mycause

L’avis

mycause is an Australian donation crowdfunding platform founded in 2009 and operated by The Giving Network Pty Ltd, which calls itself a pioneer of crowdfunding in Australia. It is wholly Australian owned and operated and serves individuals, registered charities, and schools, alongside event registration and political fundraising for council, state, and federal elections.

Pricing depends on who is fundraising. Personal-cause fundraisers are not charged a platform fee by mycause; instead, operating costs are covered by an optional donor tip, sometimes called a donor-pays model, while the beneficiary covers card-processing costs. Registered charities typically pay a platform commission set by their contract, and schools can pass an optional platform charge to donors. Payments are processed through Braintree, a PCI-compliant PayPal company, and mycause notes it does not add a fixed per-transaction loading.

mycause's strengths are its longevity as an Australian pioneer, local ownership, and clear data sovereignty, since it states its servers are based in Sydney. The trade-offs are that the fee structure varies by fundraiser type, so charities and schools should check their applicable rate, and the platform is Australia-focused. For Australian individuals, charities, and schools running domestic campaigns these terms fit well; organisations outside Australia are not the target market.

On data handling, mycause states that personal information is processed in Australia and that its servers are based in Sydney, with backups to Amazon's cloud in the United States, and it operates under the Australian Privacy Principles. Donations are receipted to the chosen Australian charity. Prospective users should note that the published privacy policy is dated 2014, so some specifics may warrant confirmation.