How can non-US charities access funds donated via PayPal?

[sbslehany]

Hi, I run a charitable trust in New Zealand.  We would like to be able to use PayPal to accept donations through our website.  I can see in PayPal's guidelines that it says, "Nonprofits must verify their status to withdraw donations they receive via PayPal."  However, when I try to verify our trust's nonprofit status, I get an error message saying that this isn't available in New Zealand.

So, as I am unable to verify the nonprofit status of my charitable trust, but this appears to be a prerequisite for accessing donations received via PayPal, is there any way that we can actually access donations received via PayPal?

Thank you.

[PayPal_Michael]

Hello, @sbslehany. I'm sorry to hear you've had difficulty with the steps required to accept donations via your PayPal account. I hope the following information is helpful.

It sounds like there may be a misunderstanding. If you're referring to the verification process for a bank account, that's not necessary for customers in New Zealand. You may add a bank account via the Wallet and withdraw money in an Available Balance. Please review https://www.paypal.com/nz/smarthelp/article/how-do-i-transfer-money-to-my-bank-account-faq1189 for more information.

Regarding verification of the status of your non-profit organization, PayPal will contact you to request necessary information and/or documents. Please check out https://www.paypal.com/nz/smarthelp/article/how-can-i-get-my-nonprofit-set-up-with-paypal-to-accept-... to see what may be needed. Please watch your email account and PayPal account for a request after you start receiving donations.

I hope this is helpful. Thanks for being a part of the PayPal Community!

Sincerely,

Michael
PayPal_Michael

[sbslehany]

Hi, thanks for replying.  I seem to be getting mixed messages though.  I also submitted a message to PayPal via the message centre in my account, and received the reply that, "PayPal Giving Funds is not yet offered to New Zealand as well as the no charity rate."

We would like our charitable trust to be able to receive donations through PayPal on our website (powered by Wordpress), and if there is a charitable rate that means we don't lose much out of the donated funds then we would like to be able to benefit from that.  And most of all, we want to be able to access the funds that are donated to us.

It seems as though you suggest all of this should be possible (in contrast to the message from the message centre).  Can you talk me through what I need to do to ensure that I can do all of this?

Thanks very much!

Sharon

[PayPal_Michael]

Thanks for following up, Sharon. I'm sorry for any confusion.

The article at https://www.paypal.com/nz/smarthelp/article/how-can-i-get-my-nonprofit-set-up-with-paypal-to-accept-... was meant only to address the information and/or documents PayPal may request to verify the status of your non-profit organization and ways you can integrate PayPal into your website so donors can make their donations. The information you received previously about the PayPal Giving Fund and the charity rate not being available was correct.

Once you have a bank account linked to your PayPal account, money received may be withdrawn as soon as it's added to the Available Balance. Please see https://www.paypal.com/nz/smarthelp/article/how-do-i-transfer-money-to-my-bank-account-faq1189 for information on how to withdraw money using a bank account. I hope this helps to clarify things. Thanks for your patience during this time.

Sincererly,

Michael