Selecting a payment processor
CiviCRM may be used for fundraising with or without processing online contributions. For example, you could use CiviCRM to support a direct mail and telemarketing operation and require online donors to mail in checks. You can also accept in-kind donations online without setting up a payment processor.
Some organizations continue to use external online donation systems as they begin to use CiviCRM, which involves transferring the transactions to CiviCRM in order to use it as their centralized CRM for segmentation and reporting. This can be a cumbersome approach given the ease of using CiviContribute to process online donations, but might better suit your needs.
It depends on your specific requirements whether you find it worthwhile to set up online payment processing in CiviCRM.
Payment processors, sometimes known as payment gateways, assist in transferring payments from payers to you, the payee receiving the funds. CiviCRM relies on the processor to do the complicated...