The right fundraising platform should help your organization raise more while streamlining the giving experience for your donors. In this article, we'll walk you through the nine best online fundraising platforms as well as the twelve key aspects you should look for as you choose your platform.
Online fundraising platforms offer a convenient way to collect gifts and support meaningful projects. But with so many fundraising platforms out there, it can feel impossible to know which one will provide the best functionality for your needs – and the best experience for your donors.
In this article, we’ll share the nine best fundraising sites and the 12 key aspects to think about when you’re choosing an online fundraising platform. Read on!
An online fundraising platform is a tool or software that allows your nonprofit to collect and process donations while managing fundraising campaigns seamlessly. On the donor’s side, online fundraising platforms enable supporters to easily donate to causes they care about.
Typically, these platforms offer a simple and secure way for donors to give online with credit cards, bank transfers, and digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
A comprehensive online fundraising platform should provide access to optimal tools that enable smarter fundraising and enhanced donor stewardship under one roof. These include fully customizable donation pages, donor management tools, and recurring giving to turn one-time donors into lasting supporters.
A great fundraising platform should provide a hassle-free, user-friendly experience for your development team and supporters.
Here are some of the benefits of online fundraising platforms:
Let’s spotlight nine of the best fundraising sites to take your online fundraising to the next level. These platforms offer a wide variety of fundraising features and pricing models.
Donorbox is a powerful, all-in-one fundraising platform with a quick setup process and plenty of user-friendly features. More than 100,000 organizations in over 96 countries trust Donorbox with their online giving.
Start Fundraising in Minutes with Donorbox!
Donorbox makes online giving easy, convenient, and hassle-free with powerful features fit for fundraisers of all sizes. Our customizable donation pages contain industry-leading security features that ensure donor protection and build trust.
Nonprofits of all sizes looking for an all-in-one fundraising and donor management platform.
Standard pricing is $0 a month with a 2.95% platform fee for most features, and 3.95% for Events, Peer-to-Peer, and Memberships, plus payment processing fees of 2.2% + $0.30 for Stripe and PayPal.
Pro pricing is $150/month with a 1.75% platform fee for features applicable and additional add-ons included at this level, plus the same payment processing fees.
Premium pricing is entirely customized based on what your organization needs and includes the 1.75% platform fee applicable to certain features, a dedicated account manager, fundraising coaching, priority technical support, and more. Payment processing fees also apply.
Organizations that sign up for our Pro or Premium plans can also enjoy a flat 2% platform fee for Events, Peer-to-Peer, and Memberships.
Donorbox has zero startup fees or contracts to worry about. Plus, you can ask donors to cover fees so more of their donation goes toward your cause. Learn more about our pricing here.
GoFundMe is a well-known online fundraising platform focusing on crowdfunding.
Many people use GoFundMe to raise money for personal projects, medical expenses, or unforeseen disasters. This tool is perfect if you rely heavily on peer-to-peer and crowdfunding campaigns. Empower your fundraisers to start a campaign for your charity on GoFundMe and raise funds with the help of their network.
Bear in mind that this nonprofit fundraising platform does not offer features like recurring donations or a branded donation form. GoFundMe Pro may be a better option if those kinds of features form part of your fundraising strategy.
Having supporters fundraise or crowdfund for you.
Pricing:
There are no fees to create your fundraiser, but a transaction fee of 2.9% + 30¢ applies. View pricing details here.
OneCause makes online fundraising easy for nonprofits. Set up online campaigns, launch challenges, and grow your reach in no time with this customizable solution. The platform offers event management, peer-to-peer fundraising, mobile bidding and auctions, ticketing, and more. The focus remains on event fundraising. However, features like donor management and gift matching are included as well.
Event management and ticket sales
Pricing:
Their pricing varies according to the plan chosen. You have to request a consultation to know how much it would cost to afford the software for your nonprofit.
Handbid is an online fundraising platform that stands out as an auction software. Your in-person, remote, and hybrid events can greatly benefit from this platform and its features.
Hosting an online auction.
Pricing:
Handbid offers custom pricing depending on which tools you need for your event. You can learn more about their packages here.
Who doesn’t love a good t-shirt and a great cause? Bonfire is a fun, creative option for online fundraising. With Bonfire, your nonprofit can create a t-shirt fundraiser to raise more for your cause. You’ll be able to access your funds once your project is completed.
