Best Fundraising Platforms for UK Charities in 2026: An Honest Guide
A balanced guide to the best fundraising platforms for UK charities in 2026: JustGiving, Enthuse, GoFundMe, Zeffy, DONATE and more, matched to different needs.
Choosing a fundraising platform is one of the few decisions that touches every donation your charity receives, so it's worth getting right. It's also a decision where "best" genuinely depends on what you do. We run a platform ourselves (DONATE), so read this knowing our perspective. We've tried to be even-handed, we link to every provider, and our comparison calculator publishes its sources.
The short answer, by situation
Updated October 2026: DONATE now covers team challenges, tickets, voting and corporate fundraising, so we've added where it fits next to each platform below.
Peer-to-peer sponsorship (marathons, birthday fundraisers)
JustGiving: unmatched public brand recognition means friends and family trust the link. There is a free Start plan; the Grow plan is £15 or £39 a month plus VAT depending on income. Gifts through JustGiving pages cost 1.9% + 30p, and donors are asked for a tip, reported as 17% by default. Giving Checkout, a JustGiving donation form on your own website, charges the charity no processing fee, but donors are asked to cover that fee themselves (JustGiving only pays it when they say no), and the 5% fee on Gift Aid still applies.
DONATE
On JustGiving each supporter makes an account, builds a page and links it to your charity. With DONATE team challenges you set the challenge up once, add or invite your people, and each gets a page, short link and QR code automatically. You choose the charity once, and every member's total adds up into the team and the campaign.
Branded event registrations and challenges
Enthuse: strong white-label event tooling. Its main plans run from £0 to £39.99 a month plus VAT, with 5% on Gift Aid claimed. We found no raffles or auctions on its site, and text giving only as a reply with a donation link. See our DONATE vs Enthuse comparison.
DONATE
Team challenges and Tickets run from the same account as your donations, with no paid plan to upgrade to. Each guest's ticket carries a QR code that's scanned at the door, and guests can add a donation at checkout.
Individual crowdfunding with no charity admin
GoFundMe: free to start and familiar. For UK charities, Gift Aid is claimed through PayPal Giving Fund, but raffles and auctions are prohibited and each fundraiser supports one charity.
DONATE
Your campaign page goes live in minutes with a text code and short link included, Gift Aid claimed for you, and raffles, auctions and team challenges under the same campaign.
Zero-fee budget, tip-tolerant donors
Zeffy: fee-free for the charity, funded by donor tips at checkout, and it runs UK raffles and online auctions too. Gift Aid works through a Swiftaid account you connect.
DONATE
No subscription and no setup fee, text gifts as well as web, and Gift Aid claimed by DONATE instead of through a Swiftaid account you connect. You only pay when you raise money, plus £3 in any week donations reach £10. See pricing.
Raffles, auctions and pay-to-vote competitions
Other platforms: most donation platforms can't run these. Zeffy runs raffles and online auctions; we found pay-to-vote only on DONATE.
DONATE
Companies raising for charities
JustGiving and Enthuse: both offer corporate products that cover several charities. Each GoFundMe fundraiser supports one charity.
DONATE
With DONATE corporate fundraising, the company never handles the money: DONATE checks each charity's agreement and bank account, pays each charity directly, and splits the money by percentages the company sets.
Schools and PTAs
DONATE
Parents buy tickets by text or online, you draw in the portal, and winners are told for you. No ticket books, no cash in book bags. See the school and PTA raffle guide.
Everything in one account: DONATE is the only platform on this list run by a registered charity. Donation pages, text giving, Gift Aid and match funding, team challenges, raffles, auctions, voting and tap-to-donate terminals all sit in one account. Campaigns can be previewed before going live, and each solution has a step-by-step guide.
