Finding the right fundraising platform can make all the difference in reaching development goals and keeping donors happy. But how do you select the best fundraising software for your organization with so many options? It’s not easy.
We’re here to help by covering critical features and aspects to consider when choosing an online fundraising platform. Next, we’ll walk through essential features and pricing details for the top ten best overall fundraising websites. We’ve even included a special section for UK-based organizations since most of the top ten focus on the needs of organizations in the US and Canada.
Here’s a quick look at the best online fundraising platforms we’ll cover:
7 Key Features of the Best Fundraising Websites
Technology has made great strides in advancing the fundraising process for nonprofits. If your organization hasn’t upgraded for a few years, you’ll be surprised at all the new features and fundraising trends you’ll find.
We’ve created a list of seven key factors to make your decision easier and be sure that your platform’s strengths match your organization’s needs. Features of the best fundraising platforms include:
- Mobile-First Technologies
- Strong Reporting and Documentation
- Affordability
- Secure, Flexible Payments
- Branded, User-friendly Donation Services
- Flexible Options for Fundraising Events
- Support for Crowdfunding and Peer-to-Peer Events
- Platforms that Support Third-party Integrations
Mobile-First Technologies
Integrating mobile giving as part of your nonprofit fundraising campaign allows you to maximize the reach of online fundraising. It’s essential for the best fundraising websites to be mobile so participants, donors, sponsors, and community members can interact and make safe and secure online donations.
Benefits of mobile fundraising:
- Allows organizations to engage more regularly with donors while they are on the go.
- Increases social media participation.
- Attracts more donors, sponsors, volunteers, media, and community members.
- Donors can easily make an online donation with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other digital wallets from anywhere.
Strong Reporting and Documentation
Your fundraising platform should collect and track fundraising data and generate necessary reports. Ensure all stakeholders are making real-time updates and relevant reports are auto-populated.
The best fundraising websites help:
- Organizations to document the success of their online fundraising campaigns
- Reduce costs and minimize resources by providing easy-to-use management tools for nonprofit administrators
- Easily track donor information and fundraising progress, manage fundraising event details, sponsors, product sales
- Generate numerous reports to help meet the growing need for documentation
Affordability
Most nonprofits are looking for a good deal when choosing their fundraising platform, so affordability is critical. There are several things to consider when comparing pricing – there may be a platform or subscription fee, monthly fees, and payment processing and transaction-based fees.
Think about the following:
- When you choose your fundraising platform, compare pricing to others with similar features and opt for the one that best meets your needs.
- Think about the future! You might not require all the features immediately, but think ahead when choosing your platform.
- If you pick a fundraising company that doesn’t immediately start charging you a sign-up fee or a set monthly charge, you can experiment with the tool for a while and take your time to decide whether it’s a good fit for all your requirements.
- It may be worthwhile if the platform allows you to turn on additional tools whenever you need them for a small fee.
Secure, Flexible Payments
The best fundraising websites offer flexible payment processing options that are easy for organizations to set up accounts and use. The most popular integrated payments at the moment are Stripe and Paypal. These flexible payment options are also popular as they don’t come with monthly fees.
Next-generation payment options include:
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Venmo payments
- Text to donate
Branded, User-friendly Donation Services
If your donors like what they see from the start, they’re more likely to stay and donate. Does your donation website have the same look and feel as your organization’s website, providing a seamless user experience? This is crucial for giving donors a sense of direction and comfort while using your fundraising platform. So be sure to look for software that includes branding options.
Next, consider how many clicks a donor must make to complete a transaction on your website. Many online donors abandon the mission if there are too many steps. Is there a simple “Donate Now” button that takes donors to a form they can quickly fill out and submit? Make sure your fundraising platform makes it easy to donate!
Flexible Options for Fundraising Events
Don’t be limited by fundraising platforms with few options. Instead, choose software specializing in several event types so fundraising events run smoothly. The best fundraising software integrates your creative events within one user interface and login.
Create exciting fundraising campaigns with event management and ticketing software for a concert series, wine tasting, or Zumba fest.
