Donors covering transaction fees

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Hi All, 

We're looking into adding some code to our Luminate and TeamRaiser pages that would enable donors the option of paying 3% of their donation to cover fees. While discussing this issue the team was wondering how other organizations handle the extra money when in terms of donor recognition. For example, if someone donates $100 + $3 for transactions fee for a total $103. Are they recognized for the total $103 in your database and reports? Or is just the $100. 


Thanks. 
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Comments

  • This is a cool idea I have seen on some other non-profit websites.


    Do you mind sharing how you are going to implement this?


    Thanks,


    Phil
  • Hi
    Phil,

     

    We will be
    working with Blackbaud and they’re going to write the code for
    us.

     

    Alicia
    N. Jackson

    Database
    Manager

     

    Melanoma Research
    Foundation

    1411
    K Street, NW Suite 800

    Washington,
    DC  20005

    T
    202.742.5899

     


    ajackson@melanoma.org

    www.melanoma.org

     

     

    Join the MRF in the
    fight against melanoma with a
    tax-deductible gift

    today!

     

     

     

  • Love this! We recently did a Blog post on the value of adding this sort of "transaction fee checkbox" feature to Luminate donation forms.

    http://cathexispartners.com/boost-your-fundraising/


    We've helped many orgs add this to their forms. It pretty much pays for itself, and we have some really inexpensive options for getting this in place quickly.


    --

    Jon Reich * Partner * Cathexis Partners * jon@cathexispartners.com * p.605.377.8147

    CathexisLogo150.jpg
  • Alicia Jackson:

    Hi All, 

    We're looking into adding some code to our Luminate and TeamRaiser pages that would enable donors the option of paying 3% of their donation to cover fees. While discussing this issue the team was wondering how other organizations handle the extra money when in terms of donor recognition. For example, if someone donates $100 + $3 for transactions fee for a total $103. Are they recognized for the total $103 in your database and reports? Or is just the $100. 


    Thanks. 

    Can someone explain how this works? Is there a way to denote to the back-end that the additional amount is dedicated to transaction fees? I remember seeing a community post about this awhile back and everyone just said it was pointless because the % fee would just come out of the increased donation. Has Blackbaud implemented a way around this?

  • If your organization offers this option on any of your donation forms, could you please let me know? I'd love to ask you a couple of questions as I am looking into this as well.


    Thanks very much,

    Gaby Gollub

    WWF
  • I put something on our forms, you can see it at https://support.zerocancer.org/site/Donation2?df_id=2261&2261.donation=form1

    You'll probably need a developer handy, but here's the basics of what I did:
    • Make a new data element called "Transaction Fee"
      • True/False type.
        • I set mine to update the constituent record (after renaming a custom boolean field in Admin > Database Config). That's not strictly necessary, but extra constituent intel never hurts, I guess.
        • You only make the field on your first form. After that, it'll be available everywhere as a "custom" data element.
      • Add to form, making it visible with the label "Help cover processing fee?"
      • Also visible on transaction summary
      • Single checkbox. Only include the "true" choice, and make the label say "Click to add 4.9% to your donation"
    • Add an "Additional Amount" data element to the form. We'll make it visible so it shows on the receipt, but we'll hide it on the form with CSS
      • Make if visible, summary field label "Fee Offset (Summary)"
      • Display style "user entered amount"
    • Add an HTML Caption element
      • Hide the "Additional Amount" field with CSS
      • Write a JS function that watch the fee checkbox
        • if checked:
          • do the math and update "additional amount"
          • update the field label to say something like "Yes! Add ____ to my donation."
        • if unchecked:
          • set "additional amount" to 0
          • update the field label to say something like, "Offset credit card processing fees by adding 4.9% to your donation."
      • Trigger the function when the page loads, if someone clicks a button, or if someone presses a key with the "other amount" field selected
    Here's a simplified version of the script I'm using on that page...

     
    // Do the magic

      function ccGiftEval(){

        var giftLevel =

          $('.active .donation-level-amount-container').text() || $('.active input:text').val();

        var ccGift = giftLevel.replace(/[^0-9\\. \\n]/g,"") * .05 - .01;

        if ( $('#transaction_fee_radio').prop('checked') == true ) {

          $('#additional_amountname').val( ccGift.toFixed(2) );

          $('#additional_amountsubmit').val( 'true' );

          $('label[for="transaction_fee_radio"]').html("Yes! Add <strong>$" + ccGift.toFixed(2) + '</strong> to my donation.' );

        } else {

          $('#additional_amountname').val( '' );

          $('#additional_amountsubmit').val( 'false' );

          $('label[for="transaction_fee_radio"]').html('Offset credit card processing fees by adding <strong>4.9%</strong> to your donation.' );

        }

      }
    // Run when page loads

      ccGiftEval();
    // Run on interactions

      $('#transaction_fee_radio, .donation-level-label-input-container input, .donation-level-user-entered input:text').on('keyup click change', function(){  ccGiftEval()  });



    Hope that's helpful.
  • Hi all- does anyone know if Altru has this option (to add optional cc fee donation)? Or is it just luminate/ teamraiser?  Thanks!

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