Creating a t-shirt fundraiser
Pricing:
Selling t-shirts is entirely free. Once the costs are covered, you receive the remaining funds. However, donations on the Bonfire platform have an 8% processing fee. Domestic shipping for shirts and other items starts at $4.99 and international shipping starts at $11.99 (free for orders with 5+ items). Get the details here.
Fundly gives smaller nonprofits the chance to try out crowdfunding without buying fundraising software that’s out of their budget. Nonprofits can create unique campaign pages for specific programs and needs and connect with their donors using social media.
The Fundly app is easy to use, and fundraisers can view campaign success and receive notifications anywhere. Giving nonprofits the option to connect Gmail, Yahoo, Survey Monkey, and Constant Contact to the app allows them to easily send emails to their donors.
Smaller nonprofits just starting out with online fundraising and crowdfunding.
Pricing:
There is no monthly fee to use Fundly. There is a credit card processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30. Know more about their pricing here.
Soapbox Engage is an app-focused online donation processor that’s especially helpful for organizations that use Salesforce. It offers organizations a range of apps to help boost their fundraising goals and events. Soapbox apps include functionality for online fundraising, event management, and advocacy. One important note: custom-designed forms come at a cost with this platform. The basic option includes a standard template page with a custom header.
Nonprofits that use Salesforce as their customer relationship management system.
Pricing:
Soapbox Engage’s pricing is a little less straightforward than other online donation platforms. There’s a $500 platform activation fee. Then, most apps for nonprofits (donations, events, forms) cost $59 per month.
Additionally, some premium apps cost around $100-400 per month each. Add-ons include custom design ($1,000), user integration ($99/month), peer-to-peer fundraising tools ($99/month), and more.
Soapbox Engage charges a platform fee of 1.9% (the first $2,000 of transactions per month do not incur this fee), plus credit card processing fees. They offer a free trial as well as a demo.
99Pledges is a fundraising processor focused on serving schools and teams. This software is ideal for walk-a-thons, fun runs, dance-a-thons, and similar events. Team fundraising via fundraising platforms helps you boost community support, increasing fundraising success.
Schools, teams, and walk-a-thon-style events.
Pricing:
99Pledges is free to use, with no startup costs, contracts, or platform fees. Standard credit card processing fees of 3.9% + $0.49 apply. Learn more here.
Mightycause is an all-in-one fundraising suite. This software offers easy-to-use donor management tools, peer-to-peer fundraising support, and more.
Organizations that want a variety of fundraising tools and don’t mind a monthly fee or contract.
Pricing:
Mightycause is free to start. Processing fees of up to 1.99% + 30¢ apply. Learn more about their pricing here.
The best fundraising platforms are the ones that offer the features you need most, at a price that fits your organization’s budget. Below, we’ll walk you through 12 of the most important features.
Choosing a fundraising platform with an intuitive user interface can save a lot of headaches. You should be able to design your donation forms and pages with simple copy-paste codes, toggling of switches, and clicking buttons.
A customized, branded donation form with your organization’s preferred colors and logo will ensure your cause looks organized, polished, and trustworthy. Fundraising platforms that offer customizable pages help you boost donor trust and supporter engagement.
Did you know the average recurring donor will give 42% more in a year than those who make one-time gifts? If you aren’t collecting recurring gifts, you’re missing out! Look for a fundraising platform that offers flexible recurring options to elevate donor support.
With Donorbox, you can choose up to four of the following recurring intervals: daily, weekly, biweekly, 1st and 15th, monthly, quarterly, and annual.
Create a Recurring Donation Form
Pro tip: Empower your donors to control their own recurring giving! With Donorbox, donors can log in to their own portal to update their credit cards and adjust their recurring gift at any time. This helps build trust, ease, and transparency while saving you some administrative time, too!
Crowdfunding allows your community of donors to combine their many small gifts into a transformative impact. It’s a great way to raise money for a specific project or fund within a limited period of time.
With a goal meter, everyone can get excited about the progress toward a goal. This helps create excitement and can even result in multiple gifts!
Check to see if the donation platforms you’re looking at offer features such as a goal thermometer, virtual donor wall, social sharing buttons, and a dedicated space for campaign updates.
A text-to-give campaign is a convenient way to raise funds for your cause. This solution is perfect for on-the-spot donation drives, conferences, and events. Donors can quickly and easily support the initiatives they care about by sending a text to a given number and donating right from their smartphones.
Some online donation processors have text-to-give functionality built in. Look for a repeat donation feature when choosing a platform with text-to-give enabled.
You have a bunch of ardent supporters who attend your events, love to volunteer, and make regular donations. Would you not want to get them more involved and offer them opportunities to help your cause more efficiently?
