Fundraising Platform Fees Explained: What UK Charities Really Pay
Every fee a UK fundraising platform can charge — transaction, Gift Aid, subscription, payout and donor tips — explained plainly, with a worked example and a comparison calculator.
Fundraising platforms rarely lie about their fees — but they do headline the flattering number and footnote the rest. This guide lists every charge a UK charity can meet on a digital giving platform, so you can compare like with like. (It replaces our older platform pricing guide, fully refreshed for 2026.)
The six fees to look for
1. Transaction fee (percentage). The headline rate, typically 1.9%–5.4% in the UK market. On its own it tells you very little.
2. Fixed per-donation fee. The pennies — commonly 20p–30p per donation. This is the fee that quietly dominates small-gift fundraising: on a £3 text donation, 30p is 10% before the percentage is even applied. If your donations are small and frequent, weight this heavily.
3. Gift Aid fee. Platforms that process Gift Aid for you commonly charge 5% of the claim. Some platforms don't process it at all — which looks free until you cost the hours of claiming manually through HMRC, or the claims that simply never get made. DONATE takes its fee out of the 25% Gift Aid uplift rather than the underlying donation — the donor's gift passes through intact. See how digital Gift Aid works.
4. Subscription. £0 to £46.80/month across the UK market. Subscriptions punish small organisations: £39.99/month is 13% of income for a charity raising £300/month, and trivial for one raising £30,000. Match the plan to your realistic monthly raise, not your ambition.
5. Payout fee. Charged when the money reaches your bank — either fixed (a few pounds) or a percentage (up to 5%). A percentage payout fee is effectively a second transaction fee; treat it as one.
6. Donor tips. "Free" platforms usually fund themselves by asking your donors to tip the platform at checkout, with suggested tips around 10–15%. The charity's statement looks clean, but your supporters paid more than your cause received. Decide deliberately whether you're comfortable with that trade.
A worked example
Donors give your charity £500 in a month — about 50 donations of £10, 30% with Gift Aid, 40% by text. After all fees on each platform's published rates:
| Platform | Charity receives | Effective share |
|---|---|---|
| DONATE | £472.75 | 94.6% |
| JustGiving Grow | £470.43 | 94.1% |
| Enthuse | £447.58 | 89.5% |
| GoFundMe | £380.50 | 76.1% |
The spread between platforms — around £90/month in this scenario — comes almost entirely from the non-headline fees: subscriptions, payout percentages, unclaimed Gift Aid and tips. Full workings, sources and sliders to model your own mix are in the platform comparison tool.
Questions to ask any platform
- What is the total cost on a £5 donation? On a £100 donation?
- Who claims Gift Aid, what does it cost, and what happens to declarations if we leave?
- Is there a payout fee, and is it fixed or a percentage?
- Are donors shown a tipping prompt, and can we turn it off?
- Which channels are included — raffles, auctions, text, contactless — and which cost extra or need a second provider?
If you're comparing specific providers, start with our honest guides to the best UK fundraising platforms and JustGiving alternatives.