity to use BPay and PostPay™ daily to pay our mortgages, rent, utilities, and credit cards. Yet, why are BPay and PostPay not widely used by charitable organisations across Australia?

I received the Christmas Appeal from CareFlight recently and noted an ability to give a donation by BPay on their response device. I also received one from Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, which contained BPay. Their biller code and my reference number are printed prominently on the response device. Easy, convenient, and part of a menu of options to give quickly. But, this is not the norm. Most non-profit organisations lack this convenience payment facility for their constituents.

What are the reasons BPay and PostPay™ are not widely offered?

Lack of internal knowledge to create a BPay and PostPay™ process.
Organisation’s CRM is not capable of producing a BPay or PostPay™ number for each constituent.
It goes in the “too hard” basket.

Let’s take them in order:

Creating a BPay number for your organisation is as easy as contacting your bank to find out the required makeup of the BPay sequence to match your bank.
While at it, acquire the configuration makeup for PostPay™ from Australia Post.
Once you have the required makeup, the next step is contacting your CRM supplier to find out if they have written a customisation to do the following:
- Create a BPay and PostPay™ number for every constituent in your current database (using a batch or bulk facility).
- Create the same for new constituents upon saving the new record in the CRM.
If your CRM supplier has created such a customisation, acquire it for your organisation and ask that it be configured to meet your bank’s required standards.
- Remember, charitable organisations utilise a variety of financial institutions and your bank will not necessarily have the same BPay configuration as another organisation. Thus, the supplier needs to configure the customisation to meet your bank’s requirements.

Action BPay and, if appropriate for your organisation’s supporter base, PostPay™ for your next appeal. At a minimum, BPay ought to be part of the menu of options a donor or prospective donor has to support your charity.

31 Dec 2014

Stephen Mally 2015, BPay, Cause Related Marketing, Challenge gifts, Data cleansing, Data hygiene, Donation Tin, Donor care, FundraisingForce, Give Jar, Giving Tuesday, Goal setting, Ice Bucket Challenge, Matching gifts, New Year, Passwords, Personal Brand, PostPay, Professional development, QR codes, thank you notes, Year in Review

FundraisingForce – A Year in Review

For FundraisingForce’s year-end blog, we thought it was appropriate to take a look back at our blog posts over this past year and to do a bit of a year in review. We launched the Website for FundraisingForce in early June and what a year (6 months, actually) it has been! This last year, FundraisingForce…

…challenged you to think about the last time you sent something handwritten to someone, including thank you notes.
…suggested preparations for the end of the financial year on 30 June 2014.
…suggested each charity needed to be prepared to respond to customer service issues via Twitter, just as airlines, hotels, retail stores and others have to be prepared.
…offered an overview of how some organisations handle opt-outs.
…highlighted the fact most organisations in Australia do not offer BPay and PostPay as an option for giving for their donors.
…questioned why charities do not appear to utilise QR Codes in appeals and in other marketing.
…asked whether you have an elevator pitch to describe your charity and what you do for the charity.
…discussed collaborative goal setting.
…suggested customer service is the most import deliverable.
…spotlighted the good donor care provided by Zoos Victoria Foundation.
…discussed the importance of good data hygiene.
…highlighted the importance of matching gifts and how rare they are in Australia.
…offered four steps to donor care.
…gave ideas for professional development.
…asked whether donor welcome packs are a thing of the past.
…offered the opinion that cause related marketing is also rare in Australia.
…applauded the Ice Bucket Challenge.
…also applauded an August telemarketing call.
…suggested your charity test an ask in your donor acknowledgement/thank you letters.
…gave training options for your team.
…highlighted why gifts in honour or memory of someone are really sensitive gifts.
…introduced the DipJar to potentially replace donation tins.
…showed you how to find hot prospects for spring.
…offered advice to prepare for a disaster.
…gave additional suggestions and advice on staff training.
…offered advice to set passwords and not store them on Post-it Notes!
…suggested challenge gifts to motivate your donors to give.
…introduced the concept of personal brand.
…highlighted charities offering holiday cards.
…promoted GivingTuesday and its success a multitude of times.
…and, we highlighted selfless acts on behalf of charities, including those of MaryRose Mazzola of Massachusetts.

FundraisingForce sincerely hopes the various topics we have blogged have been of interest and benefit to you and others in your organisation.

Special thanks to RamtinWorld for designing a terrific Website and a platform for FundraisingForce to be able to communicate with all of you worldwide.

FundraisingForce wishes you all best wishes for 2015. Happy New Year!

24 Jun 2014

Stephen Mally appeal, Appeals, BPay, CRM, PostPay, QIMR, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

BPay and PostPay – underutilised in the Australian NP sector

When I first moved to Australia from the US, some six years ago, I learned BPay was a key means to conduct financial transactions. In the US, we certainly conduct transactions electronically, but there are still many who pay monthly bills via cheque. In fact, I moved to Australia with my US chequebook in case I needed to send a paper check to a company in the US.

BPay and PostPay are options on just about every invoice I receive. We have grown accustomed to setting off payments to various suppliers each and every month (or as needed) using this convenient and safe method. People young and old use these methods.

Given the prevalence of BPay and PostPay in Australia, I am surprised by how few charities offer BPay and PostPay when sending appeals to constituents.

My assumption is PostPay is largely used by older generations who pay most bills using the service at Australia Post. I also assume BPay may be used by people of those same generations; however, likely not at such a high percentage of people who have grown up only knowing BPay.

Where are BPay and PostPay used in our sector?

BPay is offered by QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. Here is a sample of a recent appeal received from QIMR showing an option to make a gift via BPay. At QIMR, my BPay number is stored in their CRM and printed on all response devices for my convenience and to remind me that I may transact using this number.

National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), likewise, offer BPay and PostPay and here is a sample of an appeal received from NBCF showing option for BPay. Like QIMR, NBCF store my BPay number in their CRM to use when desired.

Your CRM ought to generate and store the BPay number for all constituents. At the point you add a new constituent to your data set, the BPay and PostPay numbers should be generated using a formula you create following the standards offered by your banking institution and by Australia Post. Thereafter, the BPay and PostPay numbers ought to be stored for use each and every time you ask your constituents for support.

Is your organisation using BPay and PostPay on your requests for money? What CRM do you use to generate and store the BPay and PostPay numbers? Are all CRM suppliers in the Australian non-profit space offering such functionality? Lastly, does your organisation have the functionality in your CRM and you are not using it? Let me hear from you by leaving a comment below.