Alvarum vs iHelp
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.
Spanish nonprofits and donors who value vetted, legitimacy-checked causes and a commission-light giving model, and who are comfortable with a single Santander payment gateway and a smaller catalogue of campaigns.
On a €100 donation, iHelp delivers €2.15 more to the recipient than Alvarum.
Alvarum & iHelp don’t process payments in GBP — pricing shown in EUR.
What the data says.
Paying by Credit card, iHelp delivers about €2.15 more of every €100 donated than Alvarum (€100.00 vs €97.85).
iHelp stores donor data inside the EEA — a practical advantage for GDPR-sensitive campaigns — while Alvarum does not.
Side-by-side.
| Metric | Alvarum | iHelp |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient gets (€100) | €97.85 | €100.00★ winner |
| Platform fee | 0% | 0% |
| Payment processing fee | 1.9% + €0.25 | 0% + €0.00★ winner |
| Trustpilot | — (0) | — (0) |
| Country coverage | 0 countries | 1 countries★ winner |
| Data residency | France | EU★ winner |
| Languages | 2 | 2 |
| Payment methods supported | 1 | 1 |
Winner by category.
€100.00 vs €97.85 reaches the recipient.
— vs — 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.
Spanish nonprofits and donors who value vetted, legitimacy-checked causes and a commission-light giving model, and who are comfortable with a single Santander payment gateway and a smaller catalogue of campaigns.
- ✓No platform commission charged to nonprofits or donors, per iHelp's FAQ.
- ✓NGOs and causes are vetted for legality and viability before listing.
- ✓Long heritage in Spanish online giving, continuing Cibersolidaridad.org which ran from 2001.
- ✓Post-donation follow-up and a stated focus on transparent, effective altruism.
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 iHelp?
On a €100 donation, Alvarum delivers approximately €97.85 to the recipient and iHelp delivers approximately €100.00. Real costs depend on the payment method donors choose.
Which is better for European nonprofits?
iHelp 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; iHelp operates in 1.
Rankings are produced by a public editorial methodology — open to peer review. We disclose ownership, scoring weights, and every change.