What Does the CanadaHelps Transaction Fee Cover?

One of the most common inquiries we receive at CanadaHelps is this: why do we deduct processing fees from donations that come through our platforms? 

Charities are precious with donor dollars (rightfully so!) and want to know where and what exactly these processing fees are going toward. So, let’s explore what is included in your CanadaHelps transaction fee. 

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Inside:

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Transaction fees enable CanadaHelps to cover costs, and provide charities with affordable online fundraising solutions. As a trusted charitable organization ourselves, CanadaHelps prides itself on transparency. We understand that charities operate on tight budgets. We never charge hidden or monthly fees or require up-front payments to open accounts. 

Our transaction fees are comprehensive and include all the costs and services associated with processing your charitable donations, from credit card and banking charges to administrative and operational service costs. 

CanadaHelps works hard to maximize the value of transaction fees and provide charities with the lowest rates for the most comprehensive service package. Keep reading, you may be surprised at all the features and benefits we pack into what the transaction fee covers! 

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See the transaction fee pricing structure for our various products. Take note of the one-time 3.75% Customizable Donation Form (CDF) transaction fee and the 3.5% monthly CDF transaction fee. For most charities, the Donation Form percentage charge is the most salient example. Let’s unpack what is included within this ‘overhead’ transaction cost.

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Charitable donations are subject to merchant fees when processed through online platforms or made through credit cards. CanadaHelps offers a range of payment solutions for our charity clients. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal are the available payment options for charities and donors. 

These payment solutions companies charge merchant fees of between 1.3% to 3.5% of the purchase amount for processing your transactions, including donations made via CanadaHelps.

Merchant fees charged by payment solution companies are included in your CanadaHelps processing fee. Charities are not responsible for covering the high merchant fees that credit card providers charge.

Fun fact: As an independent charity and an organization driven by impact, CanadaHelps is famous for passing the savings back to our charity clients at moments when credit card merchants have lowered their fees. 

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Charitable gifts that come in digitally are subject to transaction processing fees from intermediary institutions like banks and brokerage firms, in the case of securities donations. For simplicity and ease of use, your banking and brokerage fees are included in your overall CanadaHelps payment processing fee.

What are brokerage fees?

Brokerage fees cover various costs associated with processing securities donations, which CanadaHepls accepts. For securities, CanadaHelps charges this tiered fee structure based on donation amount:

• 3% for donations less than $10,000
• 2.5% for donations between $10,000 - $49,999
• 2.25% for donations between $50,000 - $99,999
• 2% for donations of $100,000+

This fee structure is designed to cover all costs associated with donating securities, while maximizing the amount that reaches the charity. 

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CanadaHelps' transaction processing fee includes the cost of comprehensive CRA-compliant electronic tax receipting. The tax receipting process is optimized to be efficient and convenient for charities and donors, eliminating the need for excess spreadsheets, paper receipts and cumbersome record-keeping while helping you build relationships and steward donors. 

For every donation made to your charity via CanadaHelps, your donors automatically and instantly receive a CRA-compliant tax receipt.

Key Tax Receipting Benefits:

• Receipt download tool
• Tax season reminder emails
• Self-serve access for donors
• Instant recognition of donation 

Donors receive tax receipts for the full donation amount, even if they opt not to cover the processing fees. 

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All expenses related to the administration and accounting of charitable gifts are covered in the CanadaHelps transaction fee. These administrative and accounting tasks include reconciliation, compliance, reporting and disbursement of monies to charities.

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CanadaHelps offers comprehensive 24/7 support services for our charity clients in both English and French. Our friendly and helpful customer success team provides chat, email and phone support to help enhance your overall digital fundraising experience.

Additionally, we provide support for donors – even issuing refunds for donors directly so charities don't need to handle these tasks in-house. 

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Approximately 1.8% of the transaction fee on each donation we receive comes back to CanadaHelps. This percentage enables our organization to be sustainable and to build new and innovative online fundraising tools for Canadian charities like yours.

This percentage is reinvested back into the tools and services we offer. In addition to building fundraising software, this percentage goes towards costs associated with developing our website, providing educational resources like webinars and ebooks for charities and conduct research on charitable giving in Canada.

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In fact, many charities do just that. Charities can choose whether or not they ask donors to cover the processing fee during their payment checkout flow.

In the past, CanadaHelps has A/B tested with defaulting to donors covering the transaction fees. But we now leave the option to ask donors to cover processing charges in the hands of charities. You decide whether to turn the “Cover the Fees” checkbox (pictured below) on or off when you set up your CanadaHelps Donation Form. 

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CanadaHelps’ mission is to increase generosity and enable digital giving across Canada. We strive to pass along as much of every dollar received as possible to charities like yours.

Transaction processing fees are in place to cover CanadaHelps' operational costs and the costs associated with financial services. The fees enable CanadaHelps to provide Canadian charities with access to affordable online fundraising solutions. 

Charities need to take note that while transaction fees can seem high, they enable you to accept and manage donations through seamless online methods that increase overall giving and enhance donor stewardship.

Now that you know what's included in your transaction fee, it's time to fundraise. Login to your CanadaHelps charity account here.