Plaid is an industry-leading service that allows for the quick verification and use of a bank account to make donations. We partner with Plaid to give you the ability to donate via ACH (direct debit from a bank account) without using your routing and bank account numbers.

We suggest donating via ACH/bank account because it is the most cost-effective payment method. Stripe, our primary payment processor and partner of Plaid, charges 0.8% (with a cap of $5, no matter how large the donation) to process a direct debit through Plaid. This is in contrast to Stripe's credit card fees, which can range from 2.2% to 3.5% depending on the card.

On security:

As of June 9, 2022, any donor whose bank has activated OAuth will be redirected to the bank’s website to connect an account for the transaction. OAuth is an industry-standard protocol for authenticating and permissioning data to third parties. With OAuth, donors grant Plaid the ability to make one-time or monthly charges to their bank account without sharing their bank credentials directly with Plaid.

For users who bank elsewhere, Plaid requires donors to enter their online banking login and password during the checkout process.

We know many people are hesitant to enter online banking credentials anywhere outside a bank's own site. We encourage this hesitation; it's smart to learn more about the security of a platform before sharing financial details with it. Plaid is a secure system that has built partnerships with most major US-based financial institutions and thousands of credit unions across the country. Plaid is also a trusted provider for major financial apps and services, like PayPal/Venmo, American Express, Robinhood and Stripe. Put simply, banks are on the Plaid platform because banks trust Plaid. We encourage you to read more about Plaid security and our response to the class action lawsuit to help you make an informed decision.

An important note: Give Lively never directly accesses anyone's bank username or bank password. When our service prompts you for this information, you are interacting directly with a secure window in the Plaid system. All credentials are securely encrypted between that window and Plaid, using industry-standard end-to-end encryption.

Read more about our commitment to data privacy, security, and transparency.