What each platform offers
| Product | DONATE | JustGiving | Enthuse | GoFundMe | Zeffy | FundraisingBox | Charity Hive | Donr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donation pages | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Peer-to-peer and team fundraising | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Event ticketing | ✓ | ✓ through partners | ✓ | ✗ not in the UK | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Raffles and lotteries | ✓ under your council licence | ✗ no tool; allowed on charity pages | ✗ | ✗ prohibited | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ text raffles |
| Auctions | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ prohibited | ✓ online only | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Pay-to-vote | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Text giving (SMS) | ✓ | ✓ via Fonix | ✗ text reply with a link | ✗ not in the UK | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Contactless and tap to donate | ✓ | ✓ via Toucan | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ Tap to Pay | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Gift Aid claimed for the charity | ✓ | ✓ 5% fee | ✓ 5% fee | ✓ via PayPal Giving Fund | ✓ via Swiftaid, if you connect it | ✗ | ✗ you claim | ✗ you claim |
| Match funding | ✓ sponsor pays you | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ not in the UK | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Company fundraising for several charities | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ corporate plan | ✗ one charity per fundraiser | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| No monthly subscription | ✓ | ✗ free plan, or £15 to £39 + VAT | ✗ £0 to £39.99 + VAT by plan | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ CRM add-on extra | ✓ | ✓ |
| Optional donor tips | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ its only income | ✗ donors can cover fees | ✗ | ✗ |
Checked October 2026 from each provider's own website. A cross means we could not find it on their site, not that it is impossible.
Sources. JustGiving: pricing, fees, team pages, integrations, corporates, terms, raffles. Enthuse: pricing, corporate fundraising, customer terms, help centre, text giving. GoFundMe: pricing, terms, Gift Aid, teams, business fundraising. Zeffy: pricing, peer-to-peer, ticketing, raffles, auctions, Tap to Pay, Gift Aid, text giving. FundraisingBox: prices and features, peer-to-peer, donation form. Charity Hive: pricing, donations, features. Donr: pricing, text giving, text raffles, Gift Aid. DONATE: our solutions, guides and pricing.
How to actually compare them
1. Total cost, not headline rate. Add transaction fee + fixed per-donation pennies + Gift Aid fee + subscription + payout fee + expected donor tips. A 1.9% platform with a £40 subscription costs a charity raising £300/month far more than a 4.5% platform charging £3 only in weeks donations reach £10. Check the exceptions too: JustGiving's Giving Checkout waives the processing fee on gifts through your own website by asking donors to cover it, and still takes 5% of the Gift Aid. Our guide to fundraising platform fees breaks each fee type down.
2. Gift Aid handling. Platforms differ on who claims (you or them), what it costs (commonly 5% of the claim), and how declarations are collected. Automated claiming typically recovers far more than manual claiming ever does. See how digital Gift Aid works.
3. Channel coverage. List the fundraising you'll actually run this year. If raffles, auctions, text or in-person contactless are on the list, check each platform runs them itself: some only offer them through a partner, and running a second platform doubles your admin.
4. Compliance. Online raffles and lotteries are regulated under the Gambling Act 2005. Most charities run a raffle as a small society lottery registered with their local council. DONATE asks for your licence details and shows them on every raffle page. Start with the online raffle rules for UK charities.
5. Where the money sits and when it arrives. Check how often you are paid, what each payout costs and what reporting comes with it. JustGiving pays UK charities weekly (or at the end of the month when the total is £50 or less). DONATE pays monthly, and a charity pays the greater of £3 or 0.5%, plus £7.50, per payout. Text giving involves mobile network payout cycles on every platform that offers it.
6. Who gets the donor details. Ask what you receive about each donor: name, email and marketing consent. Some plans only show donors who opted in, or only from the day you upgraded, which is how JustGiving's Grow plan works.
7. Try before you pay. Can you try the donation flow before going live? On DONATE, a new campaign works on a preview link, where you can give a test donation without being charged, and texts to your code are free tests until you first go live.
Run your own numbers
Rankings are a starting point, not an answer. The interactive platform comparison lets you set your monthly amount, Gift Aid rate and text-giving share, and shows exactly what reaches the charity on each platform, including the fees the pricing pages don't headline.