Donorbox
Small-to-medium nonprofits across verticals like churches, healthcare, education, and animal welfare that want recurring-donation tooling, donor fee-cover, and a managed donation-form product without a CRM-scale platform commitment.
A US-headquartered donation platform founded in 2014, serving 100,000+ nonprofits with a 2.95% standard fee, optional donor fee-cover, and broad payment-rail support across North America and Europe.
- Founded i
- 2014
- Headquartered in i
- US
- Funding model i
- Keep What You Raise
- Platform fee i
- 2.95%
- Payment processing fee i
- 2.2% + £0.30
- Recipient gets i
- £94.55 / £100
- Data residency i
- US
- Registered entity i
- Rebel Idealist, Inc. (Delaware, US), dba Donorbox
- Refund policy i
- Donations: organisation handles refunds/chargebacks; Donorbox platform fees non-refundable
- Payout speed i
- Standard
- Countries i
- 23
- Languages i
- 12
- Trustpilot i
- 4.1 / 5
- Domain Rating i
- 91 / 100
- Transparency i
- 4 / 5
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Our overall editorial assessment. Full weights are published in the methodology.
The review
Donorbox was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. The platform built its product around nonprofit fundraising — donation forms, event ticketing, and recurring giving — and now serves more than 100,000 nonprofits. Organizations can register across North America, much of Western Europe, and parts of Asia-Pacific, while donors can give from around the world.
Pricing is tiered: the Standard plan charges 2.95% on donation forms and 3.95% on event ticketing with no monthly subscription; the Pro plan ($150/month) drops the donation-form fee to 1.75% and adds recurring-donation upsell tooling; a Premium tier serves larger nonprofits via a custom contract. Donors can opt to cover the platform fee at checkout, an option Donorbox encourages as the default.
The platform's strengths are nonprofit-specific tooling — recurring giving, multi-form embedding, and vertical templates for churches, healthcare, education, and animal-welfare organizations — and broad payment-rail coverage. Its main trade-off for European organizations is US jurisdiction: the privacy policy governs disputes under US terms and does not commit to EEA data residency, though the GDPR section confirms standard transfer protections. For US nonprofits these trade-offs rarely matter; for European organizations under GDPR-strict procurement, they often do.
Payment support spans cards, ACH (BACS in the UK), SEPA, iDEAL, Bancontact, Klarna, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Cash App, and Link by Stripe — a mix that covers North American and European primary rails alongside global wallets. The interface is multilingual and donations process in a range of currencies.
What’s good, what’s not.
- ✓Donor-cover-fees option at checkout — Donorbox frames opt-in as the default, so the recipient can receive the full donation amount.
- ✓Broad payment-rail support: iDEAL, Bancontact, SEPA, BACS, Klarna, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Link by Stripe.
- ✓Standard plan has no monthly subscription — just per-transaction fees on the 2.95% / 3.95% tier.
- ✓First-class recurring-donation tooling with upsell prompts and donor-management features on the Pro tier.
- ✓Multilingual interface and multi-currency support, with organizations able to register across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
- ✓Serves 100,000+ nonprofits with vertical-specific templates for churches, healthcare, education, and faith-based organizations.
- −Standard plan's 2.95% donation fee (3.95% on event ticketing) is higher than tip-based donation platforms that charge 0% to the recipient.
- −Privacy policy governs disputes under US terms and does not commit to EEA data residency — relevant for European organizations under GDPR-strict procurement.
- −Pro plan ($150/month subscription) is required for full recurring-donation upsell tooling, advanced donor management, and the lower 1.75% donation-form fee.
- −Premium tier uses contact-sales pricing — larger nonprofits cannot compare cost upfront without engaging the sales team.
Where each £100 actually goes.
Fees vary by payment method. We default to Credit card because that’s the dominant method in the United Kingdom.
| Payment method | Per transaction | Of £100, recipient gets | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACH · Afterpay · Amazon Pay · Apple Pay · Bacs · Bancontact · Cash App · Google Pay · iDEAL · Klarna · Link · Multibanco · PayPal · Pix · Revolut Pay · Satispay · Venmo | 2.95% + £0.29 | £96.76 | 2.95% platform fee |
| SEPA | 3.3% + £0.25 | £96.45 | 2.95% platform fee |
| Card | 5.15% + £0.30 | £94.55 | 2.95% platform fee |
23 countries · 12 languages · 19 payment methods.
Better-fit alternatives to Donorbox.
Our curated shortlist — the platforms we’d actively recommend instead of Donorbox for fundraising in the United Kingdom, with the figures behind the call.
Donorbox keeps donor data in US; WhyDonate is EEA-resident and GDPR-native, so personal data never leaves the region.
Zeffy lets more of each donation through than Donorbox — £100.00 reaches the recipient per 100, against £94.55.
JustGiving lets more of each donation through than Donorbox — £97.80 reaches the recipient per 100, against £94.55.
See how Donorbox stacks up head-to-head.
Frequently asked questions
What does Donorbox charge?
Donorbox charges a 2.95% platform fee and 2.2% + £0.30 in payment processing per donation.
Where is Donorbox based?
Donorbox was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in the United States. Data residency is US.
Which countries does Donorbox operate in?
Donorbox operates in 23 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia.
Which payment methods does Donorbox support?
Donorbox accepts Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, SEPA, iDEAL, Bancontact, Klarna, ACH, Bacs, Venmo, Amazon Pay, Cash App, Link, Afterpay, Multibanco, Pix, Revolut Pay, Satispay.
Is Donorbox suitable for nonprofits?
Donorbox’s primary audience is individual fundraisers and groups; nonprofits can use the platform but may find specialized alternatives better suited.
Rankings are produced by a public editorial methodology — open to peer review. We disclose ownership, scoring weights, and every change.