When fundraising for your group, there are many websites that you can use to take and manage your donations.
With most online donation platforms you can create a page for your group, where you can tell your story about who you are and what you are fundraising for, as well as add images and branding. You can then point people to this page where they make their online donation.
The platform administers the transactions and passes the money on to you, as well as processing Gift Aid for you where appropriate. They do take a fee of course, but these systems make it easier for people to donate, and reduce your admin.
Things you should consider when choosing a donation platform:
- The cost to you – most will take a fee per donation, but some have a set-up fee or regular account fee too.
- Trust factor – you want your donors to trust the site they are making a payment to, so make sure it’s a safe and well-known site.
- How quickly you will receive the money into your bank account.
- Your page – there isn’t much to choose between platforms here, but it’s worth looking at some pages of existing groups to get a feel for what you can do with content and design.
- Reporting – they all come with reporting functions so you can dig into who has donated. Key functionality is broadly similar across platforms, but some do offer extra bits. If being able to interrogate the data in detail is important to you, it’s worth looking into what kind of reporting facility is available.
There are many different platforms to choose from: we have summarised some popular ones below.
GoFundMe Charity
GoFundMe is probably the world’s most popular crowdfunding site, but you can also use it to fundraise for your group.
- Set-up and regular cost: none
- Processing fee: 2.9% + 25p per transaction
- Gift Aid: Yes. GoFundMe works with PayPal Giving Fund to facilitate Gift Aid - no fees are deducted
- How long it takes to get the money: 2-5 business days
- What you get for a £10 donation
Donation: £10
Gift Aid: £2.50
Processing fee: - £0.54
Gift Aid fee: £0.00
Total to Charity: £11.96
Givey
Givey is a UK-based fundraising platform that focuses exclusively on smaller charities, or 'The Forgotten 95%', as they call it. They pass processing fees onto the donor rather than the charity.
- Set-up and regular cost: none
- Processing fee: Donors pay a 5% fee every time they donate
- Gift Aid: Yes - no fees are deducted
- How long it takes to get the money: Charities generally receive their donations once a week
- What you get for a £10 donation
Donation: £10 (donor pays £10.50)
Gift Aid: £2.50
Payment processing fee: -£0.50, paid by donor
Gift Aid fee: £0.00
Total to Charity: £12.50
JustGiving
Launched in 2001 JustGiving is probably the most well established and widely recognised online fundraising platform, however it is also a profit-making outfit and you will have to pay a monthly subscription fee.
- Set-up and regular cost: no set-up fee, £15+VAT a month (£39+VAT a month if raise over £15,000 a year)
- Processing fee: 1.9% + 20p
- Gift Aid: Yes, although JustGiving deducts credit card fees and takes a 5% cut
- How long it takes to get the money: 6-10 working days
- What you get for a £10 donation
Donation: £10
Gift Aid: £2.50
Payment processing fee: -£0.39
Gift Aid fee: -£0.12
Total to Charity: £11.99
CAF Donate
Built by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), more than 5,000 (mainly small-to-medium) charities use CAF Donate to fundraise and process donations.
- Set-up and regular cost: none
- Processing fee: 3.6% of total donation (including Gift Aid amount)
- Service fee: None
- Gift Aid: Yes
- What you get for a £10 donation
Donation: £10
Gift Aid: £2.50
Processing fee: -£0.45
Gift Aid fee: included in processing fee
Total to Charity: £12.05
We hope you find this Making Music resource useful. If you have any comments or suggestions about the guidance please contact us. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the content of this guidance is accurate and up to date, Making Music do not warrant, nor accept any liability or responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the content, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information contained in it.
