JustGiving

Overview

JustGiving is a fundraising service for individual supporters and charities collecting donations or running campaigns. It is a strong fit for charities that want supporter-created pages alongside branded campaign hubs and direct donation forms. Its usefulness depends on matching the donation route to the fee structure.

Key features

Supporters can build personalised fundraising pages, shape their own stories and share pages with built-in tools. This suits organisations that rely on people fundraising around personal challenges or causes; charities can also create branded campaign hubs that connect donations with fundraising pages for an event, appeal or project.

Giving Checkout provides customisable forms for direct donations. Those donations have 0% processing and platform fees, but UK Gift Aid processing costs 5%. By contrast, standard processing is 1.9% + £0.30, rising to 2.90% + £0.30 for donations in another currency. Charities should therefore consider which route donors will use rather than treating the fee-free Checkout terms as applying across the service.

Reporting supports up to eight saved templates, selected-data exports and donor opt-in collection. That is useful for teams with a defined set of recurring reports, though the template limit may be restrictive for organisations that need a larger saved library. Integrations include Strava, Eventbrite, ACTIVE Works, Blackbaud products, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce-related options.

JustGiving says fundraising pages meet Tier 1 PCI security compliance and use SSL; its campaign page describes fraud protection and a regulated payment gateway. Giving Checkout identifies JustGiving as an FCA-regulated Approved Payment Institution. Recurring donations are supported, and payment methods include cards and wallets.

Pricing

The Start plan is free, with no monthly subscription fee. It includes fundraising and campaign pages, Giving Checkout reports, donation widgets, Strava integration, and online and email support. Standard processing fees and a 5% Gift Aid reclaim fee apply, so free means no subscription rather than no cost on every donation. Start is aimed at charities new to JustGiving that can work within those charges.

Grow costs £15/month (+vat) if annual fundraising is up to £15,000, including Gift Aid, and £39/month (+vat) above that threshold. There is no annual commitment. It includes standard processing fees, an optional 5% Gift Aid reclaim fee, reporting and supporter se…; the published plan description cuts off there, so the remainder of its inclusions cannot be established. The revenue threshold and VAT affect the actual subscription cost, and the available terms do not state a seat quota or trial length. Grow suits charities willing to pay a subscription for its additional plan features, but the fee-free direct-donation treatment remains specific to Giving Checkout.

Giving Checkout offers 24/7 assistance to anyone on the charity team. This is a useful support route beyond Start’s online and email support. Eligible registered charities and nonprofits in the UK, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand can join. JustGiving began in 2000 and joined the Blackbaud family in 2017.

Platforms

JustGiving supports web, Android, iOS and API access, giving organisations both mobile and web routes alongside an API option.

Who it's for

JustGiving is best suited to registered charities and nonprofits in its eligible countries that want to combine supporter-led fundraising with campaign pages and direct donations. It is less compelling for a charity whose donation flow cannot use Giving Checkout and whose standard processing costs would outweigh the value of the campaign and reporting tools.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Supporter pages and branded campaign hubs cover both individual fundraising and coordinated appeals.
• Pro: Direct Giving Checkout donations have 0% processing and platform fees, and its support is available 24/7 to the charity team.
• Pro: The stated integrations span event, activity, fundraising and business-system tools.
• Con: Standard processing fees apply outside the fee-free Checkout donations, and UK Gift Aid processing still carries a 5% charge.
• Con: Grow’s price rises from £15/month (+vat) to £39/month (+vat) once annual fundraising including Gift Aid exceeds £15,000.
• Con: Reporting saves at most eight templates, which may be limiting for teams with many recurring report formats.

Alternatives

Browse Nonprofit Crowdfunding Software for more options in the category.

• Ketto is worth considering for its free Bronze plan, but it carries a 3% payment gateway fee and 18% GST on its success fee and payment gateway charge.
• LaunchGood offers fundraising with no platform fee, while card processing is 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction.
• Milaap is a free fundraiser with zero platform fees, actual processing charges and voluntary tipping.
• AdoptAClassroom.org is designed for eligible U.S. educators, with donations as online credit for marketplace or Teacher Choice purchases.
• DonorsChoose is a free option for teacher projects; classroom requests have a $100 minimum and projects may stay posted for up to four months.
• FundRazr offers a no-platform-fee option with 2.9% + $0.30 processing, and says 95% of donors cover fees.
• WhyDonate has no platform fee or monthly cost, but recurring donations incur a 3% platform fee from the second payment.
• GoFundMe Pro is another freemium option for nonprofits.

Verdict

Choose JustGiving if your charity wants supporter-led fundraising and branded campaigns in one service, especially when you can route direct gifts through Giving Checkout. Look elsewhere if standard processing fees or the VAT-inclusive Grow threshold make its costs a poor fit for your donation mix.