What is PayPal Money Pools and how can I fundraise among family and friends?

PayPal has recently launched (in November 2017) Money Pool a solution where groups chip in to raise money to buy things. This service allow people create pages to let their contacts fundraise for a specific item or event, such as buying a group gift, a group trip, or housemates paying the rent.

This service is available currently in 16 countries including Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. Anyone who has a PayPal account in these regions can create a Money Pool, or contribute to one.

Note that this is not open-ended, crowdsourced fundraising as you might have on GoFundMe or Kickstarter. It’s intended for specific items or efforts among family and friends, similar to what Tilt let you do.

The service is free when you use money from your PayPal wallet, or a debit card or a bank account linked to your PayPal account. Standard PayPal fees apply when you have to make a currency conversion or use a credit card that is also linked to your PayPal account.

Once you create a page, Money Pools works similarly to other social funding sites like GoFundMe: you can personalise the page with pictures and how you want contributions to appear either public or anonymously; you can update the site’s activity feed; and you can — important for social-payments — share a link to the campaign with a short URL.

How Money Pool works and help you fundraise for your family and friends?

To get started you create a Money pool Page with your PayPal account. You can even access and manage your Money Pools directly from your cell phone too. If you do not have PayPal app then download one for iOS | Android

• Log in to your account and look for the Money Pools module on your Summary page.
• Click Create a Pool.
• Follow the instructions provided.

Creating and running a Money Pool is free of charge. PayPal doesn’t charge a fee to open a PayPal account. Money Pools are available to personal account holders, and where available,  for premiere account holders. At this time, Money Pools are not available for Business account holders.

When you create your Money Pool, you can set minimum amounts for people to contribute or add a specific contribution amount. You can also choose to accept any amount.

After logging in to your PayPal account, you will see your Money Pool on the left side of the summary page. After you click on Details, you’ll be taken to a page with all your existing pools.

You can share your Money Pool with friends and family by texting, emailing, or posting the link to social media like Facebook and Twitter. You can copy the link from the Money Pool itself or get it from the Share your pool box on the right-hand column of the Money Pool.

Money Pools are used to collect money from friends and family. Contributions you receive through your Money Pool are considered personal payments and are not eligible for PayPal Buyer Protection and all contributions taken must be in line with the PayPal User Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy.   If you want to get paid for items or services you sell, then you can set up a PayPal.Me link.

All the money you collect with a Money Pool goes to your Money Pool’s balance. You can transfer it at any time to your PayPal account balance. From there you can transfer to a bank account or spend it online at any of the millions of sellers that accept PayPal. Note that PayPal is not responsible for ensuring that money collected is spent according to the purpose set out in a Money Pool.

 

Contributing to a Money Pool is easy. Just click the Chip In button on the Money Pool page.  Your contribution will be sent in the default currency of the organizer.  If you’re contributing in a different currency, you may be charged a currency conversion fee. Read more details about fees here.

Your contribution, name and picture (if applicable) will be added to the list of contributors on the Money Pool page.  You consent to have your details displayed when you contribute, unless you choose to be anonymous by checking the appropriate box when you chip in. Only the organizer will be able to see your full details. But be sure you know the person that you are sending the payment to.

You can transfer money you’ve collected to your PayPal account balance at any time. From there you can transfer it directly into your linked bank account.

• Click Details in the Money Pools module.
• Select the Pool you’d like to transfer from.
• Click Manage Pool.
• Click Transfer Money.

If you want to end a Money Pool Log in to your PayPal account, click on Details in the Money Pools module.

• Select the Pool you’d like to end.
• Click Manage Pool.
• Click Edit Pool.
• Find End date and click Edit.
• Click End Pool Now. From this point, nobody will be able to contribute to your pool.

Your Money Pool is visible to anyone who has the link, i.e. anyone you or your friends have shared it with. No one will be able to find your Money Pool via a search engine. If you choose to display your contributor details, your incoming transactions will be visible to anyone who visits the Money Pool.

Why Money Pools were created?

Money Pools were created to provide the millions of people who already use PayPal P2P with a more personalized and organized way to share expenses with more than one family member or friend for things like travel, gifts, celebrations and even recurring expenses like rent and utilities. This  feature could help stressed holiday shoppers plan their gifts and keep a track of money for group gifts and holiday travel within their PayPal account.

Money Pools could also ease the burden of having to pay the upfront for the full cost of a group gift, and having to chase people to pay you back.
Pools are not intended to facilitate fundraising for activities such as product development and organizers agree not to offer perks, rewards, or other incentives in return for contributions made to a Money Pool.

PayPal’s 2013 acquisition of Braintree (the e-commerce payments provider that competes with Stripe) gave it ownership the well-regarded peer-to-peer money transfer service Venmo, and lately PayPal seems to be taking more steps to give social payments a push. Recent developments have included letting people pay each other money through Facebook Messenger and the ability for retailers to accept Venmo-powered payments.