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How is Zeffy free?
How is Zeffy free?
Zeffy relies entirely on optional contributions from donors. At the payment confirmation step - we ask donors to leave an optional contribution to Zeffy.
Donorbox is an all-in-one online fundraising platform that’s tailored to what nonprofits, charities, churches, and other organizations seeking to raise funds effectively and efficiently need to succeed. Donorbox is widely used for organizations of all sizes, from grassroots initiatives to large-scale nonprofits.
So, is a Donorbox account the best fit for your nonprofit? The only way to know is to read honest reviews, understand pricing, explore features, and learn the alternative options. Consider this your one-stop shop for all the information you need to evaluate Donorbox thoroughly.
Donorbox has a 4.7/5 “value for money” score on Capterra. It’s free to start, and a platform fee of 1.75% for the Standard plan is charged. For the Pro plan, which is $139/month, the cost is further reduced to 1.5%.
Additionally, all transactions on a Donorbox form are subject to a payment processing fee of 2.2% + $0.30 with Stripe and 1.99% + $0.49 with PayPal. It’s important to calculate these costs into the total funding you’ll actually take away for your cause as you fundraise.
Donorbox has a 4.6/5 score for features on Capterra. Organizations enjoy a variety of tools that help them fundraise, including:
Customizable donation forms: Create donation forms that match your nonprofit’s branding and embed them on your website or share them through a direct link. These forms are simple and work well on both desktop and mobile devices.
Recurring donations: Make it easy for donors to set up regular weekly, monthly, or annual donations. Recurring donations provide a reliable source of funding for your organization.
Donor management tools: Keep donor information organized and secure. Track giving history, send personalized receipts, and export data for reporting or deeper analysis.
Transaction security: All donations are protected with SSL encryption and meet PCI-DSS standards to ensure donor information stays safe.
Insights and reporting: Use intuitive dashboards to track donation trends, campaign performance, and donor engagement. These insights can help refine your fundraising efforts and plan more effectively.
Donorbox has a 4.8/5 score for customer service on Capterra. Options for support and assistance include:
Website FAQs: Find quick answers to frequently asked questions online
Customer support requests: An online submission form can connect you to a sales representative to address issues
While quick answers can cover a lot of information that helps you in a pinch, it’s worth considering that there is no fast way to access a live representative through the phone or a live chat on Donorbox’s website currently.
Donorbox pros
Donation management
“I was struggling trying to find a way to encourage monthly donations, and i'd looked at all sorts of alternatives. But with Donorbox, I built the levels, including a blank level where donors can input their own amount (something most other solutions didn't offer), and then adding the code to my site was super easy.” — Lisa B.
Customer support
“The customer support regarding technical issues is really helpful, one of the best experiences with support.” — User
Feature range
“Multiple campaigns, single and recurring payments, ticket sales, memberships, customizable templates... Donborbox has got it, with an easy-to-understand interface and easy-to-integrate forms. Multiple campaigns, single and recurring payments, ticket sales, memberships, customizable templates... Donborbox has got it, with an easy-to-understand interface and easy-to-integrate forms.” — Brad S.
Customization
“What truly sets it apart is its ability to customize campaigns, empowering us to showcase our school's unique identity and mission, while effortlessly connecting with donors near and far.” — Modesto
Donorbox cons
Price
“The fees, of course, are challenging. Donorbox charges a fee and then Stripe, their merchant processer, charges a fee on top of that. This can make the product rather expensive.” -— Lauren
Lack of donor engagement features
“One downside is that it does not make it easy to interact with donors on the backend, I would like the ability to send a donor a thank you note with ease for their contribution and support. Presently there is not a 'thank the donor' feature.” — Tabia
Limited reporting functionality
“The reports are fairly limited in the ability to customize outputs, but there's enough data collected that you can filter things very easily in Excel.” — Andrew
Donor management is not user friendly
“I would love to see Donorbox create a more robust CRM without losing their user-friendliness. Adding donor interactions is tedious so they need a BCC feature that allows you to copy email interactions directly to a donor's profile without opening the software.” — Cherri
The 3 best Donorbox alternatives
1. Zeffy - The only 100% free fundraising all-in-one platform
Zeffy is a 100% free online fundraising platform—built by changemakers, for changemakers. Unlike other fundraising software, Zeffy is a true all-in-one solution that offers a full suite of tools to build lasting donor relationships.
From event ticketing to membership management, Zeffy is the only platform that helps you raise money and reach your fundraising goals—without taking a cent of your donations. Creating a website for receiving donations is super easy with Zeffy as a free Donorbox alternative.
