Paynow Introduces Donations Widget To Make Local Crowdfunding Easier

Yesterday, Paynow announced the launch of its donation widget which will help companies/organisations to raise funds for worthy causes in a seamless manner.

Paynow says the crowdfunding button that will be intergrateable on websites and social media pages will offer the following benefits:

It will allow for fund collection in both local and international currency;
It offers transparency to both the donors and the cause as it reports on the number of contributors and the value contributed;
It enables the cause to receive donations from multiple payment channels and settle into an account of your choice;
It removes the burden of reconciliation of all the donations received from the various payment channels;
The cause is required to have a bank account, thereby cutting out the administration process of opening and managing multiple payment channels;
Eliminates fraud, as the cause has only one account to settle;
The button enables the cause to receive donations both locally and internationally with the currency being settled into their Nostro accounts.

How will it work?

Paynow is offering two integration options of the donate button. The first option sees the donate button being integrated on your page but marketing responsibilities are left in your hands.

The second option will see Paynow offer more than just the button, with social media services included as part of the deal. This includes text messages and email services to your supplied database along with Paid Google ads, Facebook ads and all social media campaigns targeted directly to your customers.

Implications

Prior to this, many looking to start donation campaigns had to use EcoCash as the next best alternative. The problem with that is EcoCash isn’t made for that purpose and integration on websites is not as seamless as it will be with the Paynow.

Outside of the logistics, it will be interesting to see how this impacts crowdfunding locally. With some media houses leaning more on donations instead of ad-revenue – tools like the one provided by Paynow will make that model more viable for media houses as they can get donations from people in and outside of Zimbabwe.

Lastly, this might present an opportunity for local innovators looking to raise funds to develop their solutions from MVP to market-ready products. Platforms like GoFundMe have been largely ignored because of the need to have prefunded debit cards. In the case of Paynow’s Donate Button – locals can donate using local currency and that’s a big deal.