Fee coverage

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

Before you begin

You'll need an Admin role and an existing campaign.

Open the Fees controls

In the donation page editor, click directly on the Payment Info section in the form preview to open the Payments panel. Scroll to the Fees section at the bottom.

The three Fees controls

Ask donors to cover fees

A toggle that controls whether the cover-fees option appears on the form at all. When on, donors see a checkbox near the donation amount asking if they'd like to add to their gift to cover processing fees. When off, no option is shown and donors pay exactly the amount they entered.

Leave this on. The majority of donors who are asked will opt in, which means more of each gift reaches your mission.

Checkbox Text

The label that appears next to the cover-fees checkbox. Defaults to I'd like to cover the processing fee of {{fee_amount}}.

You can customize this text in the rich text editor, with bold, italic, strikethrough, and color formatting available. The {{fee_amount}} variable interpolates the calculated fee dynamically — a $100 donation might show "I'd like to cover the processing fee of $3.20." Use the Personalize dropdown to insert the variable into your custom copy.

This is the only variable available in the checkbox text.

Cover fees by default

A toggle that controls whether the checkbox is pre-checked when the form loads. When on, donors who do nothing will cover fees; donors who explicitly don't want to can uncheck the box. When off, donors actively opt in.

This is the highest-leverage control in the Fees section. Pre-checking the box significantly raises the share of donors who cover fees — most donors who would have opted in don't bother unchecking, and a meaningful portion of donors who would have opted out also don't notice. The result is more donations at full value.

The option is presented neutrally either way, and donors who prefer not to cover fees can easily decline. We recommend turning this on.

What donors see

Whether or not the donor covers fees, your nonprofit receives 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.

Why net amounts may not match donations exactly

The amount added to cover fees is an estimate. The actual fee charged by Stripe or PayPal is determined per transaction and varies slightly based on the donor's card type, location, and currency. This means net amounts on covered donations may come in slightly above or below the original donation amount.

For the full explanation of why this happens, see Fee coverage explained.