The best software for events is designed to:
- Accommodate and offer flexibility so users have options on all fronts.
- Easily add more participants to a large event without limitations.
- Be affordable for small organizations.
- Seamlessly add different event types as needs arise within one user interface that can be shared within teams – small or large.
Support for Crowdfunding and Peer-to-Peer Events
Peer-to-peer events are important for several reasons and continue gaining popularity. The best fundraising websites manage your nonprofit P2P crowdfunding events within a comprehensive website and powerful back-end administration and reporting area.
You want it to be easy to:
- Configure registration fees or free registration, organizational and participant fundraising goals, and an event waiver, which participants read and approve to register.
- Provide easy fundraising pages for individuals and teams.
- Get donors to access their favorite crowdfunding participant’s fundraising page and make secure online donations.
- Use fundraising thermometers and more gamification tools to display the top teams and individuals for healthy competition.
Platforms that Support Third-party Integrations
Want to reduce the stress and workload for your organization? Then consider the tools your nonprofit uses to send emails, keep track of donors, or handle projects and find a fundraising platform for donations that integrates with your current systems. Automating some of these tasks will make your job easier and your fundraising more successful.
If you’re looking for a complete online fundraising experience, why not look for integrations such as Zapier, which automates your organization’s workflow and connects with thousands of popular apps?
A Word on Fundraising Platform Fees
While many ‘free’ software platforms don’t require a one-time subscription fee, some impose platform fees, tiered packages, or additional charges for using particular features. Unfortunately, this means your donations may be reduced by more than you think due to these costs.
One fee you can’t avoid is payment processing costs, which typically range from 1.99 to 2.9% + $.30 per transaction (or more). Every fundraising site will have this payment processing fee, and the card processors levy these. However, some platforms have found a way to cover these processing expenses for their users by requesting optional donations from supporters. This feature is often called optional fee recovery.
Now, let’s dive in and look at each of our top 10 fundraising platforms’ features and prices in more detail.
The Top 10 Best Fundraising Platforms for Organizations
These are the best fundraising platforms for schools and organizations based in the US and Canada. We have a special section for UK-based groups as well. Many of these companies also work internationally.
DoJiggy
Who are they?
DoJiggy is a leading fundraising software provider for nonprofits, charities, schools, and other organizations. DoJiggy works internationally with fundraising clients from around the world. So if you’re looking for a cutting-edge, donor-friendly, and trusted all-in-one fundraising platform that you can use for free, look no further.
Who are they for?
DoJiggy is the best site for fundraising if you’re a nonprofit, school, faith-based organization, or any other philanthropic group looking for new approaches to expand charitable networks and streamline fundraising campaign administration. Thanks to our powerful fundraising platform, DoJiggy ensures organizations have access to all they need to raise money online, promote their cause, and make a lasting impact.
What do they do?
DoJiggy offers more campaign types than almost any other platform. DoJiggy’s stand-out fundraising platform features include:
- Donation management tools for the most popular online fundraising campaigns, including fundraising golf tournaments, online auctions, peer to peer fundraisers, charity raffles, event ticketing, and more
- Free eCommerce stores to sell branded, personalized merchandise
- Donation software for one-time or recurring donations
- DoJiggy-Athon software to fundraise and track via units of effort (miles, pins, laps)
- Customizable donation software – create eye-catching donation pages to showcase your branding and event theme
- Mobile giving and text-to-donate features
- Crowdfunding incentives and rewards to motivate donors
- Free gamification tools like fundraising thermometers and leaderboards
- Live Streaming platform to maximize donor engagement with virtual and hybrid events
- Integration with Zapier to provide seamless donor management
DoJiggy Pricing and Fees
Start-up Fees: No
Monthly Fees: No
Payment Processors
- Stripe – with support for Google Pay and Apple Pay
DoJiggy offers two options for covering fees: free pricing or percent pricing. The popular free pricing model covers the platform fee by providing donors the option to leave a tip in the checkout process. See details on our pricing plans here.
More Great Fundraising Software Options for Nonprofits and Charities
QGiv
Who are they?
