Can I use business account to only gather donations?

[Mats391]

Hi,

I created a business account for our online community to gather donations that support hosting our infrastructure. We do not sell anything or generate any profit and only accept donations. The service we provide is free. Is a business account the correct choice for this?

We chose a business account to have proper branding in the donation screen as well as not having to bind it to any members real name directly.

[kernowlass]

@Mats391 

https://www.paypal.com/us/cshelp/article/how-do-i-accept-donations-with-paypal-help200

[Mats391]

Thanks for link, but as I understand it these accounts are meant for actual charities. We are just an online community, not a registered charity.

[kernowlass]

@Mats391 

That was the point of posting the link, did you read down to the last line?

[Mats391]

I missed that part

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A business must have a registered CNPJ to be able to create a non-profit PayPal account. Only these types of accounts can receive donations.

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However, I created the account with the "side business" category, so I did not have to provide any registration information for the business (and there exists none). With that setting I was able to create a donation button just like with a personal account. As such I am confused if non-profit or CNPJ registration are really needed for our case.