Dive Brief:

• Digital payments pioneer PayPal will expand a charitable giving tie with social media juggernaut Meta’s Facebook and Instagram online platforms to enable donations through a PayPal nonprofit, according to a post on PayPal’s website Thursday.
• PayPal’s arrangement with the social media company will apply in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, starting Oct. 31, the post said. The partnership is with respect to the PayPal Giving Fund, a non-profit that lets other nonprofits sign up with it to receive donations.
• “Charities enrolled in PayPal Giving Fund will be able to receive donations made on Facebook and Instagram more quickly and get additional exposure,” PayPal said in the statement.

Dive Insight:

PayPal already had a relationship with Meta for donations through Facebook in the U.K., Canada and Australia, so this new pact is an extension to include Instagram and the U.S., the company said.

It wasn’t clear whether the new Meta arrangement would make PayPal’s button the only avenue for donations of any kind across the social media sites, or just for PayPal’s proprietary giving program. 

In an emailed statement, a Meta spokesperson said: “We are partnering with PayPal Giving Fund to support donations benefiting nonprofits. Registered nonprofits can continue to raise money through fundraisers or donation buttons on Facebook and Instagram and users can continue to create fundraisers and donate to support nonprofits.” Existing payment methods will remain, the spokesperson said, without detailing them.

PayPal isn’t the only company that has noticed an opportunity to get in front of donors with its payments tools. Philanthropi is a fintech startup that facilitates philanthropic payments for its “giving-as-a-service” strategy. It had raised about $8.5 million as of June 2022 as it sought to attract financial services partners. 

PayPal contended in the post this week that millennial and Gen Z donors are particularly interested in making donations online or using mobile devices to do so. That stands to reason given their increased interest of electronic payment methods generally.

“Charities will be able to raise money through fundraisers and donation buttons on Facebook and Instagram, and donations will be received by PayPal Giving Fund and granted to benefiting charities in accordance with its policies,” the PayPal post said.

San Jose-based PayPal didn’t spell out what those policies might be. The company says on its website that it doesn’t charge charities or donors any fees, but that some of its partners might charge fees for donations via their sites. Some of its partners include the online giving entity GoFundMe, digital marketplace Ebay for Charity and neighborhood social media site Nextdoor.

PayPal has some 175,000 charities signed up to receive donations, including 90,000 in the U.S., and the PayPal Giving Fund is itself registered with the IRS as a public charity, the company says on its website.