Should My Nonprofit Use Venmo?

My short answer is - NO, not at this time. 

According to their website as of the date of this post, “Venmo provides an easy way for friends and family to pay each other and bypass the need for cash or checks on the go.”  They’ve made it so convenient, that now many people are asking, can I use Venmo to donate to my church and make payments for activities?

Regretfully, Venmo was not established as a donation tool for nonprofits and doesn’t have that functionality at this time.  They state this specifically on their site

“Donations: Venmo doesn't currently provide support for user-created donation campaigns or non-profits.”

Venmo was created for person-to-person transactions.

While they have added the feature of “business accounts” – those accounts are still oriented around person-to-person transactions.  They are helpful for small businesses, owned solely by an individual.  It works because the funds of the individual and the individual's business do not typically have to be separated. 

BUT NOT SO FOR A NONPROFIT!!!

There is need for 100% separation of money between individuals and the nonprofit.  And therefore, Venmo does not provide the necessary security needed for nonprofit funding. 

To prove this point – I share the sad story of a church in my community that experienced heartbreak for this very reason!  Full story here.  

The “FBI says unauthorized transfers exceeded $250,000” through “a fraud scheme to embezzle money from the church, through digital transfers with Venmo and Paypal.”

I hope that this unfortunate example, is a proactive caution to you.  We all love convenience, but there's nothing more inconvenient than your mission being derailed because of loss of funds and the long-term impacts of loss of trust and reputation in the community.

Technologies change and Venmo may add a nonprofit feature in the future. But until then stay clear and be sure the payment systems you put in place are secure and protect the nonprofits funds.