JustGiving Fees Explained
Everything you need to know about our fees on our fundraising pages.
Here at JustGiving, we’re honoured that millions of people around the world use our platform to raise money for good causes, large and small. The people on JustGiving are inspiring – whether it’s generous donors chipping in to support the 2.6 Challenge or brave campaign starters like Frank Mills who has captured the public’s imagination with his finish line fundraiser.
The global response to one recent campaign has been like nothing we have ever seen before. Captain Tom Moore’s 100 lap challenge of his garden has broken lots of records – it’s the largest total raised on JustGiving, the fastest-growing campaign on the platform and one that has attracted donations and media coverage from almost every country around the world.
Our team was very proud to host his campaign on JustGiving and we were inspired to make the biggest donation in our history, of £100,000, to NHS Charities Together – in Captain Tom’s name.
Offering our users transparency and clarity about our fees is also extremely important to us. We’re aware that some people are not familiar with how JustGiving’s fee structure works and there has been some misinformation circulating online about our fees. Much of this was corrected by FullFact.org on 20th April 2020 but we wanted to make sure anyone visiting JustGiving could come to this page and read a full breakdown of how our platform works.
97% of the money raised on any JustGiving page goes straight to the cause. We changed our fee model in 2019 to make sure more of the public’s money goes directly to the charities than ever before.
Here’s how the remaining 3% breaks down:
- A 1.9% + 30p card processing fee is applied to donations made in GBP to cover card and money transfer charges set by banks and card companies. It is not our decision when those charges may or may not apply and sadly these fees cannot be “waived” by us, as they are external costs imposed on us by other companies. We work hard to ensure the fees we’re charged by the banks and card companies are as competitive as possible.
- This means that just 1% of the donation is applied to help support a small portion of JustGiving’s operating costs, which are critical to keep the platform staffed, stable, innovative and secure. You can read more about this below.
Last year, based on our users’ feedback, we adopted a “voluntary contribution” model to help keep the platform running and secure.
Unlike some other platforms, we don’t charge a platform fee but instead offer people the choice to make a voluntary contribution to help cover the operating costs of our site. You can leave a percentage of your donation – and we suggest 10% or sometimes 15% – or nothing at all if you wish.
We think this is the most transparent and honest way to run JustGiving and we have found, since we introduced this new system in March 2019, that the majority of our users agree. To be clear – we would not be able to operate the platform and support thousands of brilliant charities without these generous contributions, and we are grateful for everyone who has supported us in this way.
So, what does it take to run a platform like JustGiving? Industry-leading technology, and a team that’s committed 24/7.
We have a London-based team of 150 people—engineers, compliance and customer support staff and more—who work behind the scenes to keep the platform innovative, stable and secure while also supporting charities and fundraisers with great service. The user experience matters and ensuring the money goes to the right place in a safe way is a founding principle of our business. We are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Fundraising Regulator and we operate safely and securely, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We love what we do and it is our pleasure to be agile, flexible and “always on call” to help brilliant people raise money for good causes.
Other questions
Some charities also ask us to process Gift Aid payments on donations, although they can also opt out of this if they wish. Gift Aid is the name for the extra money the government contributes to donations which are eligible.
Claiming back Gift Aid can be complex, time-consuming and expensive for charities, at a time when many are under pressure to reduce their “back-office” costs as much as is possible.
Because of our size and expertise, we’re able to offer a much cheaper and quicker way for charities to claim Gift Aid, than if they had to employ accountants or extra staff to do it for them. We charge five percent of the Gift Aid total to cover the costs of claiming it.
This does not come out of the money you donate to any chosen cause and is supported by the charities that choose to use this service.
Final thoughts
We are a business which was launched to make fundraising as simple, affordable and effective as possible for charities and individuals. We have never been more committed to that goal than we are today. We run on a slim margin as our charity partners and the generous public would expect, and we publish our financial accounts every year, as all companies are expected to do. But to keep the platform going and continue helping people raise money for causes they care about in a safe and secure manner, we have to be able to make money to pay staff, cover technology expenses and other fixed costs. Without these things, we cannot provide the industry-leading service we do which, since we were established in 2000, has raised over £4 billion for causes. We believe that donors deserve transparency and fundraisers deserve the best tools available. We’re committed to delivering both.
Thank you,
The JustGiving Team