# Donation crowdfunding · Ireland

Which platform delivers the most of every euro to Irish causes — and how the Charitable Donation Scheme lets a charity reclaim 31% on a €250 gift.

Ireland is a card-first donation market: debit and credit cards carry the majority of online giving, with Apple Pay and Google Pay growing fast on mobile and PayPal still popular for one-off gifts. There is no domestic bank-transfer rail like the Netherlands' iDEAL, so the per-donation story turns less on an exotic local method and more on card processing — and on one tax mechanism.

That mechanism is the Charitable Donation Scheme. Unusually, when an individual gives €250 or more in a year to an approved body, it is the charity — not the donor — that reclaims a grossed-up refund from Revenue at the 31% specified rate. A platform that captures the donor's CHY authorisation cleanly is worth far more to an Irish charity than a few basis points on processing fees.

Charities are overseen by the Charities Regulator, which issues the Registered Charity Number, while Revenue grants the separate CHY charitable-tax-exemption number that unlocks the donation scheme. Payment services sit under the Central Bank of Ireland, and donor data under the GDPR — so platforms with EEA data residency carry a materially lighter compliance burden than those storing donor PII in the US.

## Facts

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Currency | EUR |
| Regulators | Central Bank of Ireland, Charities Regulator |
| Payment methods | card, apple-pay, google-pay, paypal, sepa |

## Platforms

1. **4fund.com** — £100.00/£100 · Individuals, charities, and small organisations across the EEA who want a multilingual, no-commission fundraiser backed by an established Polish crowdfunding operator with EU payment-institution licensing.
2. **WhyDonate** — £98.35/£100 · EU/Irish nonprofits — 0% platform fee, cards + wallets
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. **iRaiser** — £97.85/£100 · Established European nonprofits, foundations, hospitals, and cultural institutions that want branded, self-hosted fundraising tools — forms, peer-to-peer, crowdfunding, and events — under their own identity.
5. **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.
6. **Leetchi** — £96.85/£100 · Group collections and informal fundraisers
7. **GoFundMe** — £96.80/£100 · Personal causes — broad brand reach
8. **Donorbox** — £94.55/£100 · Embeddable forms with CHY-scheme capture
9. **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.
10. **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.
11. **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.
12. **Steady** — £87.10/£100 · European creators, independent journalists, podcasters, and publishers who want recurring income from paying members rather than one-off donation campaigns.

## FAQ

### Which platforms work in Ireland?

iDonate is the Irish-built option (no platform fee, a small transaction charge), while GoFundMe, Whydonate and Indiegogo all operate here too. The strongest picks for charities capture the CHY donation-scheme authorisation alongside supporting cards and digital wallets.

### Are donations tax-deductible in Ireland?

Not for individual donors directly. Under the Charitable Donation Scheme a gift of €250 or more in a year to an approved body lets the charity reclaim a grossed-up refund from Revenue at the 31% specified rate; the donor signs a CHY certificate but gets no personal deduction. Companies instead deduct qualifying donations as a trading expense.

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

As an individual, gifts can fall under Capital Acquisitions Tax: the first €3,000 from any one donor each year is exempt, and gifts from unrelated donors draw on a €20,000 lifetime Group-C threshold before CAT applies at 33%. Many small public gifts for a genuine cause are typically untaxed. Registered charities (CHY) are exempt.

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

Because cards dominate, processing fees are broadly similar across platforms. The biggest lever is the Charitable Donation Scheme: capturing the donor's CHY authorisation lets an approved body reclaim 31% on €250+ gifts, far outweighing any difference in processing rate.