Pogstone Inc

Email, Calendars and Documents

Google Apps for Nonprofits ( Free for nonprofit organizations )

Google Apps Education Edition ( Free for schools )

Google Apps Standard Edition ( Free for businesses with less than 50 people )

Google Apps provides individual email mailboxes, such as This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for everyone in your organization. They provide calenders that can can be personal, shared with 1 or more other people, or shared with the world. In addition, they allow storage and editing tools for documents. They provide other features which are explained in detail on their website.

After signing up with Google, they create a Google Apps "standard edition" account almost immediately. To upgrade to the nonprofit/educational edition, click here. Google will require proof of nonprofiit status to be faxed. Then a human being will review the information and upgrade the account. This process usually takes about 10 days to complete.

Web Hosting

For tips on choosing a web host or doing things in-house, read our guide

Blue Host provides quality shared hosting for websites, including secure websites, MySQL databases, and the ability to host unlimited domains in a single account. Blue Host only offers shared hosting for $96 per year ( without SSL )  or $171 per year ( with SSL ) .

Sign up with BlueHost.

LiquidWeb provides quality hosting for websites. Hosting options include shared hosting, virtual private servers, PCI compliance, and dedicated/private servers. All accounts include a Service Level Agreement (SLA) of 100% uptime, MySQL databases and hosting multiple websites in a single account.  We think the "VPS Standard" for Linux is a great option at $720 per year (  $60 per month ) . This VPS account includes "managed support", which means that they will take care of updating and managing Linux, MySQL, PHP and Apache in your account.

Sign up with LiquidWeb.

Processing Payments

Metro Merchant Services

Metro Merchant Services allows people to pay directly on your website. The visitor would never leave your website during the transaction, which improves the donor's experience.  Plus when the donor receives their credit card statement, they would see only your organization's name, not Metro Merchants Services name which improves the relationship between your organization and the donor. This option requires Pogstone to enable SSL on your website. This service also includes a virtual terminal. They also offer extremely competive rates, typically below 3%.

Sign up for Pay Pal Pro ( also known as a Pay Pal Business Account )
This allows people to pay directly on your website. It is typically $30 per month plus transaction fees. Transaction fees are typically $0.30 + 2.9%. So if someone donates $100, the transaction fee would typically be $3.20. Pay Pal Pro also requires security( SSL) to be turned on for your website. A web host typically charges extra for turning on security (SSL), the fees are usually $50 per year + $3 per month. Automated recurring payments are supported at no additional cost. As well as people paying by transferring money from a checking or savings account to your organization. This does include a Virtual Terminal.

Sign up for Pay Pal Premier ( also known as Pay Pal Express)
This allows people to pay with credit cards on your website, but part of the payment process is done on the Pay Pal website. It is obvious to the visitor that you are using Pay Pal to process credit cards. There is typically no monthly fee, only per-transaction fees. Transaction fees are typically $0.30 + 2.9%. So if someone donates $100, the transaction fee would typically be $3.20. This does NOT require security (SSL) on your website. Automated recurring payments are supported at no additional cost. As well as people paying by transferring money from a checking or savings account to your organization. This does NOT include a Virtual Terminal.

Domain Registrar

Sign up with Go Daddy

Go Daddy is a good quality domain registrar.  What in the world is a registrar? The purpose of a registrar is to track who owns which domain names,  handle purchase of new domains, renewals of existing domains, and keep track of various services used with each domain.

For example, for the domain "mygroup.org" GoDaddy knows that the organization named "My Organization LLC" is the owner of the domain and responsible for renewals.  GoDaddy also knows that any email for This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it should be delivered to Google Apps. GoDaddy knows that any requests for the website at www.mygroup.org should be routed to BlueHost.    In many ways, a domain registrar is similar to the functions of a real estate title company or the registrar's office at a university.

Just as there are multiple real estate title companies, there are multiple domain registrars.  For an organization owning multiple domains, it is simplest to keep all domains at a single registrar. This makes keeping up with renewals and other updates much easier.

Internet Faxing

Trust Fax
Internet faxing is a great service that allows you to send/receive faxes from a website and email. For example, any inbound fax can be automatically sent to your email inbox as a attachment. Great for when you are away from the main office or need to forward a fax to someone else. It also can reduce costs as a phone line and fax machine are no longer needed.

All prices from outside companies are subject to change. Please read the fine print when signing up for any service.