WAITING GAME
A new platform is letting small donors give now and pay later
The idea behind B Generous is to bring the increasingly popular concept of “buy now, pay later” to nonprofits.
Like nonprofits everywhere, the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts relies partly on monthly donations to fund its $5 million in total annual revenue. But instead of giving the federation a measure of confidence about its cash flow, CEO Nora Gorenstein said the monthly gifts can be a vehicle for uncertainty.
Gorenstein sketched out a typical scenario: The federation takes the necessary steps to process a credit card payment for a recurring gift, which she said could be difficult. “You’re really taking a risk as an organization that the person will perhaps not fulfill the whole cycle of that recurring gift,” she told eJewishPhilanthropy, explaining that should a donor “make a donation, let’s say, for $100 a month, for us, depending on when you start that during the year, it can be complicated to figure out what your exact intention is… Is it a pledge to be paid off in $100 segments, or should we just consider whatever ends up coming to us as revenue?”