Churches across the country use Square to accept donations — and for good reason. Square is simple, affordable, and works both online and in person. But Square was built for businesses, not churches. It handles the payment, but it doesn't handle giving statements, fund tracking, recurring tithe management, or donor engagement.
This guide covers everything you need to know about using Square for church donations in 2026, including how to set it up, what it costs, where it falls short, and how to fill the gaps with ChurchRaise's free giving tools.
What Are Square Donations?
Square donations are payments accepted through Square's payment processing platform. Churches can collect donations in two main ways:
- •In person: Using the Square Reader (tap, dip, or swipe) with the free Square Point of Sale app on a phone or tablet
- •Online: Using Square Payment Links, which generate shareable donation URLs, QR codes, and embeddable donate buttons
Square does not have a dedicated nonprofit or church product. Churches sign up the same way any business does and use the same tools — payment links, invoices, and the POS app — to collect donations.
How to Set Up Square for Church Donations
Step 1: Create a Square Account
Go to squareup.com and sign up. You'll need to provide a name, date of birth, and physical address. Square requires this information by federal law even for nonprofits. There's no special nonprofit signup flow.
Step 2: Create a Donation Link
1. Log in to your Square Dashboard
2. Go to Payments > Payment Links
3. Click Create Link
4. Choose Accept a donation
5. Add a title (e.g., "Sunday Offering"), optional description, and choose a frequency (one-time or recurring)
6. Optionally add a donation goal, deadline, custom fields, or a redirect URL
7. Click Save
Square generates a shareable link you can copy, a QR code, and an embeddable buy button for your website.
Step 3: Set Up In-Person Donations
Download the Square Point of Sale app on a smartphone or tablet. Order a Square Reader (the magstripe reader is free; contactless readers start at around $49). Staff or volunteers can accept donations by tapping, dipping, or swiping cards.
Step 4: Add a Donate Button to Your Website
From Square Dashboard, go to Payment Links > Settings > Branding to customize your button's color, shape, font, and logo. Copy the embed code and paste it into your church website. If you use ChurchRaise's website builder, giving pages are built in — no embed code needed.
Square's Fees for Churches and Nonprofits
Square does not offer nonprofit discounts. All churches and nonprofits pay the same rates:
- •In person (tap, dip, swipe): 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction
- •Online (payment links, donate buttons): 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- •Manually keyed (card-on-file, phone): 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction
There are no monthly fees, no setup fees, and no annual contracts. Funds transfer to your bank account in 1–2 business days.
For a $100 donation, the church receives $97.30 if given in person or $96.80 if given online. For context, most church giving platforms charge similar processing rates — the difference is what they offer on top.
Limitations of Using Square Alone for Church Giving
Square is an excellent payment processor, but it was not built for churches. Here's what's missing:
No Giving Statements
Square provides transaction receipts and sales reports, but it cannot generate IRS-compliant charitable contribution statements. At year-end, your church needs to send every donor a summary of their tax-deductible gifts. With Square alone, you'd need to export data and build statements manually.
No Fund Management
Churches typically have multiple giving funds — general fund, building fund, missions, benevolence, youth, and more. Square has no concept of "funds." Every donation goes into one bucket with no way for donors to designate where their gift goes.
Limited Recurring Giving
Square supports basic recurring payments through payment links, but there's no way to manage recurring tithes across funds, send reminders, or let donors update their recurring gifts in a self-service portal.
No Donor Management
Square has a basic customer directory, but it's not built for church pastoral care. You can't track a family's giving history over years, see engagement patterns, or connect donations to your people management system.
No Pledge Campaigns or Fundraisers
Square has no tools for pledge campaigns (where members commit to give over time), team fundraisers, or impact pages for specific projects.
No Integration with Church Tools
Square doesn't connect to digital bulletins, church websites, event management, or communications. Every tool is a separate system.
How ChurchRaise Fills the Gaps
ChurchRaise connects directly to your Square account as a payment processor. You keep Square — ChurchRaise adds the church-specific layer on top.
Here's what you get with ChurchRaise + Square:
- •Online donations — Square: basic payment links. ChurchRaise: branded giving pages with fund selection.
- •In-person donations — Square: Square Reader/POS. ChurchRaise: Square Reader + digital kiosk options.
- •Recurring giving — Square: basic recurring links. ChurchRaise: full tithe management (weekly/biweekly/monthly per fund).
- •Giving statements — Square: not available. ChurchRaise: automatic, IRS-compliant, branded.
- •Fund management — Square: not available. ChurchRaise: unlimited funds with goals and tracking.
- •Donor tracking — Square: basic customer directory. ChurchRaise: full people management with giving history.
- •Pledge campaigns — Square: not available. ChurchRaise: built in with progress tracking.
- •Team fundraisers — Square: not available. ChurchRaise: built in with leaderboards.
- •Digital bulletins — Square: not available. ChurchRaise: included free.
- •Church website — Square: Square Online (limited). ChurchRaise: full website builder included.
- •AI insights — Square: not available. ChurchRaise: 9 AI ministry assistants.
- •Monthly cost — Square: $0. ChurchRaise: $0.
ChurchRaise does not charge any platform fees on top of Square's processing rates. The entire platform — giving, people management, events, bulletins, website, forms, communications, and AI assistants — is free.
Square vs Other Church Giving Processors
If you're evaluating Square against other payment processors, here's how it compares:
- •Square vs Stripe: Both are general-purpose processors. Stripe has slightly lower online rates (2.9% + $0.30) and more developer tools. ChurchRaise supports both — connect whichever you prefer.
- •Square vs Vanco: Vanco is a church-specific processor with its own giving platform. ChurchRaise also supports Vanco alongside Square and Stripe.
- •Square vs Pushpay: Pushpay is a church giving platform that includes its own processing. It costs $199–$1,500+/month. ChurchRaise provides similar features for free and lets you choose your own processor.
For a full breakdown of how ChurchRaise compares to other platforms, see our comparison pages.