Learn about optional, voluntary donor tips

In the fall of 2022, Give Lively started welcoming optional, voluntary tips (not tax-deductible) from donors as a way to further extend the reach and capacity of our free products and services.

We call this donor-powered generosity “pay free forward” because donor tips to Give Lively extend the reach and capability of our free products and services, thus helping the nonprofit community direct millions of dollars to their critical work, not digital fundraising software. Because we’re in it for nonprofits, not for profit.

Visit our How do voluntary donor tips to Give Lively “pay free forward” FAQ for answers to the following:

• Why allow tips to Give Lively?
• Why now?
• How does “pay free forward” help?
• What will Give Lively do with the funds?
• How is the rollout happening?

To add to that foundational understanding, this article goes deeper into subjects useful to Give Lively member nonprofits.

What do voluntary contributions look like?

Give Lively carefully experimented with different tip prompts to ensure that donation forms remain intuitively easy to complete for donors and donation completion rates continue to be high. The final version in use on all Give Lively donation forms (except Event Ticketing pages) is what we call the “slider.” It incorporates learnings about donor flexibility and control and lets donors elect to prioritize coverage of the payment processing fee or combine coverage of the fee with an added tip using preset tip amounts.

Does this mean that Give Lively is no longer free?

Give Lively is still free for nonprofits. That has not changed and will not change. Give Lively does not charge nonprofits for use of our fundraising platform – no setup fees, no platform fees, no membership or subscription fees, no annual or monthly fees, no hidden Give Lively fees. Learn why we’re free for nonprofits.

Using our original benefactors' sustaining annual generosity as a springboard, all we’ve done is open our doors to voluntary tips from a broader pool of philanthropists. We are exploring this additional source of operating revenue to aid our pursuit of more opportunities on behalf of nonprofits.

We are already paying fees. Why add more?

The fees you are paying are not Give Lively fees. We don’t charge for the unlimited use of our technology. However, we use independent services, called payment processors, to securely manage the financial transaction process, from donation to disbursement. These services – Stripe and PayPal – do charge small fees for every transaction, although the fees can be covered by the donor. Learn about third-party fees.

“Pay free forward" is also not a fee. It is a tool through which donors may voluntarily contribute capital to Give Lively to extend the reach and capability of our free products and services. This helps the nonprofit community direct millions of dollars to their critical work, not digital fundraising software.

Does this mean Give Lively is in financial trouble?

Give Lively is on firm financial footing, made possible by our founder-funders' generous long-term commitment to nonprofit philanthropy. In keeping with their goodwill vision of democratized digital fundraising, they cover Give Lively's operating expenses so that we don’t have to charge nonprofits for use of our platform. The introduction of voluntary tips is part of our exploration of additional sources of operating revenue to aid our pursuit of more opportunities on behalf of nonprofits.

Can nonprofits opt out of “pay free forward”?

There is no ability for nonprofits to opt out.

Can nonprofits pay for Give Lively instead of “pay free forward" on donation pages?

This option is not available.

Are nonprofits losing donations because of “pay free forward”?

The slow rollout of voluntary tips allowed for careful study so that we could be sure our donation forms remain intuitive to donors and donation completion rates continue to be high. We learned that our tip prompts have no statistically significant impact on donor behavior. More specifically, donors intending to make a donation do just that and donors opting to cover the transaction fee do that too.

Can donors NOT make a voluntary contribution?

Tips to Give Lively are entirely voluntary. Using the slider, donors can bypass the voluntary tip to complete their donation with or without covering the transaction fee.

Can donors contribute without donating?

For donors who do choose to tip, it must be in addition to the donation. It is not possible to tip without first making a donation. The tip has no effect on the final donation amount the nonprofit receives.

Are voluntary contributions tax deductible?

Voluntary tips are not tax deductible and are clearly labeled as such throughout the “pay free forward" process.

Do voluntary contributions appear on the donor’s receipt?

Voluntary tips are clearly labeled in the donation receipt.

Are voluntary contributions included with every recurring payment on monthly donations?

Yes, a voluntary tip is included with all payments on recurring donations.

However, donors are able to cancel only the recurring tip through the User Portal at any time after the first payment without affecting the rest of the recurring donation.

Do nonprofits see voluntary contributions in their donation data?

Voluntary tips are not included in Give Lively downloadable CSV reports of donation data. They do, however, appear in Stripe data reports. Learn how Stripe processes and displays voluntary tips.

How are voluntary contributions processed?

At present, the voluntary tip feature only appears on donation forms where the donor chooses to pay by credit or debit card, bank/ACH transfer or digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay), which are handled by Stripe. Learn how Stripe processes and displays voluntary tips.

Can voluntary contributions be refunded?

Voluntary tips can be refunded (in full or in part) and the request for a refund must come directly to Give Lively from the donor who made the contribution.

Nonprofits that are aware of a donor’s desire for the refund of a voluntary tip should direct the donor to contact support at Give Lively with the following information:

• how much the donor wishes to have refunded
• whether the refund is for the voluntary tip alone or the voluntary tip and the donation (and how much of each should be refunded)
• the email address the donor used when making the donation and the date of purchase.

Learn more about different refund scenarios.