# Donation crowdfunding · United States

The platforms US causes and charities actually use — and how the new 2026 tax rules change what a $100 gift is worth to donor and recipient alike.

The United States runs overwhelmingly on cards: roughly 83% of online donations are made by debit or credit card, with PayPal, ACH bank transfers and mobile wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo) splitting the rest. There is no low-cost national rail like Europe's iDEAL or SEPA, so the per-donation story is driven less by exotic payment methods and more by platform fees and one federal question: is the recipient a registered charity, or an individual?

That distinction decides almost everything about tax. Gifts to a 501(c)(3) public charity can be deductible for the donor; money raised by an individual for a personal cause — the classic medical or memorial campaign — is generally a non-taxable gift to the recipient but is not deductible for the giver. The major platforms split along the same line: GoFundMe dominates personal causes, while Donorbox, Givebutter, Classy (now GoFundMe Pro) and Zeffy serve registered nonprofits.

Oversight is federal and state at once. The IRS recognises and polices tax-exempt status; most states require charities to register before soliciting, enforced by state attorneys general and coordinated through NASCO. There is no single federal privacy law for donor data — state regimes such as California's CCPA/CPRA apply instead — so platforms vary widely in where and how they store supporter information.

## Facts

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Currency | USD |
| Regulators | Internal Revenue Service (IRS), State charity regulators (NASCO / state attorneys general) |
| Payment methods | card, paypal, ach, apple-pay, google-pay, venmo |

## Platforms

1. **Zeffy** — £100.00/£100 · 100% free for nonprofits — donor-tip funded
2. **WhyDonate** — £98.35/£100 · Nonprofits — 0% platform fee, card + PayPal
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. **Give Lively** — £97.50/£100 · US 501(c)(3) nonprofits seeking a fully underwritten, no-cost fundraising toolkit - campaign pages, text-to-donate, peer-to-peer, and events - backed by philanthropist founders rather than platform charges.
6. **Classy** — £97.30/£100 · Larger nonprofits — events, P2P and CRM (GoFundMe Pro)
7. **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.
8. **Givebutter** — £96.80/£100 · All-in-one fundraising, events and peer-to-peer
9. **Givelify** — £96.80/£100 · US churches, places of worship, and faith-based nonprofits that want a polished mobile giving app and simple donation pages with donor analytics, rather than complex campaign tooling.
10. **GoFundMe** — £96.80/£100 · Personal and emergency causes — the best-known US brand
11. **Pledge** — £96.80/£100 · US-based individuals, nonprofits and purpose-driven companies that want a free-to-start fundraiser with a wide range of giving methods - cards, ACH, PayPal, Venmo, stock, donor-advised funds and crypto - plus Shopify and API-based embedded giving.
12. **Snowball Fundraising** — £96.80/£100 · Small and mid-sized US nonprofits that want donation forms, text-to-give, online auctions and event ticketing in one platform with US-based bilingual support, fundraising domestically in US dollars.
13. **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.
14. **Mightycause** — £95.22/£100 · US nonprofits looking for a free or low-cost starting point for donation pages, peer-to-peer campaigns, and event fundraising.
15. **Donorbox** — £94.55/£100 · Recurring giving and embeddable forms for 501(c)(3)s
16. **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.
17. **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.
18. **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 the United States?

All the platforms in the table above operate in the US. GoFundMe leads for personal and emergency causes, while Donorbox, Givebutter, Classy (GoFundMe Pro) and Zeffy focus on registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits with recurring giving, events and receipting tools. The ranking weighs the platform fee and receipt automation heavily, since card processing rates are similar across providers.

### Are donations tax-deductible in the United States?

Only gifts to an IRS-recognised 501(c)(3) charity, and only if you handle the deduction correctly. For 2026, itemizers can deduct cash gifts above a 0.5%-of-AGI floor (up to 60% of AGI), and non-itemizers can deduct up to $1,000 (single) or $2,000 (married filing jointly). Gifts to individuals or personal campaigns are not deductible.

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

Genuine gifts to an individual for a personal cause are generally not taxable income. It changes if donors receive goods or services in return, or if you're effectively running a business. A Form 1099-K (issued for 2026 above $20,000 and 200 transactions) doesn't by itself make the money taxable — you report and adjust it. Registered charities are exempt under their own rules.

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

Because cards dominate and processing rates are similar, the biggest lever is the platform fee. A 0% platform fee versus 5% is a far bigger difference on a $100 gift than any gap in card processing — so a low-fee, receipt-automating platform delivers the most to the cause.