Village Reach lost $1500 to Donorbox fees. They’ve already saved nearly as much with Zeffy.

Village Reach operates on a simple but important philosophy: the best people to solve a community’s problems are people from that community. The Village Reach team gathers funds, expertise, and willing volunteers from the United States to support innovative projects that are designed and led by people who live in the target communities.

“Our Mission: Village Reach is a global nonprofit empowering individuals with bold dreams to effect meaningful change in their communities. We provide resources, encouragement, and project support, mobilizing our team and donors to turn these visions into a reality. Together, we enable dreamers to transform their villages and leave a lasting impact.” – Alyssa Roman, Mission Communications Lead at Village Reach

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Background

When a man named Vuthy welcomed two Americans to his village in Vietnam to help run a soccer tournament, he couldn’t know he was setting the pair on a years-long path. Katlyn van Wingerden and Chase Collins helped Vuthy gear the soccer tournament toward addressing substance abuse issues in the village, and they loved getting the chance to do so. 

Katlyn and Chase loved it so much, in fact, that they began looking for more consistent ways to support projects exactly like Vuthy’s. Years after the soccer tournament, catching up at a rooftop restaurant in Dallas, Texas, Katlyn and Chase decided to dedicate more of their time and efforts to helping visionaries like Vuthy on their home turf by founding a nonprofit, and that was the beginning of Village Reach.

“They were struck by the impact of seeing a dream materialize and felt driven to participate in that process,” Alyssa says. 

On their next time out of the country, a mission trip to Costa Rica, Katlyn and Chase finalized their vision: “founding an organization to aid communities globally, with a primary focus on empowering local leaders,” Alyssa says. 

The pair takes applications and proposals from leaders all over the world, whom they call Dreamers, and then assemble a team to share funds, expertise, and man-hours with those Dreamers. 

“Our projects have ranged from informational sporting events, building clinics, building classrooms, sponsoring youth retreats, sponsoring agricultural initiatives, installing water filtration systems, and so much more,” Alyssa says. 

Since officially founding Village Reach in 2021, the team has brought dozens of life programs all over the world, and they’re always looking for the next Dreamer to support.

Katlyn and Chase had a distinct vision of their own: a nonprofit with as little overhead as possible. Thanks to some private funders, their administrative costs are covered. That means every dollar Village Reach raises goes straight to a Dreamer’s project.

“At Village Reach, we follow a 100% model—every dollar from public donors goes directly to the mission,” Alyssa says.

With that commitment, the team knew they couldn’t waste money on fees. Village Reach started their fundraising with Donorbox and quickly saw returns. But for every donation Village Reach collected, Donorbox took a cut.

“Financial stewardship is one of our core values, so platform fees were a real concern with Donorbox, where we were losing 2.95% on general donations and 3.95% on events, peer-to-peer, and memberships,” Alyssa says. “That didn’t sit right with our commitment to transparency.”

They lost over $1,500 on over $52,600 in donations, and that money could have supported long-term impact in several Dreamers’ projects. 

• Vuthy is still building compelling programming for the youth in his village. His center could have used the $1,500 to buy several laptops and instruments, opening up digital and music literacy to at-risk teens. 

• Village Reach supports a market in India, and $1,500 would have given them the margin to rent an entire commercial kitchen and run a new business, “supporting local economic growth and entrepreneurship,” Alyssa says.

• In Colombia, that same $1500 could have covered a year of weekly group therapy for 13 teens who have experienced trauma, helping them process, heal, and move forward. 

The Village Reach team didn’t feel comfortable with fees slowing down those potentially community-changing projects, so they started looking for a fundraising platform to replace Donorbox.

One day, Chase came across Zeffy while scrolling social media. Zeffy’s zero-fee fundraising platform fit Village Reach’s core tenets and budgetary needs, so Chase brought his find up to the board.

The leadership team was immediately ready to try something new. 

“I was really drawn to the no-fee model. It aligned with our values,” Chase says. “I also appreciated the campaign features; being able to add images and tell stories has been powerful in helping us connect with our community.”

If you’ve faced similar frustrations with a high-fee platform, check out our full comparison with Donorbox.

Village Reach found its perfect fundraising partner in Zeffy. 

“Switching to Zeffy has been a game-changer,” Alyssa says. “There are no platform or transaction fees, which means we no longer have to sacrifice any donor dollars to processing costs.”

The team feels more comfortable with their fundraising, knowing they are stewarding the gifts more effectively and getting more support directly to Dreamers. But they aren’t just using Zeffy for zero-fee fundraising.

“Even more, Zeffy offers robust features that are not only completely free but incredibly useful,” Alyssa says. 

Village Reach is delighted to have access to peer-to-peer fundraising tools and donor management and communication tools. Alyssa says they’re also looking forward to employing “future-ready tools like memberships, auctions, raffles, event ticketing, and even ecommerce,”  since they’re “all free, all integrated.”

“With Zeffy, we’re not just saving money—we’re better equipped to serve our mission and our donors,” she says. 

When the Village Reach team decided to throw their first ticketed event, they knew exactly where to turn for logistical support—Zeffy. Thanks to Zeffy’s built-in ticketing, the team didn’t need to pay for a new subscription or navigate clunky hardware.

“We’re selling tickets through Zeffy and the platform has made it incredibly easy to manage everything — from generating e-tickets and donation receipts to syncing attendees with our CRM,” Alyssay says. “Guests can even add a donation at checkout, and we’ve already reached 18% of our goal, all with no fees taken out.”

Village Reach and Zeffy are aligned on both responsible fundraising and keeping their processes cutting edge and innovative. 

"It might sound simple, but I really appreciate how modern Zeffy is,” cofounder Katlyn Van Windergard says. “It’s clear they stay current with technology and trends, which gives me confidence that they’re on the cutting edge when it comes to interface, usability, and new features."