Charitable fundraising platforms have become a vital part of how organisations raise money online, manage donor relationships and increase their impact. In 2024, individual donors gave $1.5 trillion in financial gifts globally. As more giving moves to digital channels, charities need systems that handle payments, recurring donations, donor data and reporting without slowing teams down.

Below, we explain how charitable fundraising platforms work, why organisations rely on them and what to look for when choosing one.

What's in this article?

• What is a charitable fundraising platform?
  
• How do charitable fundraising platforms work?
  
• Why do charities use online fundraising platforms?
  
• What are the features of a good charitable fundraising platform?
  
• How do online fundraising platforms improve the donor experience?
  
• How can charities accept one-time and recurring donations online?
  
• How should charities evaluate and choose the right fundraising platform?
  
• How Stripe Connect can help
  

What is a charitable fundraising platform?

A charitable fundraising platform is the digital infrastructure that enables an organisation to accept donations online, understand where those gifts come from and build lasting relationships with supporters.

How do charitable fundraising platforms work?

Charitable fundraising platforms bring payments, donor data and follow-up together so fundraising can run without constant manual effort. Using them should allow organisations to focus on more important tasks.

Here's how they work:

• Donation experience: Supporters give through a safe, mobile-friendly form where they choose an amount, select one-time or recurring giving and enter payment details. Short, intuitive flows help to reduce drop-off.

• Payment processing: The platform sends the payment information for authorisation and completion, using encrypted, PCI-compliant systems to protect donor data.

• Confirmation and receipts: Donors receive immediate on-screen confirmation and an automatic email receipt, which provides reassurance and straightforward records for tax purposes.

• Fund settlement: Donations are deposited into the charity's bank account on a set schedule, with processing fees automatically accounted for.

• Donor records: Gift and donor details are captured automatically and stored or synced with a customer relationship management system (CRM). This creates a reliable giving history without manual data entry.

• Ongoing gift management: If it's a recurring donation, the platform stores payment credentials, schedules charges, retries failed payments and prompts donors to update expired cards.

• Performance visibility: Donations are aggregated across campaigns and channels so teams can track progress, understand results and adjust strategy while fundraising is still underway.

• Consistent multichannel giving: The same infrastructure supports giving across websites, email, social media and mobile. It creates a familiar experience wherever donors engage.

Why do charities use online fundraising platforms?

Online charitable fundraising platforms simplify the process and expand what charities can accomplish with limited resources. They do this by combining accessibility, automation and data into a single system.

The main advantages are:

• Broader reach: Online giving removes geographic limits, so charities can accept donations from supporters anywhere.

• Always-on fundraising: Donors can give whenever their motivation strikes, which can increase total contributions over time.

• Lower cost per dollar raised: Digital fundraising generally requires less overhead than mail, phone or in-person campaigns, though there are platform fees and processing costs to consider.

• Built-in flexibility: Platforms can handle small donation volumes or major surges without additional staff or infrastructure.

• Platforms enable better retention: Automated follow-up and personalisation make it easier to turn first-time donors into long-term supporters.

• Faster feedback loops: While campaigns are live, teams can adjust messaging, suggested amounts or channels based on real-time performance.

• Matched with donor expectations: Many donors now expect to give online using cards or digital wallets and platforms meet them where they already are.

• Better decision-making: Every donation generates structured data that supports forecasting, planning and a more confident strategy.

What are the features of a good charitable fundraising platform?

Good platforms are straightforward and give teams clarity about what's working. As organisations grow beyond basic online giving, these features are especially important.

Here's what to look out for in a charitable fundraising platform:

• Fast, simple donation flows: Pages that load quickly, work cleanly on mobile and ask only for the necessary information.

• Secure, flexible payments: Support for cards, bank transfers and digital wallets, which are backed by strong security and compliance standards like Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).

• One-time and recurring giving: The ability to switch easily between single gifts and ongoing contributions, while the platform automates billing, retries and card updates.

• Customisable donation pages: Control over branding, messaging, suggested amounts and fund designations.

• Clear confirmations and receipts: Immediate confirmation and compliant email receipts that can be customised to match the organisation's voice.

• Reporting and analytics: Visibility into donation volume, conversion rates, average gift size and recurring revenue, ideally in real-time.

