QR code donations at charity events: platforms, costs and what to put on the screen

It is also the opposite of tap to donate. A tap at a contactless box sends an amount and a time. A QR code opens a page on the guest’s own phone, and a page can ask for a name, a home address and a Gift Aid tick. That one difference decides most of what follows.

I built a fundraising platform myself, so I have read more donation price lists than is probably healthy for one person. Every fee below is as each provider’s own page showed it in October 2026.

What are QR code donations?

QR code donations are gifts made by scanning a printed or projected code that opens a donation page in the phone’s browser. The guest picks an amount, pays by card or Apple Pay, and the charity receives the gift less fees.

The code itself is just a web address in a pattern your camera can read. Anyone can make one for free. The cost sits in the page it opens.

Which platforms offer QR code donations, and what do they cost?

Every option below works with a donation QR code, and the October 2026 fees run from £0 to roughly 4% of each gift. This is what each one’s own page shows:

On a £50 gift, that is £0 on Zeffy, 85p on PayPal, 95p on Stripe, £1.20 on WhyDonate, £1.25 on JustGiving, and between £1.48 and £1.98 in platform fees on the Donorbox Standard plan before any processing charge.

I will say one thing plainly about tip models. A platform funded by donor tips costs the charity nothing, but the guest is asked for money that does not go to the cause, at the exact moment you asked them to give to it.

How to create a QR code for donations

Five steps, and the order matters more than the tool you use.

1. Build the page first. Decide what the scan lands on: the event’s own pledge or donation page, not your charity’s general homepage.
2. Use the platform’s own code where it offers one, so the destination is the page it hosts and nothing sits in between.
3. Keep the code plain. Donorbox’s own advice is not to overlay logos, images or text on a code once it is generated.
4. Print the short web address under it, so a guest can see where it goes before they scan.
5. Test it from the back table. Scan every card and the projected slide from where guests sit, on more than one phone.

Can a donation QR code collect Gift Aid?

Yes, if the page it opens asks for a declaration. HMRC says a Gift Aid declaration can be made online, and it must include the donor’s full name and home address, a statement that they want Gift Aid, and an explanation that they must pay enough UK tax to cover it.

So a QR gift can be worth more than a tap. Gift Aid adds 25p per £1 from an eligible taxpayer, so a £50 gift with a declaration reaches the cause as £62.50.

Do not count on the other route. HMRC’s Small Donations Scheme tops up cash and contactless gifts of £30 or less, with no declarations needed. Its guidance does not mention online gifts made from a QR code, so plan on the declaration. This is general guidance, not tax advice.

Are charity QR codes safe to scan?

Mostly, yes. The National Cyber Security Centre’s QR code guidance, published in February 2024, says this kind of fraud is relatively small next to other cyber fraud, and that most of it happens in open spaces such as stations and car parks.

It says codes in pubs and restaurants are probably safe to scan. A ballroom with your own printed table cards is much closer to a restaurant than a car park.

The NCSC does flag two things worth designing around. It is seeing more “quishing”, QR codes in phishing emails, and it says people should be suspicious when a page asks for what feels like too much information. So:

• Never send a QR code in an email asking for payment. Send a plain link to the page instead.
• Check every table card for a sticker over the code before the doors open.
• Ask for what a Gift Aid declaration needs and nothing more.
• Tell guests to use the camera app their phone came with, which is the NCSC’s own advice.

What should go on the gala screen next to the QR code?

One code, one destination, and the number it is feeding. A QR code on a slide works best when the guest can see the running total move the moment they give.

My advice is three things on the pledge slide: the code, the short web address, and the tiers. The gala screen in the Generosity Works platform shows the running total, and during the pledge the tiers fill in front of everyone, so the room can see itself giving.

Timing matters more than design. The code belongs on screen during the live pledge, straight after the auction while paddles are still in hands. Leave it up long enough for the slowest phone at the back. At the Jigsaw Trust, the pledge raised £30,600, more than the auction before it. That is why I treat the pledge as the main event and the auction as its warm-up.

Where QR code donations fit on the night

Ten lots in a room of two hundred means ten winners. A QR code on every table is one of the cheapest ways to give the other hundred and ninety somewhere to put their generosity.

On the Generosity Works platform, the code can open the event’s own pledge page, where tiered pledges and a Pay What You Can option sit together and the Gift Aid declaration is captured at the point of giving, while the guest is still in the room. Guests who add the event to their home screen pay with one tap through Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Payments settle into the charity’s own Stripe account at Stripe’s standard rate, with nothing added on top and no donor tip. Generosity Works has no lots to sell you, so every lot is donated and the charity keeps 100% of what it raises. 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.

The generosity is already in the room. A QR code just gives it a door. If you have a number to hit this year, book a discovery call. Let’s talk about your number.