A payment processor allows you to accept donations online and process invoice payments. We currently support seven processors and you can connect more than one processor to your nation.
- Processors recommended for U.S. political organizations
- No NationBuilder fee
- Payment processors integrated with NationBuilder
- How to accept recurring donations
- Whether to get a merchant account
- Connecting a payment processor
- Related resources
Processors recommended for U.S. political organizations
If you are a U.S. political organization, we strongly recommend using Democracy Engine, Stripe, Authorize.net, or PayPal Payflow Pro. If you have an ActBlue account, you can create an ActBlue page rather than connecting a payment processor.
We do not recommend PayPal Express Checkout for U.S. political organizations due to campaign finance laws.
No NationBuilder fee
NationBuilder does not charge for donation or invoice processing. Each payment processor has its own transaction fees.
Payment processors integrated with NationBuilder
| Processor | Supports recurring | Countries | Merchant Account Required? | Gateway fees* | Processor charges* |
| Authorize.net | Yes | US, CA, GB/EURO, AU | Yes – Provided by Authorize | $25.00 monthly. | 2.9 % + $0.30 per transaction. $49 one-time set-up fee. See notes below. |
| Authorize.net | Yes | US, CA, GB/EURO, AU | Yes – Through your current provider | $25.00 monthly, $0.10 per transaction, $0.10 per daily batch. $49 one-time set-up fee. See notes below. | Your current merchant fees. |
| Democracy Engine | No | US | No | N/A | 3.75% + $0.20 per transaction. |
| eWAY | No | AU, GB, NZ | Yes | $30 AUS dollar monthly, $0.60 per transaction. Details. | Your current merchant fees. |
| PayPal (Business account) | Yes | AU, AT, BE, BR, CA, CH, CN, DE, ES, FR, GB, HK, IL, IT, JP, MX, NL, PL, SG, US | No | N/A | 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction; 2.2% + $0.30 per transaction for 501 c(3). Details. |
| PayPal PayFlow Pro | Yes | US, CA, AU, NZ | Yes – With PayPal merchant account. | $30 monthly fee. | 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction; 2.2% + $0.30 per transaction for 501 c(3). |
| PayPal PayFlow Pro | Yes | US, CA, AU, NZ | Yes – Through your current provider. |
$25 monthly, $0.10 per transaction. $99 set-up fee. |
Your current merchant fees. |
| SagePay | No | GB, IE |
Yes |
From £19.90 per month. Details. |
Your current merchant fees. |
| Stripe | No | AU, BE, CA, DE, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, LU, NL, US, CH, DK, IT, NO, SE | No | N/A | 2.9% + $0.30 per charge. Details. |
*NationBuilder does not charge for donation processing. Each processor charges fees for processing transactions. This table is accurate as of September 2016 and reflects pricing for U.S. organizations (except SagePay and eWay). The “Details” links provide information on other options, including fees for organizations based in other countries, if available. Whether a processor supports recurring donations is a reflection of how that processor is connected to NationBuilder. Recurring donations in NationBuilder are currently handled by PayPal and Authorize.net.
Notes for Authorize.net: To get the discounted rate as a NationBuilder customer please go through this provided link to sign up. If you are an existing Authorize.net customer and would like to have your account converted to the reduced pricing plan, please contact [email protected] for assistance.
How to accept recurring donations
If you would like to accept installment payments or monthly donations, you will need to use a PayPal Business account, PayPal Payflow Pro, or Authorize.net.
Whether to get a merchant account
If you are processing a large number of donations, you may find using a merchant account cheaper. Authorize.net and PayPal Payflow Pro are good options if they are supported in your country because they can be used for recurring payments. eWay is a good option in Australia, UK, and New Zealand. Sagepay is a good option in the UK and Ireland.
Connecting a payment processor
1. Go to Settings > Payment processors > New processor.
2. Select your payment processor.
3. Complete required fields on the following screen and click the 
button.
If you do not see the Settings section in your control panel, you probably have a custom permission set that does not allow you access to add a payment processor. Please contact an admin of your nation for help.
You can sign up for a Democracy Engine account directly from your control panel. All other processors require signing up on their websites.
Related resources
Payment processors for recurring donations
How to manage recurring donations in Authorize.net
How to manage recurring donations in PayPal
How to manage recurring donations in PayPal Payflow Pro
How to set up client side encryption for eWay Rapid
Related suggestions:
Allow recurring donations through Stripe
Allow donors to update information and/or stop future payments for recurring donations
Donations should be passed to PayPal as donations, not payments
Ensure all recurring donation transactions appear in Finances section