The true cost of fundraising

Use our calculator to see if free really means free

Some well-known platforms are claiming to be 'free for charities' but still leave charities with no choice but to pay card fees, Gift Aid fees and monthly fees – while donors are asked for 'tips' that go directly to the platform.

We are transparent about our fees and from 1 September will be the only fundraising platform to let donors cover 100% of fees on behalf of charities.

We expect 70% of donors to cover your fees from 1 September – see the difference this makes in how much you'll pay overall with us compared to JustGiving.

How much do you raise online in a year?

We've crunched the numbers, here's the true cost of fundraising:

	Virgin Money Giving	JustGiving
How much you pay	-	-
Collectively donors pay	- (to cover your fees)	- (Tips to JustGiving*)

*We have assumed 70% of donors will Tip JustGiving at the default 10% tip

Saving you an amazing

00%

That's 0 extra in your pocket and saves your donors 0!

See how these savings are calculated

Based on 70% of donors covering your fees see how much your charity would pay:

Company	Virgin Money Giving	JustGiving
Total raised online per year	-	-
Gift Aid added	-	-
Total plus Gift Aid	-	-
Annual equivalent of monthly fee	-	-
Platform fees	-	-
Payment processing fee	-	-
Gift Aid Charge	-	-
Total deductions (to the nearest £)	-	-
Net donations received by charity	-	-
Average cost to charity	-	-

To calculate the true cost of fundraising, we have assumed the following:

On average donors will cover Virgin Money Giving's fees 70% of the time
On average donors will tip JustGiving 70% of the time giving the default 10% tip
Gift Aid is claimed on 80% of donations
Gift Aid processing is handled by the platform on behalf of the charity
The average donation is £40 (this is used to calculate JustGiving’s card fees)

The platform fees used to calculate how much you will pay are below:

What are the fees	Virgin Money Giving	JustGiving
Platform fee	2%	No platform fee
Payment processing fee	2.5%	1.9% + 20p charged on each donation
Gift Aid charge	No charge – free processing	Optional processing charged at 5% on the Gift Aid amount
Monthly fees	None	£15+VAT up to £15,000 raised. £39+VAT over £15,000 raised. JustGiving also offer fee free option for smaller charities, with limited functionality.