Reviewing the Role of Payment Gateway Technology in Encouraging Digital Donations for Non-Profit Institutions

Digital payment technology (payment gateway) is one of the fastest technologies to accelerate change in society. Not only for the purposes of commercial transactions, technology payment gateway now it can also be used for philanthropic activities, such as fundraising and donating, making it more efficient for non-profit organizations and donors. This is proven by payment gateway midtrans which provides processing technology for various payment methods on online sites for various partners, ranging from startups, MSMEs, large businesses, to non-profit institutions such as the Yatim Mandiri Foundation (YYM).

In recent times, for YYM, carrying out fundraising activities has become quite a challenge when dealing with conventional steps. The foundation, which focuses on education and empowerment of orphans and poor people, initially carried out fundraising from pintu ke pintu, manual verification of donations, to the collection of donor data that is less than optimal. This challenge was then answered when YYM decided to use technology payment gateway to digitize the donation fundraising process.

"Before we only worked in the field of fundraising the conventional one, by deploying zakat consultants who come from office to office. But now with the development of time and technology, we canupgrade Our services and offerings are through digital platforms,” said Dian Muldianti, YYM's Digital Fundraising team.

YYM partnered with midtrans transforming the donation ecosystem. YYM's fundraising efforts are boosted by midtrans which brings a variety of digital solutions such as; the verification process and donor data collection that can be automated, facilitate facilities through various choices of online payment methods, to maximize the acceptance of the value of donations with free transaction fees via GoPay and QRIS. In addition, the operational efficiency of the foundation is also helped thanks to the technology offered by Midtrans.

In this partnership, YYM admits, the value of digital donations channeled to it through the website's online channel has increased by 12 times since using Midtrans in the last 6 months. It is also in line with report released by GoPay and Kopernik entitled “Digital Donation Outlook 2020” who concluded that the existence of digital donations succeeded in encouraging people to be more diligent in donating. Public support channeled through donations allows YYM to provide empowerment for beneficiaries, including in the form of scholarships and educational institutions through 46 branch organizations spread throughout Indonesia.

The increase in digital donations raised by YYM is not without reason. In the Digital Donation Outlook report, it is also stated that digital donations are growing as a result of being triggered by various convenience factors supported by technology. 47 percent of respondents said they chose to donate digitally to initiatives that provide digital payments. But that doesn't mean education about digital donations ends there. The study reveals that there is still a need for comprehensive and equitable quality education throughout Indonesia. In addition, in addition to basic education regarding digital donations, it is also necessary to communicate the transparency of the donation process, and the credibility of the organization to increase public trust.

“The convenience of technology makes it easier for us as a non-profit institution to educate and invite people to share more easily anywhere and anytime. This is important, because nowadays people are increasingly tech-savvy, so that we can more easily reach those who want to share or donate through digital channels,” said Dian.

The above statement certainly strengthens the role of technology in raising funds for social needs. Digital donations are known to have succeeded in embracing all the following age groups with diverse demographics and professions in society. With numbers and graphs that are actually growing - even in the midst of a situation of economic uncertainty - it is very interesting to look forward to the actions of various technology service providers midtrans further in the realm of philanthropy in the future.