Donor tip calculator
On a 0% platform fee, someone still pays for the software: your donors, at checkout, gift by gift. Zeffy's own published stats put that cost near 2.4% of donation volume, and a third-party measurement put it at 12.75%. Enter your volume, average gift, and a tip rate to see what donors would pay per year.
About 100 gifts per month at this volume.
The effective tip cost across all donation volume, combining how many donors tip and how much. Set it yourself or start from a published figure:
The rate a fixed-fee platform would charge the organization on the same volume. Published platform fees run from 1.75% (Donorbox) to 4% (Fundraise Up), both verified June 2026.
Tip-funded model
$1,440 /year
Paid by donors as tips: $1.20 on top of a $50 gift. The organization pays a $0 platform fee.
Published-fee model
$2,400 /year
Paid by the organization at a 4.00% published rate. Donors pay exactly the sticker amount.
Same software, different payer. At these settings the platform is funded with $1,440 of donor money under the tip model, or $2,400 of organizational budget under the published-fee model.
Where Givebear lands
Givebear's checkout is tip-funded too: a 0% platform fee on every gift where the donor tips. The difference is a published floor. If every single donor declined, the Free plan's 4.9% fallback would cap the year at $2,940; the real cost lands between $0 and that cap.
Published no-tip fallbacks: Free 4.9%, Plus 2.9% at $39/mo, Growth 1.9% at $54/mo.
Card processing applies under both models and is excluded here; some tip-funded platforms also cover processing out of tip revenue, one reason measured donor costs can run above published tip averages. Presets: Zeffy's own blog stats (June 2023) and 4aGoodCause's third-party checkout measurement, both verified June 2026.
How does the donor tip funding model work?
On a tip-funded platform the software bill moves to the checkout screen. After picking a gift amount, the donor sees a preselected contribution to the platform (a percentage dropdown or slider), and that tip rides on top of the gift: a $100 donation with a 10% tip charges the donor's card $110 while the organization's report shows $100 and a 0% platform fee. Nothing about that is dishonest. It does mean the cost of the software is real, donor-paid, and invisible in your books, which is why it's worth simulating before you commit.
The platforms have published some of the numbers. Zeffy's own blog said 60% of donors tip, averaging 4% (June 2023), which works out to about 2.4% of donation volume; by May 2026 Zeffy was saying two out of three donors tip (both stats verified June 2026 against Zeffy's site). LaunchGood's support page, updated November 2024, pairs its 0% platform fee with a claim that over 70% of supporters tip. Those vendor-published baselines are the first preset in the calculator above.
Third-party measurements land higher, and default settings are the reason. TINA.org reported (June 1, 2026) that Givebutter's checkout auto-added a default 15% tip, turning a $500 gift into a $590 charge unless the donor caught it. And 4aGoodCause, a competing donation vendor, measured a 12.75% effective donor cost in its own test of a Zeffy checkout: read it as a competitor's test, but it is a real measured figure and the second preset above. The distance between a published 4% average and a measured 12.75% is mostly preset tiers and defaults, which is why the calculator lets you set the rate yourself.
Is Givebear tip-funded too?
Yes, and this page would be misleading if it pretended otherwise. Givebear's donation checkout shows donors an optional tip prompt, and when they tip the organization pays a 0% platform fee: the same model Zeffy and LaunchGood run, because moving the software bill off a nonprofit's ledger genuinely helps small organizations. Tips are not the problem. Unpublished fallback behavior is.
So the comparison Givebear invites is on published numbers. The fee story is $0/month with a 0% platform fee when donors tip (4.9% when a donor declines, one flat rate online, at kiosks, and on memberships), plus Stripe card processing at cost: when a donor declines the tip, the Free plan's published 4.9% fallback applies to that one gift, and the paid plans publish lower fallbacks still (every rate is on the pricing page). Hardware follows the same rule: donation kiosks are a one-time $699 to $899 purchase with no monthly software fee, while kiosk vendors like iChessed ($30 to $59.99/mo) and SecureGive ($149/mo Basic or $299/mo Premium, both verified June 2026) bill per device every month. If a platform publishes its decline rate and its hardware price, you can model it honestly; this calculator and the donation fee calculator exist for exactly that.
Donor tip questions, answered
What do tip-funded platforms cost donors?
The only attributable numbers come from the platforms themselves and from third-party measurements. Zeffy's own blog (June 2023) said 60% of donors tip, averaging 4%, which works out to about 2.4% of donation volume; by May 2026 Zeffy was saying two out of three donors tip. LaunchGood's support page (updated November 2024) reports over 70% of supporters tip. On the high end, 4aGoodCause, a competing vendor, measured a 12.75% effective donor cost on a Zeffy checkout. The honest answer is a range, roughly 2% to 13% of giving volume, driven mostly by default tip settings.
Is a 0% platform fee really free?
It is genuinely free on the organization's ledger: no monthly bill and no percentage withheld from gifts. The software is paid for by donors through optional tips at checkout, so the cost is real but moves off your books. Before committing, ask two questions of any tip-funded platform: what the checkout's default tip setting is, and exactly what happens (and what rate applies) when a donor declines.
How much do donors tip on Zeffy?
Zeffy's own published figures: 60% of donors tip, averaging 4% (Zeffy blog, June 2023), and two out of three donors tip (May 2026). Separately, 4aGoodCause, a competing donation vendor, measured a 12.75% effective donor cost in its own test of a Zeffy checkout. This calculator only uses those dated, attributable numbers as presets; you can set any rate in between.
Does Givebear ask donors for tips too?
Yes. Givebear's donation checkout shows an optional tip prompt, and when donors tip the organization pays a 0% platform fee, the same model Zeffy and LaunchGood run. The difference is what's published: if a donor declines, the Free plan's 4.9% fallback applies to that single gift, paid plans publish lower fallbacks, and kiosk hardware is a one-time $699 to $899 purchase with no monthly software fee. Every rate is on the pricing page.
Explore more
Donation fee calculator
Separate card processing from platform fees and see what your current platform costs the organization per month.
Givebear vs Zeffy
A side-by-side look at two tip-funded platforms: kiosks, events, donor records, and what each publishes about fees.
Givebear pricing
Start free at $0/month with a 0% platform fee when donors tip. No setup fees, no monthly minimums.