JustGiving fees: what a charity pays, and what an event loses

I built the Generosity Works platform myself, so I read other platforms’ fee pages closely. Every figure below comes from JustGiving’s own pages as they stood in October 2026. I have no quarrel with the company. My quarrel is with a model, and it is a model most of the industry now shares.

What are JustGiving fees for a UK charity in October 2026?

JustGiving charges a UK charity no platform fee, then deducts a processing fee from each donation and, if you use its Gift Aid service, takes 5% of the Gift Aid. This is its fees page in October 2026:

On top of that sit the subscriptions. JustGiving’s pricing plans page shows two. Start is free. Grow costs £15 a month plus VAT if you raise up to £15,000 a year including Gift Aid, or £39 a month plus VAT above that, and adds donor data opt-ins, reporting and CRM integrations.

Personal crowdfunding costs more, at 2.9% plus 35p per donation, but that is not what a charity pays.

What percentage does JustGiving take from donations?

JustGiving takes 1.9% of each charity donation plus a fixed 30p, so the percentage depends on the size of the gift. The fixed part bites hardest on small gifts.

JustGiving’s own worked example matches: 25 donors giving £20 each, £500 in total, and the charity receives £483. That transparency is to its credit.

For comparison, a charity running payments through its own Stripe account pays Stripe’s standard rate of 1.5% plus 20p on standard UK cards. Premium UK cards cost 2.8% plus 20p.

Does JustGiving charge a fee on Gift Aid?

Yes, if you let it claim Gift Aid for you. JustGiving takes a 5% administration fee from the Gift Aid it processes, and the service is optional.

Gift Aid adds an extra 25p to every £1 an eligible UK taxpayer gives. So a £20 gift brings £5 of Gift Aid, and JustGiving’s fee on that is 25p. Small per gift. On a big year, it is a line worth reading.

Note what Gift Aid can touch. HMRC’s detailed guidance says payments in return for goods, services or rights are not gifts, and lists admission to events among them. Tickets never carry Gift Aid. An auction win usually does not either. On a gala night, Gift Aid lives in one place: the gift.

Is JustGiving free?

JustGiving is free to join on the Start plan and charges no platform fee, but it is not free per donation. Every gift pays processing, and your donors are asked for a little more on top.

That ask is the voluntary contribution. JustGiving’s fees page says it invites donors to leave a small, optional contribution to keep the platform running. A slider suggests an amount, and a donor can choose a custom amount and enter zero.

The exception is Giving Checkout, JustGiving’s donation form for a charity’s own site. Its Giving Checkout page says there are no platform fees and that JustGiving covers the processing, so the charity keeps the full gift. Supporters can still choose to add something on top.

Why are JustGiving fees criticised?

JustGiving fees are criticised less for their size than for where the money comes from: the donor’s generosity, collected as a tip.

Until 26 March 2019, JustGiving took a 5% platform fee on donations. It dropped it for an optional contribution from donors, and kept a processing fee, then 1.9% plus 20p. By October 2026 the fixed part is 30p.

In March 2025, The Independent reported that JustGiving’s latest accounts, for 2023, showed income of £59 million and profit before tax of more than £31 million. It said the default suggested tip was 17%. An accountant quoted in the piece called the margin “astonishing”, and a charity worker said the option to zero the tip was very hard to find. JustGiving replied that the tip is optional and now standard practice across the industry.

That last part is fair. It is standard practice. That is exactly why it is worth looking at.

Here is my problem with the model, and it is not about JustGiving, because the same prompt sits on plenty of other platforms. A guest arrives with a figure in mind. If that figure is fixed and the page asks for 10% or 17% more for the platform, some of it leaves the cause. The tip is never deducted from the gift, so the cost never appears on any report the charity reads.

The regulator has noticed tips too. The Fundraising Regulator’s Code, in the version dated 1 November 2025, says a platform must show donors how its fee is calculated, how much the charity receives, and give a straightforward way to remove any fee that can be removed. Its guidance suggests a “zero fee or tip” option with equal prominence. Check what your own donors see, on any platform.

Where JustGiving fees land on a £30,000 night

Take a gala that raises £30,000, with £18,000 of it from the pledge. Say 120 guests give, an average of £150 each, and half the money by value is Gift Aided. Route that pledge through a JustGiving page:

The fee gap is under £200. That alone is not a reason to switch.

The tip line is the one I would think about. That £1,800 comes from the same guests, in the same three minutes, out of the same generosity. If even part of it would have gone to the charity, the cause paid for it.

What an event loses when the pledge goes to a donation page

The bigger cost of a donation page at a gala is not on any fees table. It is the moment.

Ten lots in a room of two hundred means ten winners. The pledge, straight after the live auction, is how everybody else gives. At the Jigsaw Trust gala, the live auction raised £27,000 and the pledge after it raised £30,600, more than the auction itself. That total belongs to the Jigsaw team as much as to me.

A pledge like that works because the room can see it happening, paddles still in hands, everyone watching everyone else give. A donation page asks a guest to look down at their phone, type in an amount, find a Gift Aid box, then decide what to do about a tip slider. By the time they look up, the room has moved on.

I learned the cost of a distracted room the hard way. A big event was running late, and I announced the live auction while people were still talking, without stopping to get them quiet. Only a fraction of the room heard the lots. I have never repeated it. A room looking down at its phones is the same problem, created on purpose.

There is the record, too. A gift on a JustGiving page sits in JustGiving’s reports, apart from the tickets and the bids. The money reaches you through JustGiving’s weekly payments, not straight into your own account. That is perfectly workable for a sponsored run. For one evening, it means the charity’s picture of each guest is split across systems, which matters for your donor data the morning after, when you thank them.

How does an event platform with no percentage differ?

An event platform with no percentage takes nothing from donations, adds no payment charges and asks donors for no tip, so nothing it costs grows when the room gives more.

That is how I built the Generosity Works platform. Bidding, ticketing, tiered pledges, Gift Aid capture in the guest’s seat, card-on-file and a gala screen sit in one system. Payments settle into the charity’s own Stripe account, the only deduction is Stripe’s fee, and donors never see a tip prompt. It never takes a percentage of what you raise.

It is free when a charity books me as auctioneer and host, and my fee is the only money Generosity Works takes. The platform is not sold on its own; our pricing page explains why.

Should a charity still use JustGiving?

Yes, for what it does best. For sponsored runs, challenge events, in-memory pages and year-round giving, JustGiving is the place your supporters already know, and Giving Checkout removes the processing fee on direct gifts.

JustGiving for your marathon team, something built for the room on gala night: a perfectly sensible split. The mistake is treating the two jobs as one.

Does a gala need more than a donation page?

A gala needs more than a donation page when the evening includes a live auction and a pledge. A donation page collects gifts, but it cannot hold a room or run the order of the night. A professional auctioneer and host does that, and the platform records every gift and bid in one total.

If your fundraising is mainly a marathon team or a year-round donate button, keep your donation page and you do not need me. For a gala, bring the date, the room size and the total you hope to reach. It is free when a charity books me as auctioneer and host, my fee is the only money taken, and the platform is not sold on its own. You can book me at thecharityauctioneer.uk.

Do the sum before the night

Whatever you use, do one sum first. Take the total you expect from the night and apply each platform’s fees to it: processing, Gift Aid fees, any subscription. Then ask what a tip prompt would take out of the same guests’ giving.

Then ask the harder question: which system holds the pledge, and who is answerable for the total?

The generosity is already in the room. The software’s only job is to get out of its way.

If you have a number to hit this year, and you want the platform, the strategy and the night itself designed as one evening for one fee agreed up front, book a discovery call. Let’s talk about your number.