NGO, NPO & Social Enterprise News South Africa

GivenGain opens up premium features free of charge

Global fundraising platform for charities GivenGain has opened up access to all its premium fundraising features free of charge.
Marc Freudweiler, executive director, GivenGain Foundation
Marc Freudweiler, executive director, GivenGain Foundation

Marc Freudweiler, executive director of the GivenGain Foundation, says the online fundraising platform will no longer charge charities a usage fee – $5 per month per campaign – to gain access to advanced analytics, unlimited fundraising campaigns and unlimited users. These and other premium features are now free across the board.

Spreading the love

Freudweiler says the idea with the announcement came when the platform registered robust growth in recent years.

“With massive global fundraising events like GivingTuesday, interspersed with calamities like the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw a growing need for uncomplicated fundraising to boost charity incomes, and decided to open up to all recognised charities anywhere who register with us,” he continues.

“We wanted to simplify the pathway to online fundraising as much as possible for everyone who wants to change the world for the better.”

Donors can now cover donation fee

While use of GivenGain is now completely free, making fundraising accessible to many smaller charities, donations on the GivenGain platform attract a modest fee – as with all financial intermediary transactions.

Freudweiler says at 5%, GivenGain’s transaction fee is in line with the industry standard and matches or beats that of its more commercially driven competitors. Now, donors can cover even this fee, potentially giving the charity 100% of their donation. He says at latest count, some 92% of donors made use of this option since its inception in March.

“In the charity world, that means a lot,” says Freudweiler. “At a time when digital becomes increasingly important to raise money safely, we hope charities will make extensive use of our ‘free forever’ offering to increase their impact.”

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