How to Setup Twitch Donations

What makes streamers use Twitch so actively? Well, this Youtube-owned platform is a Mecca for gamers who want to share their unique gaming experience, but there is one more benefit it gives – a possibility to earn money.

It is a widely known fact that vloggers receive revenue from advertising, but there is one more widely-spread way to get a monetary benefit from live streaming – donations.

There are devoted fans and supporters who are interested in professionally made videos, so they are ready to share some money with broadcasters they like.

This post will tell you about widely used methods on how to setup twitch donations from viewers and learn how to motivate them to transfer money.

Donation Page Services

Donations are money send to video streamers with the goal to help, support or encourage them for further activity. Nowadays, there are several trusted services to connect your Twitch account to and get donations online. Each of them creates a page for the streamer’s channel hosted on their server, so viewers can follow broadcasting and send money on these services too.

1. Gaming For Good

   This platform was created by Bachir Boumaaza, a Belgian gamer who is called Athene in the gaming world. He is a philanthropist who has attracted over 2,500 gamers to his newly created platform to receive their profits and donate on Twitch some percentage to the charity organization Save the Children.

   Players can enter this website using the same login and password they have on Twitch. Moreover, there are very comfortable donation methods including Paysafecard, SOFORT, iDEAL and Bitcoin.

2. Muxy

   Do you want to get the most of your stream? Muxy will come in handy for every broadcaster since it offers different kinds of alerts including donation ones. You can install the app and enter is using your Twitch account to get access to the donations.

   When viewers donate money with Muxy, they do not pay any commissions and fees. There is over a dozen of donation currencies accepted.

3. Stream Elements

   This is another streaming platform which offers such features as Overlays, Tipping, Chat Bot, Alerts, and Loyalty programs for the viewers and broadcasters. The dashboard of the platform encourages viewers to visit the Tipping Page and make donations if they wish. You can change the settings adjusting tipping configurations, create lists of top tippers, follow your donations, etc. In fact, this platform is a nice assistant for streamers who follow the donation statistics and wishes to have a comfortable way to get financial help from viewers.

4. StreamLabs

   It is one more useful startup for streamers who want to engage viewers, get monetization from the live streams, and develop online broadcasting channels. The tool offers funny functions including a Tip Jar, the content of which can grow in accordance with the number of bits sent, and a Donation Ticker to list your most devoted donators. It is possible to withdraw your donations to the PayPal account as well as a credit card.

How To Add Donate Button to Twitch

There is nothing difficult in providing your account with a donate button. However, you should prepare it in advance to add it to the panel. In general, the process involves the following stages:

1. Log in your account on Twitch;
2. Click your username to choose ‘Channel’ option;
3. Look at your stream carefully to find the ‘Admin’ button and start editing it;
4. Find a box with a ‘plus’, click it for a new panel to be added;
5. Choose ‘Add image’ button and a Donation button which you have prepared will be added;
6. When you click ‘Done’, find a link “Image Links To” to paste the code;
7. Provide a short description for your button;
8. Return to ‘Admin’ button again, click ‘View’ and this button appears under your stream.

How to Setup Twitch Donations Yourself

There is no need to have any special skills to setup Twitch donations yourself. Naturally, since you can use several ways to do that, you still should be aware of each of them to cope with the process successfully. Learn the following procedure on how to enable donations on Twitch and you will cope with this task quickly and easily.

How to Set up Paypal Donations for Twitch

PayPal is considered to be a comfortable way to receive earnings for streamers and not only. Money can be transferred directly to the broadcaster’s wallet providing the email address associated with the account on PayPal. For this purpose, you should set up a PayPal.me link.

There are three ways to use this link:

• Mention your PayPal.me link during the stream verbally;
• Add the link to the channel of your stream chat;
• Provide your channel with a Donation section.

If the two first ways are simple and do not require details, we will focus on the third way. These are stages to complete on the e-wallet website to integrate a PayPal donation button by generating a code.

