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.