Fee coverage

The Fees section at the bottom of the Payment Settings panel controls whether donors are asked to cover processing fees, how the option is worded, and whether it's pre-checked. Most organizations keep everything on: when donors are asked and the box is pre-checked, more donations come in at full value, which means more of each gift reaches your mission.

The three controls

Ask donors to cover fees

Controls whether the option appears at all. When on, donors see a checkbox on the payment step asking if they'd like to add the processing fee to their gift. When off, donors pay exactly the amount they chose. Leave this on; the majority of donors who are asked will opt in.

Checkbox Text

The label next to the checkbox. Defaults to I'd like to cover the processing fee of {{fee_amount}}. The {{fee_amount}} variable interpolates the calculated fee for the donor's amount; use the Personalize dropdown to insert it into custom copy, up to 250 characters.

Cover fees by default

Whether the box is pre-checked when the payment step loads. This is the highest-leverage control in the section: pre-checking significantly raises the share of donors who cover fees, since most donors who would have opted in don't bother unchecking. The option is presented neutrally either way, and donors who prefer not to cover fees can easily uncheck it. We recommend turning this on.

What your organization receives

Whether or not the donor covers fees, you receive the donation minus the actual processor fee; the difference is whether that fee comes out of the donor's gift or is added on top of it. The added amount is an estimate, and the actual fee varies slightly with the donor's card type, location, and currency, so net amounts on covered donations can land slightly above or below the original amount. See Fee coverage explained.