In fundraising, GoFundMe is a widely recognized platform for individuals and groups to raise money for diverse causes. From paying for medical bills to assisting with creative ventures or helping during emergencies, GoFundMe makes it easy to get support from friends, family members and even complete strangers.
Nevertheless, fundraisers often have questions about withdrawal process and fees. Well then how much does GoFundMe take out of your withdrawals? Let’s examine that now.
To begin with, when it comes to withdrawing money raised through campaigns on this site, GoFundMe charges platform fees. Platform fees include payments charged by GoFundMe for utilizing their site on which you will set up your funding drive. As simple as this process may seem, it has some conditions about charges.
There’s no fee to start or manage your fundraiser. However, GoFundMe charges one small transaction fee (2.9% + $0.30, which includes debit and credit charges) per donation is deducted.
There are also indirect costs associated with making withdrawals. These costs mainly result from the payment processing fees imposed by third-party payment gateways such as Stripe.
Once a donation is made to a GoFundMe campaign, it is sent via the selected payment processor (e.g., Stripe) who takes out some amount that will help to facilitate the transaction. As at now, Stripe charges 2.2% of the total donation value plus $0.30 for each transaction done in the United States.
For instance, whenever an individual donates $100 to your GoFundMe campaign, Stripe deducts $2.50 ($100 * 2.2% + $0.30) as its fee for processing that payment. This charge is effected during donations and has no effects on withdrawal process directly.
The funds transferred after initiation of withdrawal from your bank account will have had already deducted the payment processing fees by then when you withdraw money from your GoFundMe account into your bank account. Therefore, what comes into your bank account is not all of it since some goes towards paying for such processes.
Take the above example; you receive a donation worth $100 for your GoFundMe campaign and Stripe cut down your remaining balance by charging $2.50 as a processing fee meaning that you could withdraw that sum only without any extra charges applied by GoFundMe or stripe.
Though someone cannot withdraw funds from their GoFundMe account with a fee charge by them directly but fundraisers should take note of these payments’ fees per transaction made on every contribution they collect because they are standard on majority online payments platforms which have adopted tight security measures than ever before to conduct successful transactions over internet space.
While planning to fundraise on GoFundMe, it is important for you to be accountable and communicate clearly with your donors about potential costs that come with those contributions. With clarity on how their offerings are going to be processed or utilized, you can gain their trust as well as encourage future funding of the intended purpose.
In the end, there is platform fees charged by GoFundMe when withdrawing money hence fundraisers can transfer the funds, they have raised to their bank accounts. And, third party payment processors who receive donations charge payment processing fees which is taken out of each donation thereby reducing total sum available for withdrawal. So, with knowledge of these costs and transparency between yourself and your donor base, you will be able to effectively execute withdrawals enhancing maximum effect for your fundraising drive.