Highlight features:
No platform fees: Completely free without any unexpected platform fees so you can accept donations and see every dollar go to your cause.
No transaction fees: Covers credit card processing fees, ensuring every dollar donated goes directly to the cause.
Flexible payment options: Accepts everything from Google Pay and Apple Pay to ACH and PAD.
Customizable forms: Offers easy-to-use, customizable donation forms that can match your brand and automate email receipts.
Recurring donations: Encouraging recurring donors that establish more predictable funding with suggested donation amounts to make a big impact.
Event management: Includes tools for ticketed events, enabling nonprofits to manage registrations and payments seamlessly.
Campaign versatility: Supports a wide array of diversified fundraising activities to meet your goals, including memberships, auctions, events, e-commerce, and peer-to-peer campaigns.
User-friendly interface: An intuitive platform makes it easy for organizers and donors to take action quickly.
Strong support for nonprofits: Designed specifically for nonprofit needs, including tax-deductible donation receipts automated for you.
Givebutter is a social and comprehensive fundraising platform that caters to the next generation of donors with tons of online giving tools. The Donorbox alternative offers a range of fundraising tools to accept donations, including customizable donation forms, event ticketing, and peer-to-peer fundraising.
Givebutter brings fun and community into the fundraising process with a simple design and user experience. Givebutter has no setup or platform fees, but payment processing fees of 2.9% + $0.30 apply, with an option to allow donors to cover this expense.
Highlight features:
Multi-channel fundraising: Fundraise across multiple channels in one platform.
Peer-to-peer fundraising: Give supporters a way to create personalized fundraising pages to raise money for your nonprofit from their family and friends.
Event management: Host ticketed events, auctions, and raffles either virtually or in-person events.
Classy can support many fundraising avenues to raies money from customizable donation forms, to peer-to-peer fundraising and strong event management. Robust analytics and reporting tools also provide you with those valuable insights that help a nonprofit track success and refine their fundraising strategy each year.
Highlight features:
Authentic storytelling and visuals: Donation pages encourage impact-driven narratives paired with high-quality photos or videos
Donor engagement: Leaderboards, interactive events, company matching for gifts, and personalized donor appreciation help to foster meaningful connections
Seamless giving experience: Professional branding, transparent donation options, and an easy, mobile-friendly giving experience help attract modern donors.
Yes, Donorbox is a trustworthy and secure fundraising platform. It complies with industry standards for data protection and uses encryption to ensure donor information remains safe. Many nonprofits rely on Donorbox for its transparency and customer support.
Donorbox charges a 1.75% platform fee for its Standard plan that is mainly designed for smaller organizations or anyone dipping their toes into online fundraising. The Pro plan, which offers additional features and greater customization, costs $139/month and has a reduced fee of 1.5%.
These fees cover operational costs, but there are also transaction fees for credit card contributions, typically 2.9% + 30¢ per donation, depending on the payment processor (PayPal or Stripe).
Once donations are processed, you can typically see funds in your bank account within 2 to 3 business days through Donorbox. Of course, this timeline isn’t a guarantee and can vary based on the payment processor and bank, but Donorbox aims to facilitate quick transfers to ensure you can access the funds as soon as possible.
Donorbox supports recurring donations with tools that help make it easy and fast for supporters. Donors can choose between monthly, quarterly, or yearly contributions that turn into a predictable revenue stream for nonprofits.
Donorbox makes it easy for donors to manage their subscriptions and donation amounts. The platform automatically processes these donations according to the schedule.
Donorbox makes money by charging a platform fee on the donations processed through its platform. The fees help cover the costs of maintaining and improving the software, as well as processing payments.
In addition to the platform fee, Donorbox charges a transaction fee (based on the payment processor), which typically includes credit card processing fees. This is how Donorbox sustains its operations while offering valuable tools to nonprofits.
Zeffy is the best alternative to Donorbox, especially for nonprofits looking to avoid fundraising fees. Zeffy is the only zero-fee fundraising platform that gives 100% of donations directly to nonprofits, making it a highly appealing option for organizations focused on maximizing their impact.
Unlike other platforms that take a portion of the donation for platform and transaction fees, Zeffy covers these costs and allows every dollar donated to go straight to the cause. While many other fundraising platforms offer low fees, these can quickly add up, reducing the overall funds received.
Nonprofits worldwide paid approximately $3 billion in transaction fees last year alone—money that could have been used to support critical initiatives, such as feeding 1.4 million children, planting 60 million trees, or building 20,000 homes.
Zeffy aims to eliminate these fees, allowing nonprofits to keep every penny of their donations and ensuring more funds go directly to their missions.
