Donorbox is a technology company headquartered in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Established in 2014, the company provides an online

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

platform enabling individuals and nonprofit organizations to facilitate online donations. The platform is utilized by various types of organizations, including charities, religious institutions, schools, animal welfare groups, political campaigns, among others.

Background

Donorbox was established by Charles Zhang in 2014, initially launching as a free

WordPress WordPress (WP, or WordPress.org) is a web content management system. It was originally created as a tool to publish blogs but has evolved to support publishing other web content, including more traditional websites, electronic mailing list, ma ...

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incorporating

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...

and

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functionality. For data security, the platform uses 256bit SSL/ TLS encryption and is

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compliant. By 2018, the company expanded its payment options, adding

Apple Pay Apple Pay is a mobile payment service by Apple Inc. that allows users to make payments in person, in iOS apps, and on the web. Supported on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro, Apple Pay digitizes and can replace a credit or debi ...

for

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

organizations. Donorbox requires no start-up costs, monthly fees, or contractual agreements. It offers features designed to streamline the donation process, such as Ultraswift Pay, which provides swift payment processing via various services including

Mercado Pago MercadoLibre, Inc. (literally "free market" in Spanish, and known as Mercado Livre in Portuguese) is an Argentine company headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay and incorporated in Delaware in the United States that operates online marketplaces d ...

Venmo Venmo is an American mobile payment service founded in 2009 and owned by PayPal since 2013. Venmo is aimed at users who wish to split their bills. Account holders can transfer funds to others via a mobile phone app; both the sender and receiver ...

, PayPal Checkout,

Google Pay Google Pay may refer to: * Google Pay (payment method), a digital payments method ** Google Pay (2018–2022), a digital wallet app, formerly Android Pay and now Google Wallet * Google Pay (mobile app) Google Pay, also known as GPay, is a m ...

, and Apple Pay. This feature minimizes the need to enter personal details and can be integrated into emails and web pages via a customizable Donate Button. Fees can be as high as 4% of donations. Other key features of Donorbox include a text-to-give option, allowing donations via text message, Repeat Donation, Peer-to-Peer and Crowdfunding capabilities, enabling supporters to create personalized campaign pages, encouraging donor engagement, and providing campaign insights. Donorbox also facilitates memberships, event management, and the automatic generation of tax-deductible receipts. Donorbox is used in 96 countries and territories, with a user base that includes organizations such as

Truthout Truthout is an American Nonprofit organization, non-profit Progressivism in the United States, progressive news organization which describes itself as "dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social just ...

MAP International MAP International is a Christian nonprofit organization based out of Brunswick, Georgia. Their mission is to provide medicines and health supplies to those in need around the world. History Establishment MAP International was founded in 1954 ...

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a U.S. non-governmental, and tax-exempt 501(C)(3) Christian nonprofit organization which seeks to build affordable housing. The international ...

Code for America Code for America is a 501(c)(3) civic tech non-profit organization that was founded by Jennifer Pahlka in 2009, "to promote ‘civic hacking’, and to bring 21st century technology to government." Federal, state, and local governments often lack ...

, and

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Reception

Donorbox was cited in the book ''Freedom of the Press'' as a simple solution to process and manage online donations. In the book ''Fundraising for Dummies'', the author, Beverly Browning recommended the platform for new organizations to easily receive donations. The 42 Strategies website noted Donorbox's use of pre-filled custom amounts with descriptions, allowing donors to understand their contributions' impacts. Double the Donation acknowledged the simplicity of the site's user interface. Natalie De Vincenzi of Lykke commented on the no-cost nature of the service. WPDean highlighted the platform's design as being responsive and adaptable for mobile use. WP Villa also made reference to Donorbox in blog posts. In December 2018, Donorbox faced controversy when it temporarily suspended, then reinstated, the account of far-right activist

Tommy Robinson Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (' Yaxley; born 27 November 1982), better known as Tommy Robinson, is a British anti-Islam sentiment, anti-Islam campaigner and one of the UK's most prominent far-right activists. Robinson has been active in ...

. In August 2019, the company updated its Terms of Service to prohibit promoting "unlawful violence" based on race, religion, and other characteristics. This followed a brief period during which the company removed its anti-hate speech clause, which saw an increase in its use among extreme right-wing groups. Far-right activist James Goddard and several other figures, such as Jolene Bunting and

Raheem Kassam Raheem J. Kassam (born 1 August 1986) is a British political activist, former editor-in-chief of ''Breitbart News'' London, and former chief adviser to former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage. He has been described as far-right a ...

, have used the platform. Several users have been banned for violating the company's Terms of Service, including groups like the

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) was a Far-right politics, far-right, Islamophobia, Islamophobic organisation active in England from 2009 until the mid-late 2010s. A social movement and Advocacy group, pressure group that employed street demo ...

and

Der Dritte Weg The III. Path or The Third Path (, ) is a Far-right politics, far-right and Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi political party in Germany. It was founded on 28 September 2013 by former National Democratic Party of Germany, NPD officials, and activists from ...

, and individuals like Colin Robertson.

References

External links

* {{Crowdfunding platforms Internet properties established in 2014 Companies based in San Francisco Crowdfunding platforms of the United States WordPress

Background

Reception

See also

References

External links