QGiv was founded in 2007 to simplify the online fundraising process. Their nonprofit management software helps nonprofits, political and faith-based organizations automate peer-to-peer fundraising, send custom donation quotes and enjoy quick and simple event registration.
Who are they for?
QGiv is one of the best sites for fundraising if you’re a nonprofit, political, or faith-based organization looking to raise money with a comprehensive selection of fundraising tools, such as customizable donation forms, peer-to-peer fundraising, online auctions, and event registration.
What do they do?
QGiv’s best fundraising platform features include:
- Help with managing matching gift programs
- Providing reports & statistics
- Donation tracking and donor management
- Text-to-Text donations
- Event ticketing for nonprofit fundraising events
- Extensive third-party integrations
Pricing and Fees
Start-up Fees: No
Monthly Fees: Starting at $25/month, prices vary depending on the plan.
Payment Processors: Stripe and Paypal
Payment processing fee of 3.95 – 4.95% + $0.30 per transaction.
Donorbox
Who are they?
With a simple setup process and many user-friendly features, Donorbox is a strong fundraising platform. It’s the go-to fundraising source for over 35,000 organizations in 40 countries.
Who are they for?
Donorbox is one of the best sites for fundraising if you’re a charity, religious group, social impact organization, or nonprofit looking for effective donor management and fundraising solutions to grow contributions.
What do they do?
Donorbox’s fundraising platform features include the following:
- Customizable and branded online donation forms
- Integration with your existing systems – including MailChimp, Zapier, Double the Donation, and Salesforce
- Quick and secure checkout with online payment services like Google Pay, Apple Pay, or PayPal
- Segmentation of donor lists to target specific kinds of contributors, which allows your team to keep on top of donor management managing
- Global reach with support for nonprofits in 30+ countries
Pricing and Fees
Start-up Fees: No
Monthly Fees: No
Payment Processors: Stripe and Paypal
Donorbox doesn’t charge anything to get started. Once donations start rolling in, you’ll be charged a 1.5% fee.
Payment processors charge 2.9% + $0.30 for credit card processing.
RallyUp
Who are they?
RallyUp is a solid, end-to-end virtual fundraising platform that enables nonprofits, schools, and other organizations to design successful fundraising experiences that significantly advance their causes.
Who are they for?
RallyUp is one of the best sites for fundraising if you’re a nonprofit, religious organization, sports team, marketing agency, or other charity group looking to make a big impact with an interactive fundraising site that can manage ticketing, live streaming, donations, and more.
What do they do?
RallyUp’s best fundraising platform features include:
- Easy-to-use and simple set-up
- Mix and match fundraising components to customize your campaign
- Auction and online raffle management
- One-time and recurring giving
- Event management
- Mobile giving
Pricing and Fees
Start-up Fees: No
Monthly Fees: No
Payment Processors: Stripe
Payment processing fees are 2.2% to 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. If you choose Advanced Pricing, you won’t have to ask contributors for a tip; instead, you’ll be charged a 7.5% platform fee on each transaction.
GoFundMe
Who are they?
Since 2010, GoFundMe has raised over $9 billion with contributions from over 120 countries. This makes it one of the most popular online fundraising platforms and top in terms of name recognition. Raising money for personal projects is why many people choose this platform. GoFundMe allows individuals to set up a fundraiser, share it with friends, and manage donations.
Who are they for?
GoFundMe is a great site for fundraising if you’re crowdfunding or need supporters to raise money for you. GoFundMe is also an option for individuals who want to generate money for celebrations, medical bills, and nonprofits trying to raise funds for a particular project.
What do they do?
GoFundMe’s best fundraising platform features include:
- Quick and simple fundraising page set-up
- Set fundraising goals and monitor progress with fundraising thermometers
- Options to increase donor engagement by adding videos and photos to your fundraising pages and sharing them on social media
- Download reports containing your crucial donor information
- Donor protection guarantee
- Supported in 19 countries
Pricing and Fees
Start-up Fees: No
Monthly Fees: No
Payment Processors: Paypal Giving Fund
GoFundMe doesn’t charge start-up or monthly fees but a payment processing charge of 2.9% + $0.30 per donation for individuals and businesses and 2.2% + $0.30 for charities.