• Automatic data synchronisation: Direct flow of donation and donor data into a CRM system or database without manual exports.

• Multichannel support: One platform that can power donations across websites, email, social and mobile.

• Reliability at scale: The ability to handle traffic spikes during major campaigns without slowing down or failing.

• Strong support and documentation: Precise documentation, helpful documentation and responsive support for teams of all sizes.

How do online fundraising platforms improve the donor experience?

Online charitable fundraising platforms improve the donor experience by removing small points of frustration. Each improvement builds confidence and makes giving feel easier.

Here's how they improve the experience:

• Quicker giving: Fewer fields and more distinct choices can reduce hesitation and increase completion.

• Mobile-first design: Responsive layouts and minimal typing make giving on mobile feel natural.

• Trust and security: Visible security cues and reliable payment handling reassure donors that their information is safe.

• Choice in how to pay: Support for multiple payment methods lets donors give in ways they already choose.

• Clear follow-up: Immediate confirmation, receipts and timely thank-you messages can reinforce confidence and appreciation.

• Campaign transparency: Progress indicators and goal tracking show donors how their gift contributes to a greater effort.

• Simple recurring support: Easy opt-ins and straightforward controls can make ongoing giving feel safe.

• Consistency across channels: Familiar flows across web, email and mobile keep the attention on the mission.

How can charities accept one-time and recurring donations online?

Modern charity fundraising platforms and payment tools make it possible to launch quickly and scale without adding complications. Many charities rely on a combination of tools.

Consider the following:

• Online donation pages: Secure pages hosted by a platform or embedded on the charity's website allow donors to complete a one-time gift in just a few steps.

• Recurring giving options: Monthly or ongoing donations are offered alongside one-time gifts, usually through a simple toggle or checkbox. In 2024, 31% of online revenue for charities came from monthly donations.

• Automated billing: Payment credentials are safely stored and charged on a set schedule via tokenisation, without manual intervention.

• Failed payment recovery: Platforms retry failed charges and prompt donors to update expired information, which reduces involuntary churn.

• Multiple payment methods: Cards, bank debits and digital wallets can increase flexibility and completion rates.

• Automatic receipts and records: Every donation generates consistent confirmations and records for accounting and donor tracking.

• Self-service donor tools: Secure links allow donors to update details, change amounts or cancel recurring gifts, which can increase long-term confidence and comfort.

How should charities evaluate and choose the right fundraising platform?

The best charitable fundraising platform fits with how your organisation raises money and supports where your organisation is heading next. A thoughtful evaluation should focus on both current needs and long-term impact.

Keep the following in mind:

• Clear requirements: Identify which capabilities matter now and which might matter soon, such as peer-to-peer fundraising, events or international giving.

• True cost over time: Look beyond platform fees to understand processing costs, add-ons and how pricing scales as donations grow. Small differences compound quickly at volume.

• Ease of use: Tools should be intuitive for staff and volunteers. Complex workflows slow adoption and increase errors.

• System integrations: Donation data should connect cleanly with CRM, accounting and email tools to avoid manual work.

• Security and compliance: Strong data protection and regulatory compliance are essential for maintaining donor faith.

• Reliability during peak moments: Uptime and performance matter most during major campaigns and traffic spikes.

• Support and longevity: Responsive support, solid documentation and a clear product roadmap signal a platform built to grow with your organisation.

How Stripe Connect can help

Stripe Connect orchestrates money movement across multiple parties for software platforms and marketplaces. It offers quick onboarding, embedded components, global payouts and more.

Connect can help you:

• Launch in weeks: Use Stripe-hosted or embedded functionality to go live faster, and avoid the up-front costs and development time usually required for payment facilitation.

• Manage payments at scale: Use tooling and services from Stripe so you don't have to dedicate extra resources to margin reporting, tax forms, risk, global payment methods or onboarding compliance.

• Grow globally: Help your users reach more customers worldwide with local payment methods and the ability to easily calculate sales tax, VAT and GST.

• Build new lines of revenue: Optimise payment revenue by collecting fees on each transaction. Monetise Stripe's capabilities by enabling in-person payments, instant payouts, sales tax collection, financing, expense cards and more on your platform.

Learn more about Stripe Connect or get started today.