Campaign Contributions - Simply Easier Payments

Accept Contributions by Credit and Debit Cards at No Cost to Your Campaign

Problem - Your supporters - especially those under 35 years old - expect to be able to contribute to your campaign by credit or debit card online, 24/7/365. But there ar two significant costs to this.

First, you have to pay the card companies a transaction fee which can be between 2% and 4% of the total contribution.

Second, your online contribution pages and the entire software and hardware setup that runs these pages, must be PCI DSS compliant. (Payment Card Industry - Data Security Standards - see www.pcicomplianceguide.org) Certifying this compliance can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year.

Solution - Simply Easier Payments is an independent third party contribution acceptance gateway. As such we are legally allowed by both the credit card companies and the Federal Election Commission (see Advisory Opinion AO 2007-04 (Atlatl) at www.fec.gov) to charge the person making the contribution a reasonable "Convenience Fee". We are also completely PCI DSS compliant. Using our hosted service passes your security compliance requirements and costs to us.

Result - Your campaign receives the entire contribution. We pay all transactions cost out of the "Convenience Fee" we charge. We host many companies, campaigns and organizations for payment acceptance through our data center so we absorb all the PCI DSS compliance requirements for all of our users. You pay nothing.

Here is How It Works

You change your "Contribute" link on your web site to go to a page we create for your campaign on our secure and compliant servers at our data center.

1. Your contributor enters the required information - just like they do on your site now.
2. Your contributor enters the amount of the contribution they are making.
3. The web page shows them our convenience fee separately from the contribution to your campaign.
4. Your contributor actively checks a check box agreeing to our convenience fee.
5. We process two separate transactions, first the contribution to you, second our fee.
6. The receipt page shows two separate transactions - the funds are never co-mingled.
7. Your contributor's card statement shows the two transactions as separate items.
8. Your contribution is approved in real time, so you know the funds are available.
9. Your contribution funds are deposited into your bank account on the morning of the second day by the Federal Reserve.
10. Real Time and Daily Reports of contributions are available online anytime for you and your staff. They are also available as Excel spreadsheet downloads for passing the contribution information into your existing reporting software.

Who Else Charges a Convenience?

Great question! Millions of online billing sites have been charging conveniene fees for years. Check out this short list of sites charging a convenience fee .