There are three types of fees that may be deducted from donations:
Cause support fee:
This is based on the cost of vetting organizations for program eligibility, collecting and processing donations, disbursing funds, and preparing donor receipts and cause reports. These costs, and the fees applied to them, can vary for individual client companies, depending on the size and nature of their programs, the countries in which they are operating, and other factors. In some cases, our clients wish to pay the fees associated with the donation and/or match to “top up” the amount given to the cause.
Merchant fees: These fees cover the costs associated with processing a credit card, PayPal, or similar transactions. The fee can vary based on the payment card type or process used to complete the transactions.
Manual check fee: After an organization receives two manual checks, there is a fee to process any following disbursements. We encourage organizations to receive their disbursements electronically so they can access funds faster and avoid these check fees. This fee does not apply to countries outside North America, where all disbursements are made electronically.
Learn more about fees in the Fee Schedule.