Kickstarter
Who are they?
When it comes to crowdfunding, most people have heard of Kickstarter. It’s renowned for helping tech and creative entrepreneurs fund and get their projects off the ground with the help of investors. In return, to thank their backers, special incentives are often provided. Since it was founded in 2009, the company has raised over $6 billion and backed over 200,000 projects with the support of more than 20 million sponsors.
Who are they for?
Kickstarter is the best site for fundraising if you’re a creator looking to fund a project in either film, theater, music, comics, video games, technology, publishing, journalism, or something food-related. If you have a clear vision and want to maintain creative control over your aspiring project, Kickstarter could be the fundraising platform for you.
What do they do?
Kickstarter’s best fundraising platform features include:
- A global brand that helps maximize outreach
- Create unique rewards for various donation levels to promote giving
- Easy-to-use interface
- Set a fundraising goal with a date to complete it, creating a sense of urgency and encouraging donations
- Get early feedback on your project from backers
- Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing fundraising model – You’ll only receive the funding if your project is completed. Likewise, donors’ credit cards won’t be charged unless you complete the proposed project. Once you achieve your fundraising goal, you must wait 14 days to receive the payment.
Pricing and Fees
Start-up Fees: No
Monthly Fees: No
Payment Processors: Stripe
Kickstarter charges 5% of the total funds raised. Payment processing fees are 3-5% per transaction.
Classy
Who are they?
Classy (now an independent division of GoFundMe) provides online fundraising tools that empower nonprofits to raise more money and make a greater impact. Their fundraising platform allows nonprofits to participate in social campaigns, online events, global fundraising, and much more.
Who are they for?
Classy is one of the best sites for fundraising if you’re a larger nonprofit looking to optimize your social impact, connect donors with causes they’re passionate about, and smash fundraising goals in the process.
What do they do?
Classy’s best fundraising platform features include:
- Customizes mobile-responsive donation forms
- Able to receive one-time and recurring donations
- Global outreach with international cross-currency fundraising
- Use Classy Manager to download reports containing your crucial donor information
- Segmentation of donor lists to target specific kinds of contributors, which allows your team to keep on top of donor management managing
Pricing and Fees
Start-up Fees: These fees are not disclosed, so organizations must get in touch for a quote.
Monthly Fees: These fees are not disclosed, so organizations must get in touch for a quote.
Payment Processors:
- Classy Pay
- Stripe
- WePay
- Paypal
- Authorize.net
- Braintree
- Venmo
The payment processing fee is 2.5% + $0.30 per transaction. The credit card processing fee is 2.2% + $0.30 per transaction with an additional 1% for AMEX. Foreign exchange fee: 1% of the transaction amount
Fundable
Who are they?
Fundable is a fundraising platform for business crowdfunding that empowers businesses to raise money from investors, clients, and friends. Since 2012 they’ve raised over $500 million in funding commitments and were the first combined rewards and equity-based crowdfunding platform on the market.
Who are they for?
Fundable is the best site for fundraising if you’re a business looking to raise capital to start or grow your enterprise.
What do they do?
Fundable’s best fundraising platform features include:
- Top customer service – personal assistance with profile creation to marketing
- Expert advice – Fundable’s founders came from a startup background, so they have experience with the obstacles of creating a business
- Access and engagement with a huge network of investors
- Free resources and guides are available
Fundable’s fundraising platform offers users two choices of crowdfunding models:
- Rewards-based crowdfunding: Investors support the business in anticipation of receiving a non-monetary reward in return (like goods and services).
- Equity-based crowdfunding: Investors receive a share of the company’s stock, but Fundable requires that they be accredited investors.
Fundable’s Rewards-based model takes on an all-or-nothing attitude when collecting donations. You won’t receive the funding unless you complete or exceed your fundraising goal. The Equity-based model is a bit more flexible, allowing you to collect your funds before completing your campaign as long as all the investors agree.
