Alvarum vs iDonate.ie
French and European charities and associations running cause-based or sports-challenge fundraising who want donations paid directly to the beneficiary and support for European local payment methods.
Irish charities, clubs, schools, and community causes that want low transaction-only fees and a broad set of fundraising tools, including donation pages, crowdfunders, raffles, and events.
On a €100 donation, Alvarum delivers €0.05 more to the recipient than iDonate.ie.
Alvarum & iDonate.ie don’t process payments in GBP — pricing shown in EUR.
What the data says.
iDonate.ie stores donor data inside the EEA — a practical advantage for GDPR-sensitive campaigns — while Alvarum does not.
On the headline numbers, Alvarum and iDonate.ie are closely matched — the better pick comes down to Credit card availability, language coverage, and where your donors are.
Side-by-side.
| Metric | Alvarum | iDonate.ie |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient gets (€100) | €97.85★ winner | €97.80 |
| Platform fee | 0% | 0% |
| Payment processing fee | 1.9% + €0.25★ winner | 1.95% + €0.25 |
| Trustpilot | — (0) | 4.9 (494)★ winner |
| Country coverage | 0 countries | 1 countries★ winner |
| Data residency | France | EEA★ winner |
| Languages | 2★ winner | 1 |
| Payment methods supported | 1 | 4★ winner |
Winner by category.
€97.85 vs €97.80 reaches the recipient.
— vs 4.9 on Trustpilot.
1 vs 0 countries.
EEA data residency for GDPR-sensitive donor data.
Choose based on who you are.
French and European charities and associations running cause-based or sports-challenge fundraising who want donations paid directly to the beneficiary and support for European local payment methods.
- ✓Donations are routed directly to the beneficiary charity and settled on an automated monthly cycle rather than held by the platform.
- ✓Strong fit for sports-challenge and participatory event fundraising such as marathons and cycling events.
- ✓European local payment methods - iDEAL, Bancontact, Sofort, and SEPA direct debit - alongside Visa and Mastercard cards.
- ✓Payments handled by HiPay, a payment institution authorised by France's ACPR; Alvarum registered with ORIAS as a donation crowdfunding intermediary.
Irish charities, clubs, schools, and community causes that want low transaction-only fees and a broad set of fundraising tools, including donation pages, crowdfunders, raffles, and events.
- ✓0% platform fee with a transaction-only cost of 1.95% + EUR0.25 per donation.
- ✓No setup or monthly fees.
- ✓Donor-covers-the-fee option can reduce the net deduction for causes.
- ✓Broad fundraising toolkit: donation pages, crowdfunders, raffles, and event fundraising.
A third option.
Dutch and other social-impact initiators running Global-Goals-aligned campaigns who value personal coaching and community-building over a high-volume, self-serve crowdfunding marketplace.
Other comparisons.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Alvarum or iDonate.ie?
On a €100 donation, Alvarum delivers approximately €97.85 to the recipient and iDonate.ie delivers approximately €97.80. Real costs depend on the payment method donors choose.
Which is better for European nonprofits?
iDonate.ie is generally better suited to European nonprofits handling GDPR-sensitive donor data because of its EEA data residency.
Which platform has more country coverage?
Alvarum operates in 0 countries; iDonate.ie operates in 1.
Rankings are produced by a public editorial methodology — open to peer review. We disclose ownership, scoring weights, and every change.