When a donor gives $100 to your team on most fundraising platforms, your team doesn't receive $100. Depending on the platform, you might receive $87, or $92, or $95. The rest goes to platform fees, processing fees, and whatever other line items the company has decided to charge.
For a club sports team raising $5,000 for tournament travel, that's $250 to $650 that never reaches the team. Money that a donor intended for your squad ends up subsidizing a platform's revenue model.
Fieldraiser works differently. We charge zero platform fees. Here's exactly how our model works, what fees do exist, and why we think this is the right approach for teams that are already stretched thin.
How Most Platforms Make Money
Let's be specific about what "platform fees" means, because the industry has gotten creative at obscuring costs.
GoFundMe technically removed platform fees in 2023 but pushes donors aggressively toward a "tip" at checkout, and the default tip is set high. The platform also charges payment processing fees on top. Net result: the campaign organizer receives less than the donor intended.
Givebutter markets itself as "100% free" but generates revenue through donor tips with defaults set at 15-18%. If a donor isn't paying attention, they're adding a significant surcharge without realizing the money goes to the platform, not the team.
Classy, Blackbaud, and enterprise platforms charge monthly subscriptions ($500-$2,000+/month), per-transaction fees (3-5%), and often setup and implementation fees. These are designed for large nonprofits with development staff, not a club lacrosse team with a $4,000 annual budget. Good luck with that.
General payment tools (Venmo, CashApp, direct Stripe links) don't charge platform fees, but they also don't provide campaign pages, donor management, receipts, or any of the infrastructure that makes fundraising actually work.
The common thread: teams either pay a percentage of every dollar raised, pay a monthly subscription they can't afford, or settle for tools that don't do the job.
How Fieldraiser's Model Works
Our revenue model is built on a simple principle: teams shouldn't pay us to raise money.
Platform fees: $0. Fieldraiser does not charge teams any percentage of donations, any monthly subscription, any setup fee, or any per-transaction fee. Period. Zero. Nada.
Payment processing fees: passed through at cost. When a donor pays by credit or debit card, Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30. When a donor pays via bank transfer (ACH), Stripe charges 0.8%, capped at $5. These are Stripe's standard rates. We don't mark them up.
Donor fee coverage: optional. At checkout, donors see a "Cover processing fees" checkbox. If they check it, the processing fee is added to their total so that 100% of their intended donation reaches the team.
Platform tips: optional and transparent. At checkout, donors can choose to add a tip to support Fieldraiser (3%, 6%, or 10% of their donation). This is how we generate revenue. It's clearly labeled, it's optional, and the default is no tip. If a donor doesn't want to tip, they don't. Their entire donation goes to the team.
Why This Model Matters for Teams
Every dollar goes further
On a platform that charges 5% + processing fees, a team that raises $10,000 might net $9,200 after all fees. On Fieldraiser, the same $10,000 campaign nets the full $10,000 (minus only Stripe's processing fees if donors don't cover them). Over a few campaigns, the difference adds up to hundreds or thousands of dollars. That's real money.
No financial pressure to choose a cheaper plan
Some platforms offer a "free tier" with limited features and charge for anything useful. Teams end up paying $50/month for email tools or $30/month for donor management features they need. With Fieldraiser, every feature is available to every team. There's no free tier because there are no paid tiers. Everything is free.
Donors trust it
When donors see that 100% of their contribution goes to the team (or close to it, with transparent processing fees), they give more confidently. There's no confusion about where the money is going. The receipt shows exactly what the team receives, what Stripe charges for processing, and what (if anything) the donor added as a tip.
Aligned incentives
Because Fieldraiser only earns revenue when donors voluntarily choose to support the platform, our incentive is to build a product that donors love using. If the donation experience is clunky, slow, or confusing, donors won't tip. This keeps us honest about the quality of the experience. We have to earn it every time.
What About Stripe's Processing Fees?
Some teams ask: "If Fieldraiser is free, why are there any fees at all?"
Fair question. Stripe's processing fees are the cost of accepting electronic payments. Any platform that accepts credit cards or bank transfers pays them, and passes them through to the end user, either visibly or hidden in their platform fee.
Here's what they look like in practice:
| Donation Amount | Card Fee (2.9% + $0.30) | ACH Fee (0.8%, max $5) |
|---|---|---|
| $25 | $1.03 | $0.20 |
| $50 | $1.75 | $0.40 |
| $100 | $3.20 | $0.80 |
| $250 | $7.55 | $2.00 |
| $500 | $14.80 | $4.00 |
| $1,000 | $29.30 | $5.00 (cap) |
For larger donations, ACH is significantly cheaper. Fieldraiser offers both options at checkout so donors can choose. And with fee coverage enabled, donors can absorb the processing fee entirely, ensuring the team receives the full amount.
The Math on a Real Campaign
Let's say your team runs a spring fundraiser. You set a goal of $5,000 and hit it. Here's what that looks like across different platforms:
Platform A (5% platform fee + 2.9% processing):
- Gross: $5,000
- Platform fee: -$250
- Processing: -$145
- Net to team: $4,605
Platform B ($99/month subscription + 2.9% processing):
- Gross: $5,000
- Subscription (3 months): -$297
- Processing: -$145
- Net to team: $4,558
Fieldraiser (no platform fee, 2.9% processing):
- Gross: $5,000
- Platform fee: $0
- Processing: -$145 (or $0 if donors cover fees)
- Net to team: $4,855 - $5,000
The difference is $250-$450 on a single campaign. For a team running 2-3 campaigns a year plus ongoing dues collection, the annual savings can easily exceed $1,000. That's a tournament registration fee. That's new equipment. That's real.
Frequently Asked Questions
"If it's free, how do you stay in business?"
Platform tips from donors. When donors choose to tip, it funds our operations. We're betting that if we build a product people love, enough donors will voluntarily support it. So far, that bet is paying off.
"What if no one tips?"
Then we earn nothing on that transaction, and the team still gets their full donation. We'd rather a team succeed with Fieldraiser than lose a team because we charged fees they couldn't afford.
"Are there any hidden fees?"
No. The only fees are Stripe's standard processing rates (2.9% + $0.30 for cards, 0.8% capped at $5 for ACH). These are displayed at checkout and on every receipt. Full transparency.
"Will you start charging fees later?"
Our core product is free, and we intend to keep it that way. If we ever introduce premium features, the core fundraising, roster, and communication tools will remain free.
"Can teams use Fieldraiser for free forever?"
Yes. There is no trial period, no feature gating, and no usage limits.
The Bottom Line
Your team's donors are giving money to support your team, not to support a software company. Fieldraiser's tip-based model ensures that's exactly what happens.
Zero platform fees. Full-featured from day one. Every dollar goes where the donor intended.
That's how it should work.