Venmo
How to accept donations using Venmo, a wallet-based payment method used in the U.S.
Venmo is a digital wallet payment method used by more than 70 million people within the United States. It is owned and operated by PayPal, so if you enable PayPal for your account, adding Venmo does not require additional configuration.
| Country availability | United States |
|---|---|
| Accepted currencies | USD |
| Minimum donation amount | $1 |
| Recurring giving | No |
| Works with | Checkout |
Prerequisites
To enable Venmo, you must first connect and enable PayPal.
Enable Venmo
Venmo is enabled from the Payment options page in Dashboard settings. Assuming that you have already connected PayPal, the only required step is to select the Enable Venmo button.
Conditions for displaying Venmo in Checkout
Venmo is only available for one-time donations. It will not be displayed as a payment option when a donor is making a recurring donation.
On desktop devices, Venmo will be displayed for any operating system or browser.
On mobile devices, Venmo is displayed as a payment option for iPhone and iPad when Safari is used, and on Android devices when Chrome is used.
Payment flow
Below are descriptions of how a Venmo donation is completed using a desktop or mobile device.
Desktop
When a donor selects Venmo as a payment option in Checkout, Venmo will display a scannable QR code. When scanned using the donor’s mobile device, the QR code will launch the Venmo app on the donor’s device and prepare the payment. Once the donor has completed the payment steps in the Venmo app, Checkout will automatically advance to the Personal Information screen and pre-fill the donor’s first name, last name, and email address as it appears in their Venmo account.
Mobile
When a donor selects Venmo as a payment option in Checkout, the Venmo app will launch on the donor’s device and prepare the payment. Once the donor has completed the payment steps in the Venmo app, they will be returned to Checkout. Checkout will then automatically advance to the Personal Information screen and pre-fill the donor’s first name, last name, and email address as it appears in their Venmo account.
Notifications
In addition to any emails triggered by the platform, Venmo donors will also receive any notifications that they have configured for their Venmo account.
Limitations
- Currently, Venmo can only be used for one-time donations
- On desktop, donors are shown a Venmo window that includes the label, “No fees no matter how you pay.” This label specifically refers to Venmo fees and not the Fundraise Up platform fee, which will be applied to the donation. At this time, it is not possible to hide the label.