Understanding the Voluntary Donation Model on Better Giving
At Better Giving, transparency and choice are at the heart of how we operate. Our platform includes an optional donation model designed to sustain the Better Giving nonprofit and keep costs low for the nonprofits we serve. Here’s how it works and what it means for you and your supporters.
What is the voluntary donation model?
When donors make a contribution through Better Giving, they are invited to add an optional donation to Better Giving itself. This helps us continue offering nonprofit fundraising, donation processing, and impact reporting at some of the lowest costs in the industry. The default is based on standard voluntary contribution rates.
The donation to Better Giving is entirely voluntary.
Donors can set it to zero at any point in the donation process.
Nonprofits can also choose to remove the voluntary donation option altogether and instead pay a simple, flat 1.5% fee—potentially the lowest platform fee in the sector.
The choice belongs fully to the nonprofit and can be updated easily in an organization’s account settings.
Full transparency for every donor
Every donor sees exactly where their money goes at every stage of the donation process:
The amount they are giving to the nonprofit
The optional amount (if any) going to Better Giving
The exact total being donated
The amount the nonprofit will receive
Donors can amend or change their donation at any point before confirming payment, ensuring complete control and clarity. Donors and nonprofits see exactly how much has been allocated in each donation.
Why this matters
Most commercial fundraising platforms rely on “tips” or high processing fees, often without transparency about who benefits. Better Giving is different. Because we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, all optional donations made to Better Giving are themselves tax-deductible—and used exclusively to improve the tools and services that support other nonprofits.
By offering a voluntary, transparent model, we ensure that:
Donors stay in control.
Nonprofits keep more of what’s given.
The entire system remains open, fair, and mission-driven.
For nonprofits that do not want the voluntary donation to appear in the donation flow, they can disable this donation option, and instead, Better Giving applies a flat rate 1.5% fee on each donation (note this has reduced from the percentage used last year) .
If you want to use this option, it's literally a minute to do, and here's how. (59 sec video)