Our member nonprofits address tough challenges and complex issues, and make the world a better place.
Our tech helps you devote more resources to your critical work.
What membership includes
Resource Hub for members
Easy set-up and management in our Nonprofit Admin Portal
What is the Nonprofit Admin Portal?
Give Lively nonprofit membership includes 24/7 secure access to the Nonprofit Admin Portal, a back-end management system where nonprofits create and edit fundraising pages, configure settings and download donor data.
How to prepare
Apply early
We manually screen all applications. Although filling out the application is a quick process, the usual review period is 5-7 business days from the moment you connect your Stripe account to Give Lively.
Is your timeframe tighter than that? Complete your application and then, in the appropriate section, let us know if you’re facing a time crunch.
Confirm 501(c)(3) status
Give Lively nonprofit membership is open to eligible 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations (public charities and private operating foundations).
501(c)(3) is an Internal Revenue Service classification and a specific tax category of nonprofit organizations. It includes both public charities and private operating foundations, broken down into different foundation types.
Affirm values alignment
We check that all of our members will not use our platform or products to:
• Discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation or military status in any activities, programs or operations;
• Advocate against or deny the rights of women;
• Advocate against or deny the rights or existence of anyone on the basis of their sex, gender, gender expression or sexual orientation, including transgender and gender nonconforming people;
• Advocate against or deny the rights of historically underrepresented groups, including Black, brown, AAPI and Indigenous people;
• Advocate against or deny environmental or social sustainability practices, especially with regard to renewable energy; land, water and air rights and use; and the growing climate emergency;
• Advocate for the sale, ownership and/or civilian use of assault weapons, weapons of war, high capacity magazines, automatic weapons or any mechanism that can convert a firearm into an automatic weapon;
• Disseminate hate speech or dangerous speech, promote or incite violence online or offline.
How to apply
This part is easy. We ask you for existing donor account details (if you have one) and your 501(c)(3) nonprofit’s EIN so that it can be located in the IRS databases we reference.
First, we provide the option to log in to an existing Give Lively account only if you already have Give Lively User Portal access – established after donating through Give Lively technology – and wish to associate that user account with your nonprofit’s membership application. For faster membership approval, the email address should match the nonprofit’s website; otherwise, be prepared to verify your association with the nonprofit. Note that the email address cannot already be on record as an admin user of another approved member nonprofit. You cannot use an email address for more than one nonprofit account.
Whether or not you log in to an existing account, you should have your nonprofit's EIN at the ready. This will be used to confirm your organization's information in the IRS nonprofit databases we reference. Remember: Give Lively membership is open to eligible 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations (public charities and private operating foundations).
We ask you to tell us about the account holder: their role and work phone number.
If you already logged in to an existing account, it’s a quick process.
If you are creating a new account, the information we gather will be used when communicating with you about your application. If your application is approved, the email address and password will serve to establish your admin user account on Give Lively.
In both cases, you will only be able to log in to Give Lively’s Nonprofit Admin Portal if your application is approved. Once you log in, you can add additional admin users.
So that there isn’t any confusion, please collect the account details you will need of the person who will oversee the Give Lively account. Note that, for faster approval, the email address for a new account should be associated with the nonprofit’s website; otherwise, be prepared to verify the account holder's association with the nonprofit.
We ask you to tell us about your organization: your online fundraising goal for the next 12 months, the Give Lively product you are most interested in and how you heard about us.
The dropdown options in each question allow you to breeze through this step. Keep in mind that by clicking the NEXT button here, two things happen:
1
You agree to Give Lively’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Master Service Agreement. Please take time to review them in advance.
2
An email is automatically sent to the email address you shared in the previous step. The subject of this email is Give Lively: Connect with Stripe and the email contains the same information and actions outlined in the next step (step 4). This is done in case you are not ready or able to connect with Stripe right away.
We ask you to connect a Stripe account to Give Lively. If you have a Stripe account, you will need to log in and connect it. If you do not have a Stripe account, you will need to create one — Stripe can sometimes take a few days to complete this action — and connect it.
We use Stripe to securely manage financial transactions between you, your donors and your bank. Without a Stripe account, you will not be able to receive donations, so we don’t review applications until a Stripe account has been identified and connected to us. Learn more about Stripe and why it is necessary to connect with Give Lively.
