Charity Trends: Donors are willing to cover processing fees

Recent changes have been happening to the way charities and fundraisers go about collecting donations online. There is a growing trend for donors to ‘top-up’ and cover the credit card processing fee applied to their donation. This feature has been so well received that organizations are starting to utilize this functionality to maximize their efforts in all of their donation forms.

As modern consumers are accustomed to paying a little more for purchased goods and services (such as taxes or shipping and handling), paying a small percentage more towards their contribution of the cause they care about makes total sense. In fact, donors are genuinely willing to assist with the additional cost when they understand that charities need help covering the cost of fundraising.

Increases Trust

In the past, it was rare to find many nonprofit organizations speaking freely about the cost of fundraising and operations such as salaries, marketing, payment processing and other basic costs of running an organization.  The reality is that it costs quite a bit of money to raise a lot of money. Fortunately, as donors have come to expect honesty and integrity from the organizations they chose to contribute to, having an up-front understanding of the these costs actually encourages deeper trust and commitment from their supporters.

The Feeling of Impact

By understanding the costs of running a charity, donors also get a better understanding of what percentage of their donations are actually attributed to the cause in question. By having the ability to cover the credit card processing fees, donors gain more control and satisfaction over knowing where their contributions will be spent. Not only does this allow donors to feel like their contributions have made a bigger impact, but charities and nonprofit organizations are benefiting by receiving an overall boost in donations towards their cause.

Collaboration vs. Donation

People genuinely enjoy the feeling of involvement. When it comes to having the ability to knowingly contribute one’s resources to the working parts of their chosen cause, the opportunity for collaboration as opposed to donation arises. Contributing to the organization’s ability to operate and knowing that they have played an integral part in addition to their donation increases the feeling of investment and personal satisfaction.

Creating a donation checkout form that allows for processing fee contributions to be toggled on or off on a campaign-by-campaign basis will remove the implication of obligation, thus making donors more comfortable to make their donation decisions by their own free will. You will be surprised by how many donors are willing to go that extra mile to make a difference.

For more information on how to optimize your donation form and get the most out of your fundraising efforts, get in touch with Giving Gateway at 1.888.930.GIVE (4483) or info@givinggateway.ca