# Donation crowdfunding · United Kingdom

The platforms British charities should use — and how Gift Aid changes what a £100 donation is really worth.

The United Kingdom runs on cards: roughly 71% of online donations are made by debit or credit card, with Apple Pay and Google Pay growing fast on mobile. There is no iDEAL equivalent, so the per-donation story is dominated less by payment method and more by one mechanism — Gift Aid.

Gift Aid lets a registered charity reclaim 25p from HMRC for every £1 a UK taxpayer donates, at no cost to the donor. A platform that captures the Gift Aid declaration cleanly at checkout adds far more value than a few basis points on processing fees — which is why our UK ranking weighs Gift Aid automation heavily.

Charities are overseen by the Charity Commission, with payment services under the FCA. Donor data sits under UK GDPR; most platforms covering Britain hold UK or EEA residency.

## Facts

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Currency | GBP |
| Regulators | FCA, Charity Commission |
| Payment methods | card, paypal, bank-transfer, apple-pay, google-pay |

## Platforms

1. **Big Give** — £100.00/£100 · UK-registered charities running time-limited appeals that can secure pledges and Champion match funding to double public donations during a campaign window.
2. **TotalGiving** — £100.00/£100 · UK registered charities and their supporters who want fundraising and sponsorship pages where donations pass directly to the charity, with Gift Aid and multi-currency donations.
3. **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.
4. **GiveWheel** — £98.60/£100 · UK fundraisers, charities, companies, and event organisers who want to raise for one or several charities at once, with custom donation splits, Gift Aid, ticketed events, and prize draws.
5. **WhyDonate** — £98.35/£100 · EU/UK nonprofits — 0% fee, transparent pricing
6. **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.
7. **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.
8. **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.
9. **La Cagnotte des Proches** — £97.53/£100 · Families, friends, and colleagues in France raising a solidarity cagnotte to support a loved one facing illness, disability, an accident, end-of-life care, or bereavement.
10. **Crowdfunder UK** — £97.48/£100 · UK community projects, charities, social enterprises, and individuals who want match funding and Gift Aid alongside either donation or reward-based crowdfunding and can settle to a UK bank account.
11. **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.
12. **GoFundMe** — £96.80/£100 · Personal causes — the best-known UK brand
13. **Donorbox** — £94.55/£100 · Embeddable forms with Gift Aid capture
14. **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.
15. **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.
16. **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.
17. **StartSomeGood** — £92.10/£100 · Nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, and changemakers running social-impact crowdfunding campaigns who want a flexible 'tipping point' funding model rather than strict all-or-nothing.
18. **Leetchi** — £90.85/£100 · Informal group collections
19. **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 the United Kingdom?

The platforms in the table above all operate in Britain. The UK ranking leans on Gift Aid automation and event-fundraising tooling as much as on processing fees, since Gift Aid is worth far more than a few basis points.

### How does Gift Aid work?

If you’re a UK taxpayer, a registered charity can reclaim 25p from HMRC for every £1 you give, at no cost to you — you just make a short Gift Aid declaration. Higher- and additional-rate taxpayers can claim further relief through Self Assessment.

### 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 trading — then it can be taxable. Registered charities are exempt and can claim Gift Aid.

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

Because card dominates, processing fees are broadly similar across platforms. The biggest lever is Gift Aid: capturing it adds 25% before fees, which dwarfs any difference in processing rate.