If you are unable to connect with Stripe right away, we automatically send an email to the email address you share in the previous step. The email contains the same information and actions outlined in this next step. Use it when you are ready.
It is upon completion of this step — once your activated Stripe account has been connected to Give Lively — that our 5- to 7-business day application review period begins.
We have some answers that will help you
Whether you’re a superstar team of one or a large well-funded nonprofit, we’re confident that our free platform will help your organization raise money more efficiently and effectively. We’ll also be your nonprofit’s cheerleader online, and help you further your fundraising efforts.
Membership is completely free and non-committal. Much like a foundation, Give Lively was created by philanthropists to provide free resources to nonprofits, specifically technology. Our founders have worked extensively with charitable organizations and seen first-hand the positive impact innovative tech can have on fundraising. They started Give Lively in 2015 based on the belief that every nonprofit should have access to best-in-class fundraising tech. Learn more here.
Members get payouts from donations to their bank account within 2 days, early access to new products, donor contact information, and more. In addition, members get free access to our best-in-class online fundraising platform which includes Text-to-Donate, Peer-to-Peer, and much more. Non-members are mailed paper checks within 30 days after the close of the month in which the donations were made, per our Terms Of Use.
The Resource Hub is one-stop shop for information and instruction about how Give Lively members use our powerful, practical and free fundraising technology. For more background support about Give Lively, go to our introductory FAQ pages.
The Give Lively membership application process can be completed in four easy steps. You will only need a few minutes, provided you have a few essential details right at hand.
To set you up for success, this page contains important information about the process. Please read it carefully so that you can make easy progress toward leveraging our powerful, practical and free fundraising software, including unlimited access to smart digital fundraising pages, peer- and event-based campaigns, the power of text-to-donate, mobile-first payment methods and much more.
Unsure about membership? Here's why you should sign up to become a Give Lively member.
Members gain full and free access to all of our digital fundraising products.
Third-party processing fees
as of September 2023
We don't charge for the unlimited use of our powerful and practical technology – no annual fees, no setup fees, no other fees or hidden fees.
However, we use independent services, called payment processors, to securely manage the financial transaction process, from donation to disbursement, by mediating between merchants and financial institutions.
These services – Stripe and PayPal – do charge small fees for every transaction (see charts below), although the fees can sometimes be covered by the donor. There is a discounted base rate for qualified nonprofits that register with Stripe and PayPal. Fees are always subject to change at any time by the independent services. Always verify directly with the services themselves for the latest updates.
Learn more about third-party processing fees and about the data privacy and security practices put in place by us and these independent services.
PAYMENT METHODS
ACH/Bank Transfer
There are limits to ACH/bank donations.**
Major Credit Cards
Most credit cards include: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Diners Club and JCB. Rates apply to cards used directly and when stored in digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay).
American Express
Rates apply to cards used directly and when stored in digital Wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay).
STANDARD DOMESTIC BASE RATES
0.8% (cap of $5)
2.9% + $0.30
2.9% + $0.30
DOMESTIC BASE RATES WITH NONPROFIT DISCOUNT
0.8% (cap of $5)
2.2% + $0.30
3.5%
INTERNATIONAL RATES
Not currently available
base rate + 1% + 1%*
* This additional 1% fee only applies if currency conversion is required.
base rate + 1% + 1%*
* This additional 1% fee only applies if currency conversion is required.
ACH/Bank Transfer
Major Credit Cards
* This additional 1% fee only applies if currency conversion is required.
American Express
* This additional 1% fee only applies if currency conversion is required.
** We use two services for ACH transfers and they have different ACH payment limits:
- With Plaid, Stripe imposes a per-nonprofit limit of $2,000 per ACH transaction, $6,000 per day in ACH donations and $10,000 per week (Monday to Sunday).
- With Stripe Financial Connections, there are no individual transaction or daily limits and the weekly limit is more dynamic, calculated by Stripe based on several criteria specific to the nonprofit. This limit is designed to increase as nonprofits scale up.
With both Plaid and Stripe Financial Connections, nonprofits should contact Stripe immediately about larger donations to review limits and request increases.
