Taking PayPal donations at your church
There are two ways your church can take donations through PayPal, and they do quite different jobs.
PayPal Giving Fund is a charity marketplace. Donors find you through PayPal, eBay, Meta or GoFundMe, and PayPal takes no cut. A giving form on your own website keeps the giver on your site, lets them choose a fund, set up monthly giving, and tick a Gift Aid declaration — and the money lands in your account straight away.
Most churches end up wanting both. Here’s how they compare.
Option 1: PayPal Giving Fund
For churches in many of the countries served by the Church Admin plugin, there’s a PayPal Giving Fund, which makes no charges on any online donation made to your church. UK donors can also opt to Gift Aid what they give, boosting their gift by 25% from the government.
You’ll need a church PayPal account that’s been verified as a charity account — which reduces fees on your normal transactions too. The sign-up process is simple, but it takes a short while to verify your charitable status with PayPal. If you already have a church PayPal account, signing up will take you through the verification pages as part of enrollment.
UK PayPal Giving Fund: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/givingfund/home
US PayPal Giving Fund: https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/givingfund/home
AU PayPal Giving Fund: https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/givingfund/home
What to know before you rely on it
Zero fees is genuinely good, and worth having. But the Giving Fund is a donor advised fund rather than a payment processor, and that changes a few things:
The money arrives monthly, not immediately. PayPal Giving Fund distributes donations 15–45 days after the date of the gift, in a single monthly payment. Donations from the 16th of one month to the 15th of the next go out at the end of that month.
Gift Aid takes longer still. PayPal Giving Fund is the charity of record, so it files the Gift Aid claim with HMRC and passes it on to you — generally the month after the original donation arrives.
You can’t ring-fence gifts to a fund. Grants from the Giving Fund are typically unrestricted, and PayPal Giving Fund’s own policies state it retains legal control over donations. If someone wants to give to your building fund or a mission partner, that designation doesn’t travel with the money.
Donor details are optional.You only see who gave where the donor agreed to share their details.
No recurring giving to you. There’s no standing-order equivalent that pays into your account.
The giver leaves your website. They finish the journey on a PayPal page, not yours.
Option 2: A PayPal giving form on your own website
This is what the Church Admin giving module does. Drop the
shortcode onto any page and you have a giving form on your own site, in your own branding, connected to your own church database.One-off or monthly giving. Givers can set up regular donations themselves, no standing order form to chase.
Multiple funds. Set a form to a specific fund, or let the giver choose from a dropdown — general giving, building fund, a special offering, whatever you need.
Gifts tracked to people. Donations link to the person’s record in your address list, so you can see individual giving history rather than a monthly lump sum.
Gift Aid handled properly. UK churches can include a Gift Aid declaration in the form, and generate a monthly CSV claim to submit to HMRC. You hold the declaration, and you claim directly — no waiting on a third party.
Reporting built in. On-screen reports and CSV downloads, by date, for everyone or for an individual. Your treasurer will thank you.
It works in the app. Turn the giving form on in the Our Church app and giving is a tap away on people’s phones.
Yes, PayPal charge their standard fees on these transactions — reduced rates if your PayPal account is verified as a charity. What that fee buys you is same-day money, designated funds, recurring gifts, donor records and your own Gift Aid claim.
Side by side
| PayPal Giving Fund | Church Admin giving form | |
| Processing Fees | None | Standard PayPal Fees for Non-Profits |
| When you get the money | Monthly, 15–45 days after the gift | Straight into your account |
| Gift Aid | Claimed by Paypal and passed on a month later | You collectGift aid with built inHMRC spreadheet export |
| Recurring Giving | No | Yes,mothly or one-off giving |
| Designated to fund | No | Yes fixed, or giver’s choice |
| Donor Identity | Only if they opt to share | Tracked to person’s record |
| Reporting | PayPal Giving Fund Dashboard | On screen and CSV by person and or date |
| Where the giver ends up | PayPal dashboard | Stays on your website |
So which should your church use?
Use both, and point people at the right one.
Enrol with PayPal Giving Fund so you’re visible in PayPal, eBay and Meta fundraisers and can receive one-off gifts from people who find you there at no cost. It’s free money and there’s no reason to turn it down.
But make the giving form on your own website the thing you point your congregation to — on the website, in the newsletter, on the screen at the end of a service, in the app. That’s where regular, designated, Gift Aided giving actually happens, and where you get the records you need to pastor and thank the people who give.
Setting up the Church Admin giving form
The giving module is part of the premium version of the plugin. Once it’s unlocked:
1. Go to Church Admin → Settings → Giving.
2. Enter your PayPal email address, your currency and your currency symbol.
3. UK churches: tick the option to include a Gift Aid declaration in the form.
4. Tick the box if you want the giving form to appear in the Our Church app.
5. Set up your funds.
6. Add `
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