mycause
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.
An Australian donation crowdfunding platform founded in 2009 for individuals, charities, and schools; personal fundraisers run on optional donor tips while charities pay a platform commission plus card processing.
- Headquartered in i
- AU
- Funding model i
- Optional tip
- Platform fee i
- 0% + tip
- Payment processing fee i
- 2.5% + A$0.00
- Recipient gets i
- A$97.50 / A$100
- Data residency i
- Australia (US backup)
- Registered entity i
- The Giving Network Pty Ltd, ACN 115 262 256 (trading as mycause)
- Refund policy i
- Automatic refunds only if donation not yet passed to the charity/beneficiary
- Payout speed i
- Slow
- Countries i
- 1
- Languages i
- 1
- Domain Rating i
- 75 / 100
- Transparency i
- 4 / 5
- Last updated
- 2026-06-08
Our overall editorial assessment. Full weights are published in the methodology.
The review
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.
What’s good, what’s not.
- ✓Long-established Australian pioneer of crowdfunding, operating since 2009.
- ✓Wholly Australian owned and operated, with primary servers based in Sydney.
- ✓Personal fundraisers carry no platform charge, funded by an optional donor tip.
- ✓Donations receipted to the chosen Australian charity.
- ✓Supports varied use cases: personal causes, charities, schools, and political fundraising.
- ✓Card processing via Braintree, a PCI-compliant PayPal company, with no fixed per-transaction loading.
- −Fee structure varies by fundraiser type, so charities and schools must check their applicable rate.
- −Backups are stored on Amazon's cloud in the United States, despite Sydney-based primary servers.
- −Australia-focused, with little relevance for organisations outside the region.
- −Published privacy policy is dated 2014, so some details may be out of date.
Where each A$100 actually goes.
Fees vary by payment method. We default to Credit card because that’s the dominant method in the United Kingdom.
mycause doesn’t process payments in GBP. Pricing is shown in AUD, its native currency.
1 countries · 1 languages · 0 payment methods.
Better-fit alternatives to mycause.
Our curated shortlist — the platforms we’d actively recommend instead of mycause for fundraising in the United Kingdom, with the figures behind the call.
mycause keeps donor data in Australia (US backup); WhyDonate is EEA-resident and GDPR-native, so personal data never leaves the region.
Zeffy lets more of each donation through than mycause — £100.00 reaches the recipient per 100, against £97.50.
JustGiving lets more of each donation through than mycause — £97.80 reaches the recipient per 100, against £97.50.
See how mycause stacks up head-to-head.
Frequently asked questions
What does mycause charge?
mycause charges a 0% platform fee with an optional voluntary donor tip on top, plus 2.5% + A$0.00 in payment processing per donation.
Where is mycause based?
mycause was founded in — and is headquartered in Australia. Data residency is Australia (US backup).
Which countries does mycause operate in?
mycause operates in 1 countries, including Australia.
Is mycause suitable for nonprofits?
mycause’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.