PROCESSORS
PAYMENT METHODS
ACH/Bank Transfer
Stripe imposes a limit of $2,000 per ACH transaction and $10,000 in ACH donations per week (Monday to Sunday).
Major Credit Cards
Most credit cards include: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Diners Club and JCB. Rates apply to cards used directly and when stored in digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay).
American Express
Rates apply to cards used directly and when stored in digital Wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay).
PayPal is only available on Give Lively as an optional additional donation method for use by donors who have an account and wish to use it only for one-time donations. Donors are not able to cover the fees.
STANDARD DOMESTIC BASE RATES
0.8% (cap of $5)
2.9% + $0.30
2.9% + $0.30
2.2% + $0.30
DOMESTIC BASE RATE WITH NONPROFIT DISCOUNT
0.8% (cap of $5)
2.2% + $0.30
3.5%
INTERNATIONAL FEES
Not currently available
base rate + 1% + 1%*
* This additional 1% fee only applies if currency conversion is required.
base rate + 1% + 1%*
* This additional 1% fee only applies if currency conversion is required.
4.4% + fixed fee**
** Fixed fee is based on the currency used. See more here.
PAYMENT METHOD
PayPal is only available on Give Lively as an optional additional payment method for use by donors who have a PayPal account.
STANDARD DOMESTIC BASE RATES
2.99% + $0.49
DOMESTIC BASE RATES WITH NONPROFIT DISCOUNT*
1.99% + $0.49
INTERNATIONAL RATE
3.49% + fixed fee**
** Fixed fee is based on the currency used. See more here.
** Fixed fee is based on the currency used.See more here.
* To enjoy special discounted transaction fees on payment through PayPal, a qualified organization must register an account with PayPal as a nonprofit and confirm its nonprofit status. This helpful PDF includes a checklist of what is needed to complete PayPal’s registration. Learn more about how to get confirmed charity status with PayPal.
We have some answers that will help you
At the moment, the Give Lively platform integrates directly with a quartet of third-party services: Salesforce, Zapier, PayPal and Double the Donation.
Until other integrations are added, you can download donor data from the Nonprofit Admin Portal as a CSV file and import it into any CRM of choice.
For more details about existing integrations, our Resource Hub (for members, but open to all) has information about:
For nonprofits
There is only one level of membership for nonprofits: free and full membership. Once an approved Give Lively member, your nonprofit gains full access to all of the powerful, practical and free solutions and products included in the Give Lively fundraising platform.
This includes:
- Digital Fundraising - Unlimited campaign pages, embeddable donation widgets, and text-to-donate features.
- Event Fundraising - Event ticketing pages and text-to-donate with real-time live display.
- Peer-Based Fundraising - Individual and team peer-to-peer fundraising with a ranked leaderboard.
Learn more about Give Lively membership.
For donors
Donors do not need to be Give Lively members to donate.
Nor is membership required of donors who wish to participate in any peer-based fundraising activities (Peer-to-Peer Fundraising or Team Fundraising).
That being said, donors who wish to view and manage the donations they made through Give Lively technology must create an account to access the Give Lively User Portal. Learn how donors can create a User Portal account. This same account can be used for any future interactions with Give Lively, including to become a fundraiser (see directly below) and the administrator of a member nonprofit.
Additionally, anyone who desires to fundraise on behalf of a nonprofit must also create an account. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising page creation, preceded by account creation (if needed), can be launched by:
- Clicking the “I Want To Fundraise For This” button on your nonprofit’s fundraising page and then following the simple “Create A Fundraising Page” instructions.
- Clicking a direct link to the “Create A Fundraising Page” page of any campaign that your nonprofit wishes to share with potential fundraisers.
Give Lively's active membership of approximately 9,000 nonprofits spans the spectrum of sectors, budgets, team sizes, fundraising goals and walks of life. See our tech in action by reading some of our member stories.
Give Lively membership is open to registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations (public charities and (not private operating foundations) that:
- align with our Give Lively values
- are in good standing with both the IRS and the California Attorney General's Registry of Charities and Fundraisers
- and are eligible IRS foundation types.
Learn more about the requirements of Give Lively membership.