# Donation crowdfunding · Australia

Which platform delivers the most of every Australian dollar to your cause — and what the ATO expects from donors and fundraisers.

Australia runs on cards. Roughly 41% of online payments are made by debit or credit card, with digital wallets — Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay — adding around 31% and growing fast on mobile. There is no domestic bank-transfer rail like iDEAL that dominates giving, so the per-donation story turns less on payment method and more on platform fees and on one question: does the recipient hold DGR status?

Tax-deductible giving in Australia hinges on Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) endorsement, granted by the ATO. A donor can claim a gift of $2 or more to a DGR-endorsed organisation — but not every registered charity is a DGR, so the donor and fundraiser sides of the tax question are genuinely different, which is why this guide splits them below.

Charities are overseen by the ACNC (the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission); payment and financial services sit under ASIC, with fundraising also licensed state-by-state. Donor data is governed by the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles, so platforms transacting and storing data locally in Australia carry a lighter compliance story than those routing donor data offshore.

## Facts

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Currency | AUD |
| Regulators | ACNC, ASIC |
| Payment methods | card, apple-google-pay, paypal, payid, bpay, bnpl |

## Platforms

1. **Grassrootz** — kr100.00/kr100 · Australian and New Zealand registered charities running peer-to-peer campaigns and endurance-event fundraising who want supporter-driven tools and in-person cashless giving rather than personal one-off fundraisers.
2. **Zeffy** — kr100.00/kr100 · 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.
3. **WhyDonate** — kr98.35/kr100 · AU/EU nonprofits — 0% platform fee, transparent pricing
4. **Raisely** — kr98.30/kr100 · 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.
5. **GiveNow** — kr98.24/kr100 · Small to medium-sized Australian charities, not-for-profits, and community groups that want a low-overhead, no-lock-in donation platform with local Australian data storage and an optional donor-covers-cost model.
6. **GoFundraise** — kr98.22/kr100 · Australian individuals, charities, and event organisers running personal or peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns who want Australian-hosted, PCI-secure infrastructure and DGR-aware tax receipting.
7. **Little Phil** — kr97.95/kr100 · Australian donors, companies, and nonprofits focused on impact transparency and modern giving options such as crypto, workplace giving, and Shopify post-checkout donations, where offshore data storage is not a blocker.
8. **JustGiving** — kr97.80/kr100 · 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. **mycause** — kr97.50/kr100 · Australian individuals, registered charities, and schools running domestic donation campaigns who value a long-established, locally owned platform with Australian data residency and a donor-tip funding model for personal causes.
10. **Classy** — kr97.30/kr100 · 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.
11. **GoFundMe** — kr96.80/kr100 · Personal causes — the best-known brand in Australia
12. **Donorbox** — kr94.55/kr100 · Embeddable donation forms with DGR receipting
13. **Fundraise Up** — kr93.50/kr100 · 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.
14. **GoGetFunding** — kr92.80/kr100 · Individual fundraisers running personal, medical, or emergency campaigns who prefer a fundraiser-paid platform fee over donor tipping, with broad international country availability.
15. **Chuffed** — kr92.20/kr100 · 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 Australia?

Platforms operating in Australia include GoFundMe (live in AU since 2016), the Australian-owned mycause and GiveNow, and Chuffed for social-justice causes. The ranking leans on the platform's own fee and its DGR receipting as much as on processing rates, since cards dominate and processing costs are broadly similar.

### Are donations tax-deductible in Australia?

Only when the recipient holds Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) endorsement from the ATO and the gift is $2 or more and is a genuine gift (you get nothing of value in return). Not every registered charity is a DGR — check the ABN Lookup DGR listing first. Gifts to individuals are not deductible.

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

If you are an individual running a genuine donation-based campaign — not a business, no recurring payments, nothing given in return — the ATO generally treats the funds like a gift, so they are usually not assessable income. Reward-based or business-like campaigns can be taxable, and GST may apply. Registered charities are generally exempt.

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

Because cards and digital wallets dominate, processing fees are broadly similar across platforms. The bigger levers are the platform's own fee and whether it settles funds locally in AUD and issues DGR receipts cleanly — those move the recipient-gets figure more than the payment method does.