Payroll donation lets employees deduct contributions directly from their paycheck on a one-time or recurring basis, without needing a credit card or PayPal account. It integrates with your existing payroll systems and supports programs across 13 currencies.
Payroll giving removes several common barriers for employees:
- No credit card or payment method required at the time of giving
- Donations can be as small or as large as the employee chooses
- Recurring donations are deducted automatically each pay cycle
- Tax receipting is handled automatically
- No credit card merchant fees, so more funds reach nonprofits
Permissions
Anyone with the payroll manager user role can manage payroll donations.
Walking through the payroll process
The payroll donation cycle is a collaborative process between you and Benevity. Each pay period follows the same sequence from employee pledges through to nonprofit disbursement.
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Communicate the cut-off date to employees so they can submit their payroll donation selections in time. On the cut-off date, Benevity freezes the donation data for that pay cycle. Any changes employees make after this date are captured in the next pay cycle.
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Download the deduction file from the managed file transfer (MFT) the day after the cut-off. Benevity generates this file containing all employee donation amounts requested for the pay cycle.
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Import the deduction file into your internal payroll system (for example, Workday, ADP, or SAP) and process payroll as normal, incorporating donation amounts as deductions.
Note: Whether deductions are post-tax or pre-tax depends on your region and program setup. This is configured with your payroll system at launch, not chosen during each pay cycle.
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Process deductions from employees' paychecks on the official pay date. Your organization holds the collected funds until you pay the invoice Benevity sends (see step 7), at which point Benevity distributes the funds to the selected nonprofits.
Note: Benevity commits donations the day after the pay date, not on the pay date itself. This ensures the donation date accurately reflects when money changes hands, which affects matching calculations, tax receipting, and budget drawdowns. This is the date of intent rule: the committed date reflects when funds are confirmed, not when the employee made the pledge.
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Generate and upload a success file back to Benevity once payroll is finalized. Mark any unsuccessful deductions in the file. For example, if an employee was on unpaid leave and did not have enough earnings to cover a donation, mark that donation as unsuccessful.
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Review the Payroll Reconciliation Post-Commit Report, which Benevity generates after reconciling the success file against the original deduction file. Benevity handles any discrepancies according to your payroll reconciliation settings and commits the donations once reconciliation is complete. For more detail, see Reconciling payroll deductions.
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Review the total deducted amounts in the monthly Donation Report and pay the invoice Benevity sends. Once paid, Benevity distributes the funds to the respective nonprofits.
If you're interested in exploring payroll for your program, contact support or learn more through our Payroll course.