Pricing and Fees
Start-up Fees: No
Monthly Fees: $179
Payment Processors: WePay
Fundable charges a credit card processing fee of 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction.
Indiegogo
Who are they?
Since 2008, Indiegogo has helped over 800,000 creative projects take flight. It’s the recognized global fundraising platform for ground-breaking products and initiatives. At present, Indiegogo has over 9 million investors in 235 countries and territories.
Who are they for?
Indiegogo is the best site for fundraising if you’re an entrepreneur or a creator looking to raise funds for a new project. Their main focus is on exciting tech innovations, creative works, design marketing, and social and community projects.
What do they do?
Indiegogo’s best fundraising platform features include:
- Customizable donation pages – upload videos, photos, and demos of your product
- Invaluable advice from experts in a range of fields to help your creative ideas get off the ground
- Access to guides, tutorials, and suggestions from experts to steer creators in the right direction
- Create unique rewards for various donation levels to promote giving
- Simple to share your fundraising make on social media channels
Indiegogo offers two fundraising models:
- Flexible funding: Collect your funds even if you don’t complete your fundraising goal. A great option if you’re looking for any amount of financial backing.
- Fixed funding: If you don’t meet your target, all donations are returned to your backers. A great option for strict funding minimums.
Pricing and Fees
Start-up Fees: No
Monthly Fees: No
Payment Processors:
- Stripe
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
Indiegogo charges a fundraising platform fee of 5% of all funds raised if you meet your target and a credit card processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
Facebook Fundraising
Who are they?
Social media giant Facebook has developed Facebook Fundraising, which brings together all of its fundraising tools in one place. This includes the personal fundraisers that people create on behalf of organizations, along with live streaming contribution features, the Facebook donate button, and much more.
Who are they for?
Facebook Fundraising is an easy option for fundraising if you’re an accredited nonprofit looking to raise money and ask others to fundraise for you. While Facebook fundraising is convenient, nonprofits are quite limited in terms of the donor data they can access. Organizations can only connect directly with donors who opt-in to receive messages via Facebook Messenger. This is a big limitation for organizations that wish to build a donor database.
What do they do?
Facebook Fundraising’s best fundraising platform features include:
- Quick and easy set-up
- High levels of supporter engagement with donation buttons, fundraising stickers, fundraising pages, Facebook Stories, and Facebook Live video donating
- Campaigners can invite their friends and family to make donations for their birthdays and other special celebrations on your nonprofit’s behalf
- Quick and fun Facebook Challenge fundraisers
- World-recognized brand
- Zero fundraising fees
Pricing and Fees
Start-up Fees: No
Monthly Fees: No
Payment Processors: Stripe
There are no fundraising fees with Facebook Fundraising. Once you reach your fundraising threshold, the payout process begins with one of these four channels:
- Facebook Payments
- Network for Good
- PayPal Giving Fund
- Razor Pay
Which Fundraising Website is Best for Your Group?
The fundraising platform that meets all your fundraising needs is ultimately the greatest website for your organization. There’s a great selection of fundraising websites that work hard to get your group the donations you need.
Just remember that the best fundraising platforms should make it easy to:
- Manage donor relationships
- Accept online contributions
- Come up with inventive ways to fundraise
- Boost supporter engagement
- Increase donor retention rates
- Share the latest trends in fundraising
Fundraising in the UK
Comparing which platforms offer the best service and ultimately get the most money to your UK charity can be overwhelming. While many companies above work internationally, we added a special comparison for UK software providers. Organizations in the UK have unique payment processing goals and fees to consider, as well as GiftAid matching.
DoJiggy simplifies this for UK groups, as we understand the importance of easy-to-use and affordable software solutions, enabling customers to increase efficiency. Our software includes secure registration and donation management tools for all of the best online fundraising campaigns:
- Run/Walk/Ride and peer to peer crowdfunding fundraisers
- Online fundraising auctions
- Event ticketing for fundraising events (with virtual event support)
- Online eCommerce stores
- Charity sweepstakes and raffles
Seamless Payment Integration
DoJiggy integrates with Stripe for secure payment processing in the UK.