Peer-to-peer fundraising makes that possible. Your supporters create their own fundraising pages and share them with their network (family, friends, colleagues, neighbors) to raise funds on your behalf. It’s a great way to expand your reach, boost donations, and acquire new donors from your existing supporter base.
Create a Peer-to-Peer Campaign
There’s no better way to establish a loyal supporter base than a membership program. You may want to create a dedicated community of supporters and retain them by offering specific benefits that get even better with each membership tier.
Select a fundraising platform that allows you to access and store all your member data and payment information securely. Make sure it allows you to create membership campaigns, add customizable membership tiers (as many as you want), and maintain data securely at the backend.
As a nonprofit, you often run events – be it for fundraising, spreading awareness, or appreciating your volunteers. Having a fundraising platform that also lets you create event pages and tickets online is the key to streamlining your workflow and raising more revenue with your events.
Look for a platform that helps you determine the tax-deductible amount when you input the fair market values for each ticket type, and one that allows your event attendees to buy tickets online in just a few clicks.
With Donorbox, it’s as simple as that! Plus, you also get to give your attendees an option to donate from the event page itself, increasing your fundraising potential. You also have the option to include custom questions to collect valuable donor info during ticket purchases, and easily check in guests at your event.
Many donors’ employers will match their qualifying donations to a nonprofit organization. Some organizations match 1:1, and some even match 2:1! That means that if your organization doesn’t have an easy way to collect matching gifts, you could be leaving money on the table.
Opt for a donation platform that can remind supporters about gift matching or that integrates with a gift matching service.
While some fundraising platforms simply allow you to process donations, others also help you manage donor relationships and records.
If this sounds appealing, look for a giving platform that functions as a one-stop shop for donor management. You should also choose a platform that lets your donors have an account of their own, where they can manage their donation plans and quickly repeat a donation if they want to, as well as download their donation receipts on the go.
Pro tip: Celebrating donors’ milestone events (like birthdays and giving anniversaries) can go a long way toward building a trusting, mutually beneficial relationship. With a system like Donorbox, you can keep track of this important information in each donor’s record. And, you can log your outreach in each donor’s profile, making it easy to remember your past conversations.
Think about the systems your organization is using to send emails, manage donor records, or organize projects.
Choose a donation platform that integrates with your existing systems to minimize your workload. This can help you streamline your workday and avoid having to do duplicate work. As the saying goes, work smarter, not harder!
These days, donors aren’t just giving with a credit card. Many supporters prefer the convenience of being able to make a donation using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, or PayPal.
Make it easy for donors to support your cause by accepting a wide variety of payment options. Be sure to examine which payment methods your desired online fundraising software will allow you to accept. Using a secure payment processor like Stripe helps put donors at ease and builds trust.
Pro tip: Don’t skimp on security when choosing a fundraising platform! Look for a system that prioritizes safety and outlines specific protocols. For example, Donorbox comes with automatic fraud detection, SSL/TLS encryption, tokenization of financial data, and strong customer authentication, to name a few.
Affordability is one of the most important aspects of choosing a fundraising platform. Choose one that doesn’t charge a sign-up cost or a fixed monthly fee. That way, you can play around with the tool for a while and take the time to understand whether it meets your unique needs.
Do your research to compare pricing with other platforms offering similar features and select one that suits your requirements.
Pro tip: Remember to plan for the future. There may be some features you do not need right away, but as you grow, you will. In that case, a tool that doesn’t charge you for all its features right away but lets you enable them for a few extra bucks, whenever you need them, is absolutely worth it.
Choosing the right online giving platform that aligns with all the latest fundraising trends might seem like a daunting choice. An optimal fundraising platform should allow you to collect online donations easily, manage donor relationships, and fundraise in a variety of creative ways.
Interested in trying Donorbox? Sign up for free and start fundraising in minutes!
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Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions you may have about online fundraising platforms.
An online fundraising platform allows nonprofit organizations to collect and process donations digitally while streamlining the donation process for donors. Some platforms also offer donor management tools to build lasting connections with supporters.
The right digital fundraising platform should offer comprehensive features that adapt to your fundraising and donor management needs. These include recurring donation options on donation forms and pages, text giving options, event ticketing software, peer-to-peer and crowdfunding functionality, and donor management tools that facilitate retention.
Heather is a writer, business owner, and nonprofit professional. She is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) with more than a decade of experience leading fundraising efforts and creating communication materials for arts, education, and social services nonprofits.
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Heather Karellas