Interest in and support for the important work of US-based nonprofits comes from across the world. However, nonprofits with international donors should be aware that currency conversion rates may prompt follow-up questions from donors, especially at times of significant rate fluctuations. 

Here are some questions we have encountered, so you can be prepared.

Can anyone give to Give Lively member nonprofits, even from overseas?

While Give Lively member nonprofits must be eligible 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations (US-based public charities and private operating foundations), donors can give from abroad with a variety of payment method options.   

How do conversion rates affect donation amounts?

Ever-changing currency conversion rates can cause confusion. Anyone making a donation using a payment method based in a foreign currency (anything other than US dollars) should be aware of that payment method’s exchange rate at the time of giving. 

Donors should also be clear that donation amounts on the Give Lively platform are currently always shown in US dollars, but only show the $ sign. This could lead to additional hiccups if the donor lives in a country that uses the $ sign to denote its currency, as is the case in Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and a few others.

Let’s take the example of a Canadian donor who chooses to give $20 through a Give Lively-powered fundraising page and does not elect to cover the transaction fee. The donation total at the time of giving is listed as $20, which means US$20. The Give Lively receipt will also reflect a payment of $20 (meaning US$20). However, the donor’s bank statement will show a payment of a higher amount in Canadian dollars, since C$1 is currently worth less than US$1.  

Are there additional third-party transaction fees on international donations?

It depends. While Give Lively does not charge fees, the third-party processors we use do and the transaction fees on international donations are sometimes higher than those on domestic ones: 

• Stripe adds an additional 1% on top of Stripe’s standard nonprofit rates of 2.2% + $.30 for most major credit cards and 3.5% for American Express, plus another 1% if currency conversion is required.
• PayPal charges international donations 3.49%, plus a fixed fee based on the currency used.
• Shift4, however, doesn’t add any additional fees for international giving.  

These payment processing fees are subtracted from the donation by the payment processor. 

Note that, at this time, the ability for donors to cover the payment processing fee does not apply to the international currency conversion part of a transaction.

What payment methods are available to international donors?

International donors can donate with:

• Credit/debit cards (our payment form’s "Card number" field automatically determines a card's billing address country and adjusts the rest of the requested information to accommodate postal codes of different lengths and numeric/alphanumeric codes, or even no code at all)
• Digital wallets (in countries that support Apple Pay and/or Google Pay)
• ACH/direct debit
• PayPal (in countries that support PayPal).

Only US-based donors are able to donate via Venmo.

Text-to-Donate may also be possible through non-US phones in some countries, but the short code can’t be used. Learn more about international giving through Text-to-Donate.