Fee Coverage
Fee coverage options let donors cover payment processing costs so your organization receives the full donation amount.
Every online donation incurs payment processing fees from providers like Stripe, PayPal, and other payment processors. Fee coverage lets donors choose to add these costs on top of their donation so your organization receives the full intended amount. A $100 donation with fee coverage means your organization nets $100, not $100 minus processing fees.
Five Modes#
How fee coverage is presented to donors depends on which mode you choose:
- Smart (Adaptive) — Nizam Intelligence determines the best approach per donor, based on behavior, device context, and campaign performance. Recommended for most campaigns.
- Optional On — the cover-fees checkbox appears and is pre-selected. Donors can uncheck if they prefer not to cover fees.
- Optional Off — the cover-fees checkbox appears but is not selected. Donors actively choose to cover fees.
- Required — all donors cover fees. No checkbox is shown.
- Disabled — no fee information appears. Your organization absorbs all processing costs.
Nizam Intelligence
When Intelligence is enabled, Smart mode makes a per-donor decision about how to present fee coverage. The AI considers factors like whether the donor has covered fees before, the device they're using, and the campaign's overall fee recovery rate — typically achieving higher fee coverage rates than a static option.
Impact on Revenue#
Fee coverage can meaningfully impact your bottom line. Payment processing fees typically range from 2–4% of each transaction depending on the payment method and processor. On a campaign that raises $100,000, fee coverage can mean the difference between netting $96,000 and $100,000. Over multiple campaigns and years, this adds up to significant additional funds directed toward your mission rather than processing costs.