Protected: Payments solutions for fundraising and banking issues

Dear Board Members,

Early this summer I talked to you about an online software solution to collect funds in fresh USD from all over the world as the banking system in Lebanon doesn’t allow anymore to work quick and efficiently with flexibility.

I said that I would give you a feedback and more information about that during my stay in France, but I failed to do it, and I apologize, as family (especially my son) was quite demanding during this last month.

I also talked to some of you the possibility to change our current bank which tends to complexify our relations only willing to grant us ARL’s fresh USD only after a long and not necessary procedure whereas other banks are very flexible with no hassle while retrieving cash USD.

1/ Online fundraising gateway – Fundahope

There is, to my knowledge, only one online Lebanese fundraising solution and is Fundahope. We may not pass by a foreign fundraising online gateway because we should be registered in a foreign country. Meaning that if we would like to raise money with a French or UK based fundraising software we should be registered in these countries first and foremost which is not the case.

2/ How does it work ?

This fundraising platform, aka fundahope, can collect money worldwide, receives the money on its fresh bank accounts in Lebanon (mostly USD) and hosts the money collected to separate subaccounts for its registered members. Meaning that, Mr Y sends us through the portal 100 USD from UK. We get a notification in our admin panel that can be managed by many members from ARL (board+NDs). The 100 USD go to Fundahope fresh usd bank account and then we can claim them in cash.

3/ Why is it convenient ?

The convenient thing is that we can collect money from abroad which is in our situation quite an improvement especially giving the situation of Lebanon where it will be quite difficult to raise money especially in foreign currency (but I think not impossible neither). Many schools have already launched successful fundraising campaigns and it worked quite well for them I think (you can have access to their campaigns on fundahope portal). It is a flexible way to link our websites and launch campaigns, much more easier than giving our IBAN each time we want to collect money abroad and also for donors much more flexible to donate by debit/credit rather than issuing a wiretransfer from their bank.

4/ How much is this service charged ?

fundahope’s fee is 5% from each donation you receive. The payment gateway fee is 0.5$ + 2.5% for donations from Lebanese cards and 0.5$ + 4.5% for donations from foreign cards.

5/ Is there any other solution ?

Yes 3 to my knowledge.

6/ What are they ?

• Wiretransfer from bank to ARL’s bank
• Wiretransfer from OMT/WesternUnion to a person
• Lebanese banking gateway payment (Areeba or Netcommerce)

7/ What’s the problem with the bank to ARL’s bank ?

The problem as mentioned previously is that we will have to repeatedly rely on our IBAN to potential donors. So when they will click on any button “Donate” they will get our IBAN and will not necessarily continue the process because it is quite a hassle.

Having both solutions combined, fundahope + IBAN is on the other hand much more interesting !

8/ What’s the problem with OMT/Westerunion ?

Here is a legal problem. OMT/WesternUnion send money to physical persons and not legal entities. So if Mr Y wants to send 100 USD, he will think he is doing it for ARL but in reality it will addressed to one of us. This can be done from time to time but it is not recommended as there is no way ARL can track any donation from this type.

I do not recommend this at all.

9/ What’s the problem with an Areeba/Netcommerce payment gateway ?

It works approximately the same way fundahope works. These 2 gateways are much more professional offering a wide display of functionalities especially that there is no intermediary between the donors and ARL’s bank account.

The problem is mainly how much they charge. It is very expensive especially we still do not know how much we will be able to raise. They do not publicize their charges on their website but it is something 500$ cash per year + % on every transaction received.

I would recommend to consider this possibility only if we achieve major successes in our fundraising campaigns.

10/ If we have further questions about this matter ?

Do not hesitate to whatsapp me on ARL Board+NDs group !

11/ Now, tell us, what’s the problem with our current bank ? Can you please brief up us all ?

Fransabank is our current operating bank. Rev. Joy Mallouh is still the only signature. So we have to keep up with that bank we have to update the signatures and allow Nabil+Maha+one of the ND’s to sign. It was also a will of Colin to give more flexibilty to retrieve money from bank.

Last June, we got fresh money from ARI who basically fundraised money for ARL all these last years. ARL has an subaccount in ARI.

Maha went to Fransabank to retrieve money ARL received and was asked to prepare a letter explaining what for ARL wants to withdraw fresh money. We had then to justify to Fransabank why we would use the money for. To me it goes against the dispositions taken by the Banque du Liban and behind that demand from Fransabank I somehow feel that this money is not ARL’s but Fransabank’s which is absolutely not the case.

Maha had then to get another letter from Rev. Joy asking to withdraw the money.

2 letters for retrieving money is way to abusive to me. Maha had then to coordinate between me, Rev. Joy and the bank during her school’s office hours.

From my personal experience with my school, we left Fransabank as they were too demanding and not granting the rights to our staff to retrieve their salaries.

Last year I moved the bank of the french speaking church from Emirates Lebanon Bank (former BNPI) which was also very demanding to BLOM. BLOM was offering,and still does, for organisations really flexible ways to operate fresh bank accounts with a debit card allowing per day to retrieve from any BLOM ATM 1.000 USD without any charges without letters or specific procedures.

I recently asked BLOM if they still operate that way and they were very affirmative.

I think it would be interesting to consider moving from Fransabank to BLOM (or any other bank offering such services) and give more flexibility to Maha and ND’s to ensure smoother banking operations.

12/ Yay, thank you Damien for these explanations, we will think over that and do not hesitate to get back to you for further questions, concerns !

You are welcome, have a blessed day !