The donate button - is it dead in 2015?

I never thought I'd bother putting a donate option on my site, but recently I've had a number of my blog readers of people saying I should have one.

Could it hurt? is it like begging? I'm not sure if it's the best thing to do

Opinions? experience?

 

If you are thinking of using the Paypal Donate button, you need to research it a bit. My understanding is that they have raised the bar quite a bit as to who can actually use one these days.

If you just have it discreetly on your blog page and do not heavily promote it, I think that most people will find it to be entirely reasonable of you.

 

Do what others do if you don't want to come across like you're begging for donations. Put something like: "Buy me a cup of coffee" or "Buy me a beer" next to it. Works for some.

 

Thanks. I couldn't find any new stuff on using it though. Do you know where you heard this?

Maybe I'll give it a go for a week or so

 

Good idea. Maybe 'buy me and avacado' with a nice picture of an avacado button. Interesting

 

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_donate-intro-outside

Excerpt from the above link:

Note:This button is intended for fundraising. If you are not raising money for a cause, please choose another option. Nonprofits must verify their status to withdraw donations they receive. Users that are not verified nonprofits must demonstrate how their donations will be used, once they raise more than $10,000.

 

Thanks for the link. I did read this and it doesn't seem to be a problem. What is a cause? if they mean charity then it's not for me, but I don't read it like that. It's unclear

 

Just create the damn button. Non-profits must verify that they are indeed non-profits to avoid paying taxes on anything over $10,000. By law you're required to pay taxes on donations / gifts once you reach $10,000+. In your case, you'll probably never reach $10,000+ annually in donations, so there's really nothing to worry about. AT LEAST, that's how I read what the tax code says.

 

Haha thank you

 

Since the Paypal TOS that I quoted above says that "Nonprofits must verify their status to withdraw donations...", I would want to be clear on what "verify" means before I bothered to raise funds from my friends, readers, etc., only to find out that those funds cannot be removed and spent from Paypal. I cannot tell you what "cause" means to Paypal, but generally most people associate that word with a charitable or political effort of some sort.

 

My opinion is if you provide real value with your content or a tool,,or a service free that it works if you put a donate button!!

 

This a very interesting thread, simply put a buy now button for $1.99 like others said put a comment like "Buy Me Bandwidth" I would go with this option.

 

This is a great idea and you could have multiple "products" or pricing options: $1.99, $4.99, etc.

 

From what I understand, the nonprofit clause seems valid only if you cross 10000. As stated above, put up a post saying 'Buy me some xyz' or even 'Sponsor my next blogpost'. You never know.

 

try "share your blessings" I don't see anything wrong with asking for donations, just make sure it will go to something useful/helpful to your readers especially the donors..

 

OK. It works

 

One more option you can try is Flattr.