GiftAid Integration
DoJiggy offers registered UK charities the functionality to support UK GiftAid donations. GiftAid provides an excellent opportunity for donors to increase the value of their donations to a charity. When this option is enabled on your campaign, donors can indicate that they want their donation gift-aided. Charities can access reports with the GiftAid information in campaign management, helping organizations easily claim GiftAid with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Read more about DoJiggy’s Gift Aid integration.
DoJiggy Pricing
We offer two options for covering fees: free pricing or percent pricing. The popular free pricing model covers the platform fee by allowing donors to leave a tip in the checkout process.
Other Popular Online Fundraising Software Options in the UK
Here are more popular fundraising software platforms for charity fundraising in the UK.
Givey
If you want to raise money for a small charity with a focus on social giving, Givey may be a great fundraising platform option for you. Since Givey’s launch in 2015, and with over 8000 charities signed up, they have been leveling the playing field in order to raise more money and awareness for small local organizations. Charities can claim GIFT AID through Givey’s data reporting and businesses can run match-funding schemes to optimize donations.
Givey Pricing
Givey charges 5% on top of the donation amount. 100% of every donation + 100% of Gift Aid will still go to the charity of your choice, as they don’t deduct the fee from the donation amount.
JustGiving
With over an incredible £4 billion collected for charities since its launch in 2001, JustGiving was one of the first online fundraising platforms and remains one of the largest. With over 22 million users in over 160 countries and 25,788 charities registered, JustGiving is a fundraising force to be reckoned with. They provide Peer to peer and crowdfunding for charities, as well as crowdfunding for individuals.
JustGiving Pricing
UK charities pay a monthly subscription fee of £15 + VAT or £39 +VAT. Payment processing fees are 1.9% and 20p per transaction. The optional GiftAid service fee is 5%.
CAF Donate
With 90 years of experience in the field, CAF (Charity Aid Foundation) is one of the most accomplished fundraising platforms. Over 5,000 (mostly small-to-medium) charities use CAF Donate to fundraise and process donations. In 2018 alone, they raised over £27 Million for UK charities. They offer tools to create customized online donation forms and buttons, which are easily added to emails, websites, and social media, as well as a GiftAid integration.
CAF Pricing
3.6*% of the total donation (including Gift Aid). It’s free to sign up for CAF Donate, and there are no monthly fees.
Virgin Money Giving
Sponsors of the London Marathon, Virgin Money Giving started in 2009 and has grown to be one of the most popular fundraising platforms. So far, they have helped over 18,000 UK charities, and over 1 million fundraisers raise more than £750 million online. They offer the following:
- A full-event fundraising service
- Promotions and marketing activity
- Weekly payment of donated funds to charities
- Reports and fundraising data
- Help desk service and account management
- Gift Aid support
Virgin Money Pricing
There is a one-off membership fee of £150.00. Payment processing fees are 4.5%.
PayPal Giving Fund
If you are looking for a way to raise money for charity through eBay sales, PayPal usage, or other technology platforms, the Paypal Giving Fund may be for you. You can make one-off donations through the website or donate a proportion of your profits from your eBay store. It is easy to enroll, and GiftAid is supported.
PayPal Giving Fund Pricing
There are no service fees, as operating costs are covered by their partners.
Everyclick
Whether your chosen charity is registered or not, Everyclick allows you to raise money for them and contacts them as soon as funds are ready to donate. Everyclick has raised over £14 million for deserving causes, using their innovative ‘Give as your Live’ portal, which encourages you to make money for a chosen charity simply by using their search engine to browse the web.
Supporters raise funds by surfing the internet via their search engines.
Everyclick Pricing
There is a 1.9% platform fee and a 2.9% payment processing fee on donations. No set-up or monthly subscription fees.
Conclusions on the Best Fundraising Platforms for Organizations
Creating a successful and profitable fundraiser depends greatly on choosing the most user-friendly fundraising platform. Websites that require excessive training tend to be overwhelming for non-technical users and impact donor retention negatively. Finding a blend of the best technology, fundraising tools, pricing, and usability can be a home run for your organization’s fundraising strategy.