CharityCheckout drops platform fee to 0% for charities
Howard Lake | 19 November 2019 | News
Fundraising platform and branded fundraising technology provider CharityCheckout has removed its 5% platform fee on donations. It is now asking donors if they wish to make an additional voluntary contribution to support the site’s function.
The decision to remove fees follows research by CharityCheckout into market trends and a survey of 1,448 of its charity clients in June to identify how they felt about platform fees. The results revealed support for a range of fee models with the most popular being a voluntary contribution approach.
CharityCheckout’s founder and CEO Chester Mojay-Sinclare said that the change “will result in huge savings for our charity clients.”
Of the voluntary contributions, he added: “These funds will enable us to continuously improve and innovate, ensuring that donors enjoy a positive giving experience and our charities see the benefit of superior fundraising technology.”
CharityCheckout supports charities in raising over £25 million each year and provides online fundraising products to over 4,000 organisations.
Cost savings for many charities using CharityCheckout
Savings of £25,000 for one charity
Simon Franklin, Operations Manager of charity Dig Deep, which uses CharityCheckout for online fundraising said: “Saving 5% on every donation is very important to Dig Deep. We anticipate annual savings of £25,000 which will contribute significantly to improving access to clean water and sanitation in rural Kenya.”
The Big Give Christmas Challenge
CharityCheckout partner The Big Give is also dropping the platform fee for its Christmas Challenge 2019. This is expected to result in expected savings of around £150,000 for almost 600 participating charities over the course of this year’s campaign, which runs from 3rd – 10th December.
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Various charging models
Not all charities want a zero per cent fee. Indeed, 35% of those surveyed said that they would still prefer to pay a 5% platform fee.
CharityCheckout’s charity-branded technology is customised to each charity’s preferences, and now allows the charity to choose their preferred fee model.
As with other fundraising platforms, payment processing fees still apply.
Mojay-Sinclare explained the need to offer choice to charities, saying: “Our mission is to empower charities with relationship-driven technology bringing them closer to their supporters. We recognise that it’s not a case of one-size-fits-all for charities who need to engage with their supporters on their own terms. That is why we have decided to offer clients a choice of fee models. We recognise that while the voluntary contribution model is the preferred approach for the sector, it’s not the first choice for every charity.”
- JustGiving ends platform fees for UK charities (26 March 2019)
- A round-up of low-cost or no-cost fundraising platforms (9 February 2018)
- GoFundMe scraps platform fees for UK charities (17 January 2018)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.