PayPal is one of the world's leading payment processors. Today it's used by major charities like Children in Need, Cancer Research, and the Blue Cross.
Being such a recognised brand worldwide, accepting payments through PayPal helps to build trust with your supporters.
Additionally, PayPal offer discounted processing fees (1.4% + 20p per transaction) for nonprofits. Learn more.
Create a PayPal merchant account
To accept payments through PayPal, you'll need to create a merchant account for your nonprofit. Note that this is not this same as a personal PayPal account.
You can sign up for a merchant account here.
Connect your PayPal account with Beacon
Note: this is the tricky part. Feel free to reach out to us if you get stuck!
1) To accept PayPal Checkout payments through Beacon, we need to create a PayPal developer app. Visit the PayPal Checkout page.
2) Click the Login to Dashboard (if you're not already logged in)
3) Create a developer (or "sandbox") account here.
4) Go to My apps & credentials
5) Scroll down to the REST API Apps section
6) Create an app, choosing the sandbox account you've created:
7) Click the Live tab, and then copy and paste the client ID and secret into the Settings > Payments > Paypal page of your Beacon dashboard.
8) Click Save PayPal settings. Beacon will check the details are correct for you.
9) You're finished! You'll now see PayPal as a payment option on your forms.