Understand how donors can cover third-party transaction fees

Although Give Lively itself charges no fees, we use independent services to securely manage the financial transaction process from donation to disbursement. Those third-party providers do charge small fees for each donation. 

In response to this – to help nonprofits maximize the final donation amounts they receive – we make it possible for donors to cover the third-party fees in some cases. 

In what cases can donors cover the payment processing fee?

At present, the ability to cover payment processing fees is available (as an additional tax-deductible gift) when donors pay by: 

• bank/ACH transfer
• credit/debit card
• PayPal (except Event Ticketing pages)
• Venmo (except Event Ticketing pages)
• Google Pay (except Event Ticketing pages)
• Apple Pay (except Event Ticketing pages)

Transaction fees can't yet be covered by the donor when payments are made via:

• PayPal (on Event Ticketing pages only)
• Venmo (on Event Ticketing pages only)
• Google Pay (on Event Ticketing pages only)
• Apple Pay (on Event Ticketing pages only)

Note that, at this time, the ability for donors to cover the fee does not apply to the currency conversion part of an international transaction, so there will be a slight difference between the fee-covered donation sent and the total amount received by the nonprofit.

Additionally, we accept tips (not tax-deductible) to Give Lively from donors, but donors are not asked to cover transaction fees on these voluntary contributions; the ability to do so is reserved for donations to nonprofits so that nonprofits can make the most of donor generosity. Learn more about tips to Give Lively.

How do donors cover the payment processing fees?

Depending on the payment method and payment form, donors see one of two checkboxes:

On first-generation payment forms, when donors choose to pay by “Credit Card," “Bank Account” or a digital wallet (Apple Pay or Google Pay) on the “Choose a Payment Method” page, they see a checkbox on the following page where they may elect to: “Add <fee amount> to cover payment processing fees. Otherwise, we’ll only get <donation amount minus the fee amount> of your <donation amount> donation.”

On new payment forms, when donors pay by “Card,” “Bank,” “PayPal," "Venmo," or a digital wallet (Apple Pay or Google Pay) donors see new language. At present, Give Lively is experimenting with different prompts. Our goal is careful study to ensure that our donation forms remain intuitive to donors and donation completion rates continue to be high.

In both cases, for donors who opt to cover the payment processing fee, the confirmation screen and the automatic email receipt show the tally of the original donation amount plus the payment processing fee as the total donation amount.

How are payment processing fees calculated?

Payment processing fees vary according to the third-party providers, the type of payment method, whether the nonprofit beneficiary has taken advantage of discounted rates offered by payment processors (like this for Stripe) and whether the donor has an international card.

That said, transaction fees typically have up to two components: 

• a variable fee, calculated as a percentage of the total donation amount (0.8% to 3.5%, depending on the method of payment and/or type of card and whether the donation is recurring) 
• a fixed fee of zero to $0.30, depending on the method of payment and/or type of card.

For example, if a $100 donation is made by Mastercard to a nonprofit with a Stripe nonprofit discount, the variable fee for the donation is $2.20 ($100 x 2.2%) and the fixed component is $0.30, totaling $2.50 in fees. This same amount donated by bank/ACH transfer has an $0.80 fee ($100 x 0.8% with no fixed fee).

Note that when donors include a voluntary tip to Give Lively, it may result in a small decrease in the transaction fee normally associated with the donation. Read about Stripe processing fees for voluntary contributions and how they are handled.

Also note that there are three cases when the fee that donors cover may not be equal to the actual fee: 

• Donations to nonprofits that do not receive a nonprofit discount: Give Lively’s payment processors offer special discounted transaction rates to nonprofits that apply for them. We operate on the assumption that nonprofits benefit from these reduced fees, using them as the basis for our fee coverage estimates. If a nonprofit does not have these rates, the actual transaction fees will be higher than what donors are asked to cover.   
• Payments with an American Express card through a digital wallet: If a donor uses a digital wallet like Google Pay or Apple Pay (to pay by credit card), our payment form shows a fee estimate using the rate for non-American Express cards (2.2% + $0.30). However if the donor chooses to pay with an American Express card, the actual fee is different (3.5%).  ‍
• International transactions: Fee coverage does not apply to the currency conversion part of an international transaction, so there will be a slight difference between the fee-covered donation and the total amount received by the nonprofit.

Can covered fees be refunded to the donor?

Stripe and PayPal never refund the transaction fees they charge. A nonprofit may choose to refund transaction fees, but at its own discretion and only out of its own budget. As Give Lively neither charges nor collects any fees (and doesn’t profit from any donation), it has no fees to refund and no fee balance from which to offer a refund.

A note about payment forms

We have officially transitioned only to our new payment form on all of our products except Event Ticketing, which still uses our first-generation payment form for now.

With this shift, donors see several new features, including the ability to make optional tips to Give Lively to further extend the reach and capacity of our free products and services for nonprofits.