# Donation crowdfunding · Canada

The platforms Canadian charities and organizers should use — and how an official CRA donation receipt turns a $100 gift into a 40–50% tax credit for the donor.

Canada runs on cards: credit and debit account for the majority of consumer payments, and online donations follow suit, with Apple Pay and Google Pay climbing fast on mobile checkout. There is no single donation rail like iDEAL — but Interac e-Transfer, Canada's bank-to-bank standard, has grown to well over a billion transactions a year and gives platforms a low-cost account-to-account option many organizers prefer.

Because card fees are broadly similar across platforms, the per-donation story in Canada is driven less by payment method and more by one mechanism: the official donation receipt. Only a CRA-registered charity (or other qualified donee) can issue one, and that receipt unlocks the donor's charitable tax credit — federal plus provincial — which for most donors is worth 40–50% of the gift on amounts above the first $200. Platforms that automate compliant receipts add far more value than a few basis points on processing.

Registered charities are regulated by the CRA's Charities Directorate; payment and consumer-protection oversight sits with the FCAC, with retail payment service providers now supervised by the Bank of Canada under the Retail Payment Activities Act. Donor data is governed federally by PIPEDA (and by provincial privacy laws in BC, Alberta and Quebec), so platforms with Canadian or strong privacy-compliant data handling carry a lighter burden.

## Facts

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Currency | CAD |
| Regulators | Canada Revenue Agency (Charities Directorate), Financial Consumer Agency of Canada |
| Payment methods | card, interac-e-transfer, paypal, apple-google-pay, interac-debit |

## Platforms

1. **Zeffy** — £100.00/£100 · Nonprofits and charitable organisations in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia that want donation forms, event ticketing, auctions, and donor management together in one tool without per-tool software costs.
2. **WhyDonate** — £98.35/£100 · Nonprofits — 0% platform fee, transparent pricing
3. **Raisely** — £98.30/£100 · Australian, UK and North American charities and nonprofits that want fully customizable, white-label peer-to-peer and recurring-giving campaigns, full ownership of their donor data and no lock-in contracts.
4. **JustGiving** — £97.80/£100 · UK charities and individual fundraisers who want a recognised, no-platform-fee donation platform with Gift Aid support and a fully free direct-donation option.
5. **Classy** — £97.30/£100 · Mid-to-large US nonprofits running enterprise-scale peer-to-peer campaigns, ticketed events, and recurring-giving programmes that need depth beyond a basic donation page.
6. **Continue to Give** — £97.05/£100 · US and Canadian churches, faith-based nonprofits, and missionaries that want an all-in-one giving platform with recurring and text giving, event tools, and built-in fund accounting.
7. **GoFundMe** — £96.80/£100 · Personal causes — the best-known Canadian brand
8. **Yapla** — £95.80/£100 · Nonprofits, clubs, and associations in Canada and parts of Europe that want to run donations and fundraising inside a single tool alongside memberships, events, accounting, and contact management.
9. **Donorbox** — £94.55/£100 · Embeddable donation forms with recurring giving
10. **Fundraise Up** — £93.50/£100 · Mid-size and large nonprofits running international online fundraising that want to maximize donation conversion with modern wallets, local payment rails, and multi-currency checkout.
11. **GoGetFunding** — £92.80/£100 · Individual fundraisers running personal, medical, or emergency campaigns who prefer a fundraiser-paid platform fee over donor tipping, with broad international country availability.
12. **Chuffed** — £92.20/£100 · Nonprofits, social enterprises, and community-cause organisers in 29 supported countries who want a 100%-free, tip-funded platform and are willing to complete identity verification before launching.

## FAQ

### Which platforms work in Canada?

The platforms in the table above operate in Canada and support Canadian dollars. Specialist Canadian options such as CanadaHelps and FundRazr focus on registered-charity receipting and peer-to-peer tools, while global names like GoFundMe and Donorbox are widely used for personal and nonprofit campaigns. The ranking weighs official CRA receipt automation and Canadian coverage alongside processing fees.

### Are donations tax-deductible in Canada?

Gifts to a CRA-registered charity earn a non-refundable donation tax credit, not a deduction. Federally it's 15% on the first $200 and 29% above that (33% for top-bracket income), and every province adds its own credit on top — so combined relief on larger gifts is often 40–50%. You need an official donation receipt; gifts to individuals don't qualify.

### Will I be taxed on money I raise?

Canada has no gift tax, and the CRA generally treats genuine donation-based crowdfunding for a personal cause as a non-taxable gift. It changes if donors receive rewards, products or services in return, or if you're effectively running a business — then it can be taxable business income, possibly with GST/HST. Registered charities are exempt.

### What's the cheapest way to receive donations here?

Because card dominates online giving, processing fees are broadly similar across platforms. The biggest lever is whether an official CRA donation receipt is issued, which unlocks a 40–50% credit for the donor. Where a platform supports Interac e-Transfer, that bank-to-bank rail can also lower per-donation cost versus card.