1. Log in your PayPal wallet on the website.
2. Enter the ‘Profile’ section and choose ‘My selling tools’.
3. Find a section called ‘PayPal buttons’, select ‘Update’, and then ‘Create New Button’.
4. The system will offer you to ‘Choose a Button Type’, so you need to find an input box to type the name of your Twitch channel.
5. If you wish to provide your button with a unique look, you can upload your own button following the link ‘Customize text or appearance’.
6. Enter the preview menu section, right-click your newly-created donation button, and save it to your computer clicking ‘Save Image As’. It must be added to your Twitch stream too.
7. Select one of the donation currencies and complete the process pressing ‘Create Button’.
8. Copy the code provided in the ‘Email’ tab, ‘Select Code’ section.

Next, you will have to add the button on your Twitch channel following the tips provided in the chapter called ‘How To Add Donate Button to Twitch’.

Twitch Bits Donations

Twitch Bits are an official Twitch virtual currency used on the platform for supporting streamers by cheering them – sending a certain quantity of Twitch bits to them.

This currency is available only for Partners and Affiliates of the platform and can be bought using Amazon Payments or directly in the chat. A viewer who sends bits to streamers is rewarded with badges while the message in the chat containing bits is accompanied with animations and exclusive emoticons. You can purchase different quantities of bits as well as earn them free of charge by watching ads and a streamer gets 1 cent for every bit sent.

If you want to support with bits, it is necessary to type ‘cheer’ in the chat and indicate the bit number to donate (for example, cheer400). It is also important to mention streamers may change the minimum number of bits to donate to them, so if the bit number you send is lower, this payment won’t proceed.

Best Way to Accept Donations on Twitch

In addition to two popular ways of accepting donations on Twitch such as PayPal and Bits, there is one more alternative way to make donations too. It is using cryptocurrency for making donations.

Streamers can accept three basic cryptos such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum directly on their personal crypto wallet.

If you want to determine the best way of accepting donations, remember that each of them has its pros and cons:

• PayPal transfers are sent directly to the e-wallet but they can be charged back which is very unpleasant to streamers.
• Bits are a very funny and simple way to make donations, but you must be ready to leave some percentage of their cost to the platform, while streamers should hit the minimum sum mentioned in terms and conditions of the platform to be able to withdraw funds.
• Crypto is owned not by everyone, so you should create a special wallet, purchase them to it to be able to donate.

That is why every person should choose the best way of making donations himself evaluating all the pros and cons.

Are Twitch Donations Taxable?

Despite the fact that money rewards sent to broadcasters have received the name ‘donations’, ‘gifts’, or ‘tips’, they remain taxable being a valid source of income. Remember that you can claim it if you file a tax return.

How to Avoid Donation Chargebacks

The main problem connected with donations via PayPal is a possibility to ask for chargebacks. Scammers may use this approach to get on the nerves of popular streamers.

How does it work? A person who transferred money for goods or services via this payment system online can send a complaint with the seller stating that these goods or services were not received by him or her. Most often, PayPal returns money to the buyer and leaves a seller without money and goods he or she sells.

Unfortunately, the number of such donations which can be received back in a month or two is increasing, and both scammers and trolls do not neglect them. That is why the only prevention of chargebacks is using two other ways of donations: Twitch Bits and cryptocurrency.

5 Tips on How to Motivate Your Viewers to Donate

It is natural that there are viewers who reward their favorite streamers with some money donations happily, but not all users are aware of this way of encouraging broadcasters. That is why experts advise not losing a chance to increase the number and sums of the donations motivating viewers.

These are 5 tips on how to do that:

1. Express your gratitude to people who donate money during your streams. Who does not want to get a couple of seconds of fame?
2. Add a widget which will show the last donors’ names to the onscreen account. Usually, it is done thanks to third-party services used.
3. Make up a list of donors and provide it on the profile page. It can be the top of donors if there are many of them or a full list to encourage them for further activity.
4. Set a goal. Mention your goal verbally or add it to your profile to motivate viewers to achieve it together.
5. Customize your alerts. Let everyone see these cues during the stream when something happens on the channel. It will also act as an encouragement for others!

Conclusion

Every streamer should take advantage of setting up Twitch Donations since it is the main method of monetization and a source of encouragement and support from viewers. Moreover, it is an investment into the further development of the channel so it is very important to try each of the donation ways offered.