What are Big Give’s fees?

We know how important donations are, and Big Give works hard to keep the cost of donation processing low for our charities. We don’t charge charities for joining our platform; we rely on the generosity of people who donate to leave a Voluntary Tip, which helps us cover the costs of running and improving Big Give. Without these tips, we would not be able to offer this service.

Processing fees (Stripe)

Each donation made on our platform is subject to a small processing fee charged by our payment processor, Stripe. The processing fee is deducted from the donation at the point it’s transferred to the charity.

• UK, EU Visa and MasterCard donations = 1.5% of donation amount (without Gift Aid) + 20p + 3% of Gift Aid + VAT
• Non-EU and American Express donations = 3.2% of donation amount (without Gift Aid) + 20p + 3% of Gift Aid + VAT

UK, EU Visa and MasterCard donations

For example, if a donor makes a £10 donation using EU Visa and MasterCard and asks for Gift Aid to be claimed (£2.50, in this case) then that works out to…

(£10 x 0.015) + £0.20 + (£2.50 x 0.03) + VAT = £0.43 + VAT processing free

So, the net amount the charity would receive would be £12.08 (less VAT, if applicable).

Non-EU and American Express donations

If a donor makes a £10 donation using a Non-EU card or American Express credit card and asks for Gift Aid to be claimed (£2.50, in this case) then that works out to…

(£10 x 0.032) + £0.20 + (£2.5 x 0.03) + VAT  = £0.60+ VAT processing fee

So, the net amount the charity would receive would be £11.91.

Gift Aid

Gift Aid is one of the simplest and most effective ways to make your donations go even further. You won’t only be doubling your donation — your chosen charity can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give.

Charities can collect Gift Aid from HMRC directly or ask Big Give to claim Gift Aid on their behalf. For charities that opt-in for Big Give to claim Gift Aid for them, there will be a 3% admin fee applied on any Gift Aid applicable on donations — this is to cover our admin costs for the claim.

Where do the voluntary tips go?

Big Give relies on voluntary tips to cover running and managing match funding campaigns.

As a charity ourselves, we don’t charge our partners for using our platform, so we’re incredibly grateful to people who choose to leave a voluntary tip. Those tips are what make us able to keep doing what we’re doing, run our match funding campaigns, and help make an impact on the world’s biggest problems — together.

Now, thanks to the generosity of the public, tips are going further than ever. For the first time at Big Give, we’re able to use those tips to keep paying it forward and multiply even more generosity by helping charities launch their own match funding campaigns with our own funds. This is the first time Big Give will be providing funding to charities from our own funds, and it just wouldn’t be possible without your support!

Read about Big Give on the Charity Commission website