If you have been wondering how to receive donations on youtube or how to donate on youtube live for free, contrary to what many may think, to receive donations on a YouTube channel you do not need to be part of the YouTube partner program and therefore do not need to meet any requirements.
What to do to receive donations?
In order to receive donations on YouTube, all you have to do is create a PayPal account, enable donations, and provide the link to your audience, it's as simple as that.
However, you can make use of other tools to improve the user experience, activate alerts during your streaming, etc.
Create a PayPal account
The most frequent system that most youtubers use for donations, is through PayPalA secure payment platform accessible from most countries.
Create a PayPal account is free and will only take you a few minutes. Depending on the country where you live, your government will require you to fill in some data and others, in addition to the security measures that the platform itself has implemented to prevent them from stealing your money.
Once you have your PayPal account, not only will you be able to receive donations on your YouTube channelYou can also send donations to other channels, pay for purchases or even charge for your services.
Create a link to receive donations
The simplest way to receive donations on your YouTube channel is to create a link, which you will then provide to your subscribers, which will take them directly to a PayPal payment page, through which they can donate the amount they want to you.
To do so, all you have to do is go to the PayPal donation settings and there configure the parameters you are asked for, such as the currency, your logo, etc.
Once you have completed the form, your donation link and a QR code will appear on the screen and you can share it with your audience to start receiving donations!
Receiving donations with StreamElements
Another option to receive donations on your YouTube channel, a little more elaborate, is through a third-party platform, StreamElements.
The good thing about using this platform is that allows you to create alerts during a stream in your channel, so that when someone makes a donation, everyone will see a notice on their screen, announcing that a user has made a donation to your channel.
This method is perhaps the most used by youtubers, because when someone breaks the ice and donates to your channel, it encourages other viewers to do the same.
To get started, you will need to create an account within StreamElemens. It is a free platform.
The fastest way to do this is identifying yourself with your YouTube channel accountIn this way, the platform will connect both APIs and will be able to synchronize the alerts.
Once inside, you just have to go to the left menu and choose Income > Donations configuration. There you must enter the email address you registered with when you created your PayPal account and then click on the button that says Connect.
Don't forget to complete all the steps below to customize your donation page for your YouTube channel.
StreamElements will provide you with another address to receive donations through them. This address is different from the one PayPal would have given you in the previous method. Therefore, remember to provide your audience with only one of the two addresses, so that they don't get confused.
In the video I explain all the steps to do it.
How much does YouTube charge for donations?
YouTube DOES NOT CHARGE ANYTHING for donations, because it does not participate in the process. The donation is not made through YouTube, but through PayPal.
Note that in both methods, the donation goes to your PayPal account and they will keep a commission of the amount they have donated to you (a percentage plus an additional fixed amount).
If you live in the United States, you can choose to create a complementary system of micropayments in PayPal, whose commissions are a little lower.
Conclusion
Receiving donations on YouTube is another way to make money with a channel, and it is actually something you can implement at any time, without the need to reach 1000 subscribers, or 4000 hours of viewing. It is a method that does not pass through the hands of YouTube and, therefore, they do not keep that 30% of commission that they charge you, for example, in Superchats or Memberships.
Español 
English