Accepting donations with Apple Pay

Prerequisite: Set up Apple Pay

Apple Pay is an easy, secure, and private way of accepting donations for your nonprofit organization. To set up Apple Pay for donations, please review the user guide linked at https://developer.apple.com/apple-pay/nonprofits/.

Nonprofit eligibility to receive donations with Apple Pay

Apple Pay requires that nonprofits pass an eligibility screening to ensure they stay in compliance with Apple Pay's eligibility criteria. At minimum, an eligible nonprofit needs to:

• be a registered 501(c)3 organization
• earn a Bronze Seal of Transparency from Candid, every year

There are additional eligibility criteria proprietary to Apple Pay that may make an organization ineligible. Candid provides this screening on behalf of Apple Pay so that donation platforms only provide Apple Pay to eligible organizations.

What is the Nonprofit Eligibility API?

Candid provides an API that is updated in real-time, and returns an organization's eligibility status to receive donations through Apple Pay.

You can find organizations by passing in the EIN in the query parameters, up to 25 at a time.

https://api.candid.org/eligible/v1/apple?ein=13-1837418

When sent, the API returns the following fields that can be used to verify an organization's eligibility.

{
  "organization_name": "Candid",
  "ein": "13-1837418",
  "eligibility_status": true,
  "eligibility_status_message": "Your organization is eligible.",
  "eligibility_checked_date": "2024-12-04T16:09:10.2905415Z",
  "profile_level": "Platinum",
  "profile_year": "2024",
  "profile_link": "https://www.guidestar.org/profile/13-1837418",
  "seal_last_modified": "2024-01-16T17:22:03.0000000Z",
  "website_url": "candid.org",
  "subsection_code": {
    "subsection_code": "03",
    "subsection_code_description": "501(c)(3) Public Charity"
  }
}

Review our Nonprofit Eligibility API specification to try it out.

How to check an organization's eligibility to receive donations through Apple Pay

Initial seed
Upon implementation, you can use the Nonprofit Eligibility API to seed your database for an organization's eligibility to receive donations through Apple Pay.

Configuring Apple Pay for donations

When an organization wants to turn on donations through Apple Pay, look up the organization by ein and display their eligibility_status_message on the webpage, which states if the organization is eligible to receive donations. If the organization is ineligible, a reason for ineligibility is given, in addition to the next course of action.

There are 6 messages a nonprofit can encounter.

After a nonprofit claims their Candid profile and earns a Bronze Seal, the Nonprofit Eligibility API will immediately be updated and reflect their new eligibility status.

🚧

Encountering a 404

If the organization is not found in the API (404), the organization is not eligible to accept donations with Apple.

📘

Whitelisting your website to bypass GuideStar registration

If you are redirecting users to the 'profile_link' field, please ensure you have followed the steps in this user guide, Whitelisting your website to bypass GuideStar registration, to ensure your users do not encounter a sign in screen when viewing their profile

Displaying the Apple Pay button
It is required for the platform to perform daily verification for each organization to keep the Apple Pay button visible on the organization's website and content. The check can be completed upon the first page view of the day and cached for the remainder of the day.

• If the organization's eligibility_status returns as true, no further action is needed by the donation platform.
• If the organization's eligibility_status returns as false, the Apple Pay button needs to be hidden from the webpage. It is suggested to follow up with the organization when this happens.
• If the organization is not found in the API, they should not have an Apple Pay button configured.

Organization's eligibility status changes for other reasons than specified
If the organization is a 501(c)3 and has Bronze Seal or higher within the last year, but is still ineligible, please reach out to [email protected] for further clarification.

FAQ's - Frequently Asked Questions

• How do I access nonprofits who are eligible to receive donations through Apple Pay?

  • Candid provides the Nonprofit Eligibility API that returns eligible and ineligible nonprofits for donations through Apple Pay. Please contact us for access.

• What do donation platforms need to do to enable Apple Pay for donations?

  • A donation platform needs to set up Apple Pay by following the steps in this user guide: https://developer.apple.com/apple-pay/nonprofits/
  • In addition, Apple Pay requires that nonprofits pass an eligibility screening to ensure they organization is in compliance with Apple Pay's eligibility criteria. Please follow the eligibility steps in this user guide: https://developer.candid.org/docs/apple-pay-for-donations

• How frequently is the API updated with new nonprofits eligible for donations through Apple Pay?

  • The Nonprofit Eligibility API is updated in real-time, based on data updates, like a nonprofit earning their bronze seal. Updates made to a nonprofit profile will reflect in the API within a few seconds.

• What does each status message mean in the API?

  • eligibility_status = true
    • The organization is eligible to receive donations via Apple Pay.
    • Note: subsection_code = 501(c)3 is also required.
  • eligibility_status = false
    • The organization is not eligible to receive donations via Apple Pay.
    • Donation button needs to be hidden from the webpage
    • Note: Since subsection_code = 501(c)3... is also required, all other subsection_code statuses are ineligible and eligibility_status = false

• Recommended actions when an organization is not eligible for Apple Pay

  • Display the profile_link field to redirect the nonprofit to Candid’s website to earn their Bronze Seal of Transparency if seal_level = 'unclaimed', 'expired', or 'basic' or issued over a year ago. Upon completion of the process the organization will update to eligibility_status = true
  • If the organization is a 501(c)3 and has Bronze Seal or higher within the last year, but is still ineligible, please reach out to [email protected] for further clarification.
  • If the organization is not a 501(c)3, let the nonprofit know they are ineligible because their subsection code does not meet Apple's criteria.

• How frequently do I need to check for eligibility of organizations?

  • Daily. It is required for the donation platform to perform daily checks for each organization to keep the Apple Pay button present on the organization's website and content. The check can be completed upon the first page view of the day where the Apple Pay button is displayed and cached until the next day.

• Who do I reach out to if a nonprofit on my platform has a question about accepting donations with Apple Pay?

  • Please reach out to [email protected] with the organization name and EIN to obtain further clarification.