On-Site or Off-Site Donations?

There are two ways for donors to make a donation on Ergatas: on this site, or on the workers donation page (off-site). There are advantages and disadvantages to both, which we will describe here.

Off-Site Donations

With off-site donations, the donor clicks a button which takes them to the workers own donation page, provided by their agency. This is a good option if you have a dedicated donation page just for you. However, if the user has to follow a few links, put in a code, or look up your name in a list, then there is a greater chance of them getting lost along the way and giving up.

On-Site Donations

With on-site donations, we provide a simple, 2-click method for donors to make their donation. The money comes to Ergatas first, and then we use the workers provided donation URL to transfer the money to the workers agency, designated for their support. We will also email the worker to let them know they received a donation and provide the contact information of the donor. We don't keep any of the donation, only the required bank fees are taken out.

This method does result in two money transfers, and there are bank fees for each transfer. However, we provide the donor with the option to cover their own fees, which most donors are happy to do. When we transfer the money to the workers agency we use an e-check/ACH transfer whenever possible, which usually only has a fee of around $0.30. In the end, workers usually get the full amount the donor wanted to give.

Direct Deposits with Stripe Connect

Agencies can now avoid the second transfer entirely. With a Stripe account, on-site donations are processed directly into the agency's own Stripe account — the money never passes through Ergatas, so there is no second transfer and no second transfer fee. If you don't already have a Stripe account, you can set one up for free.

This has a nice side benefit for workers: since donations go straight to the agency, workers at a connected agency don't need to provide their own donation page URL to enable on-site giving.

If you'd like to set this up, just let us know!