Pledge It is committed to helping you lower the costs associated with your fundraising initiatives so you can retain more money for your mission. The fee settings we offer are highly cost-effective and flexible, so you always have a choice in determining the best settings for your organization's needs.
When using Pledge It, you can decide how you would like to handle transaction fees across both general donations and different components of your campaign, such as registrations, auctions, raffles, or sponsorships.
Your choice of settings will influence the payment experience on your campaign and the potential percentage of funds your organization receives after transaction fees are assessed.
Note: Transaction fees only apply to online transactions. There are no fees associated with adding offline donations.
What are transaction fees?
Transaction fees refers to the costs associated with transacting money online. Transaction fees include both credit card processing fees and potential platform fees.
Pledge It uses Stripe as our payment processor and all online funds collected on Pledge It are subject to Stripe’s credit card processing fees. Stripe’s credit card processing fee ranges from 2.2-2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. Pledge It has a platform fee of 5.9%.
Note: We strongly recommend that your nonprofit organization apply for Stripe’s nonprofit rate, which can lower the amount of credit card processing fees Stripe assesses for your organization. Learn how to apply here.
You have full control over how to handle transaction fees on your campaign. Pledge It provides you the option to:
allow supporters to cover all transaction fees
allow supporters to cover just Stripe’s credit card processing fee
allow supporters to cover just Pledge It’s platform fee
or to disable the option for covering fees entirely, if your organization would rather cover that cost
For general donations to your campaign, you will also have a choice between allowing donors to cover fees or allowing donors to leave a tip in lieu of having a platform fee assessed.
Note: Any fees not covered by supporters will be the responsibility of your organization.
What is the most cost effective setting?
Allowing supporters to cover 100% of your transaction fees is the most cost effective option for the vast majority of organizations. When organizations allow supporters to cover the combined Stripe fee and Pledge It fee, we see them lower their overall transaction costs down to 1-2% or less, retaining 98% or more of the funds they raise for their mission.
What does that mean for your average supporter? If someone donates $50 and chooses to cover fees, their gross charge will increase to $54.45 to cover the transaction fees being assessed. $4.45 goes to cover those fees, while your organization receives the full $50 of their intended gift.
Note: The additional amount that a supporter gives to cover fees for your organization counts as a tax deductible contribution and will be noted as such in their receipt.
Donation Fee Settings
When determining how you would like to handle transaction fees on general donations made to your campaign, you have two options. You will be able to choose if you’d like donors to have the option to cover transaction fees or if you’d like donors to see a prompt to leave a tip to Pledge It in lieu of having a platform fee assessed.
If you choose the donor cover fee model, donors will be opted into covering whatever percentage of transaction fees you determine. They can choose to opt out of covering fees if desired.
If you choose to use the tipping model, a prompt to leave an optional tip for Pledge It will appear during the donation process, donors will not see any option to cover fees, and your organization will be responsible for Stripe’s credit card processing fees.
Note: The tipping model is available on all campaign types, with the exception of Donation Forms, as these are frequently embedded on your website and/or used for recurring giving. To streamline the donation experience, Donation Forms default to the donor cover fee model.
To adjust your donation fee settings:
Visit your campaign’s Dashboard.
Select Settings from the left side menu, then select the Donation fees tab at the top of the page.
You will see two options to choose from. Selecting Keep more of what you raise will enable the option for donors to cover fees. Selecting Enable tipping + processing fees will enable the tipping model.
If you select the option for donors to cover fees, additional fee settings will appear below that break down Stripe’s credit card processing fees and Pledge It’s platform fee, allowing you to determine what transaction fees donors will have the option to cover.
Note: Any updates you make to your fee settings will instantly apply to new contributions. You can change your fee settings at any time if you find that you prefer a different model.
All Other Fee Settings
Other components of your campaign that involve online payments will default to the donor cover fee model. You will be able to customize what percentage of total transaction fees supporters have the option to cover when using these features.
Registration fees apply to anything that a supporter might pay for while registering for your event. This could include a paid ticket, an optional donation made at check-out, or an optional add-on they purchased. Edit these fee settings by visiting Settings > General Settings > Registration fees.
Sponsor fees apply to the online purchases of sponsorship packages. You will be prompted to set your sponsor fee preferences when enabling the Sponsors feature, but you can return to change these settings by visiting Settings > Sponsors.
Auction fees apply to the winning bids that are charged at the completion of your auction. Bidders will be able to indicate their preference for covering fees during bidder registration. They will be able to edit their bidder profile and update their preference anytime before the auction closes. You will be prompted to set your auction fee preferences when adding an auction, but you can return to change these settings by visiting Settings > Auction.
Raffle fees apply to online purchases of raffle entries, whether purchased directly or as part of registration. You will be prompted to set your raffle fee preferences when enabling the Raffles feature, but you can return to change these settings by visiting Settings > Raffles.
Note: Not all features may apply to your campaign. Registration fees are only relevant to In-Person Event or P2P In-Person Event campaign types. Sponsor, Auction, and Raffle fees are only relevant when you choose to enable those components on a campaign.
Donor cover fee options
When adjusting your fee settings for any of the above components, you'll see two toggles that break down Stripe’s credit card processing fees and Pledge It’s platform fee, allowing you to determine what transaction fees donors will have the option to cover.
The above display will appear when editing your registration fees, for instance. Toggling both options on will allow participants to cover 100% of your transaction fees and create more opportunity for you to lower your costs. Toggling both options off will remove the option to cover any fees. Toggling just one option will allow supporters to cover some, but not all, of the fees. Your organization will be responsible for any uncovered fees.
Note: Any updates you make to your fee settings will apply to new transactions going forward. You can change your fee settings at any time if you need to make adjustments.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the prompt to cover fees appear at checkout?
Supporters are opted into covering fees at checkout, but they can click on a box to learn more about what that means. They will see a message that says "I'd like to cover all transaction fees so that 100% of my donation goes to [Your Organization Name]" and can uncheck the box if they would rather not cover fees. The amount of their transaction will be adjusted immediately with their preference and they can complete checkout.
What do donors experience when the tipping model is enabled on donations?
After selecting a donation amount, donors will see a pop-up showing them the option to leave a tip to Pledge It. They will see three suggested percentages and the option to skip tipping. If they choose to skip, another pop-up will confirm their choice and provide the option to leave a custom tip. After making a choice about tipping, donors will reach the checkout page where they enter their information and confirm their donation.
Note: Most donors will tip a suggested percentage of their donation that is higher than the amount they would cover in fees. While the tipping model can be a good option for some organizations, it is generally not the most cost-effective option for you or your donors.
How can I monitor how many of my supporters are covering fees?
Your Transactions report will include a record of all your online transactions that have been processed and it includes a column for covered fees. If a donor did not cover fees, the amount will be $0. You can filter to see how many donors covered fees and the total amount of fees covered.
How likely is it that supporters will cover my fees?
Pledge It generally sees 85% or more of supporters choose to cover transaction fees when they are given the option.
Can I apply my fee preferences across all my campaigns on Pledge It?
You can use your Global Defaults to set your preferences for donation fees and registration fees. Your global defaults will apply to all new campaigns you create moving forward, but will not override the campaign settings of an existing campaign or any past campaign you duplicate.
Because auction fees, sponsor fees, and raffle fees only apply when those features are enabled, you currently cannot set global defaults for those fees.