Overview
Every online donation passes through a payment gateway (such as a credit card processor or bank), which charges a small processing fee. By default, this fee is deducted from the donated amount — meaning your institution receives slightly less than what the donor gave.
You can give donors the option to voluntarily cover this fee, so the full intended donation reaches you.
There are three things you can configure on each giving page:
Whether donors can cover charges at all — show or hide the option entirely
Default state — if enabled, whether the option is pre-checked or left for the donor to choose
How the goal is displayed — whether the fundraising thermometer reflects the gross amount donated or the net amount your institution actually received (covered in Excluding Payment Gateway Charges from Your Fundraising Goal)
Before You Begin: Configure Charges at the Payment Gateway
You must first set the transaction fee values on the payment gateway itself. Without this, the option cannot be enabled on the giving page.
Go to Settings → Payment Accounts and open the relevant payment account.
Enter the Fixed charge (e.g., $0.30) and Percentage charge (e.g., 3.0%) that your gateway charges per transaction.
Click Save.
Note on Recalibrate: You'll see a "Recalibrate" checkbox here. Leave this unchecked. Checking it will retroactively recalculate charges on all past donations, which can cause discrepancies in historical records.
Setting it up on the Giving Pages
Step 1: Open Your Giving Page Settings
Navigate to the giving page you want to configure. Under the Payment Account section, click on the payment account linked to this page.
Step 2: Enable "Allow Donor to Cover Charges"
Toggle on Allow donor to cover charges. This makes the option visible to donors on the payment screen.
If this toggle is greyed out or cannot be turned on, it means the fixed and percentage charges have not yet been set on the payment gateway. Complete the "Before You Begin" step above first.
Step 3: Set the Default State
Once the option is enabled, choose whether it should be opted in by default (pre-checked for the donor) or opted out by default (donor must manually check it).
Opted in by default — most donors will cover the charge unless they actively uncheck it. Maximizes fee coverage but gives donors less agency.
Opted out by default — donors actively choose to cover the fee. More transparent, with slightly lower opt-in rates in practice.
Choose whichever aligns with your institution's donor communication approach.
What Donors See
Once configured, donors will see a checkbox during checkout showing the exact fee amount and letting them choose whether to cover it. The total updates are in real time based on their choice.
What you'll see(Admins)
Donors who pay for the transaction fees have a heart symbol next to their gift amount on the gifts tab.
The Gift Export also identifies which donor has paid for the transaction/processing fees.
Next Step
Once this is set up, you may also want to configure whether your fundraising thermometer shows the gross amount donated or the net amount your institution received. See: Excluding Payment Gateway Charges from Your Fundraising Goal.