Attention Nonprofits, Here is How Your Nonprofits Can Keep 100% of Donations
- Kimi Witherell
- Dec 18, 2025
- 13 min read
For nonprofit organizations, every dollar matters. Donations are often the primary source of funding, and even small processing fees can quietly divert thousands of dollars away from programs, services, and community impact. In a recent episode of the Cash Grab podcast, produced by Benchmark Ledger Solutions, we explored a growing challenge in nonprofit fundraising and highlighted a powerful solution designed to eliminate donation fees.
This article provides a professional breakdown of the episode and explains how nonprofits can retain 100% of the donations they receive.
The Hidden Cost of Donation Processing Fees
Most nonprofits rely on online platforms to accept donations, manage fundraising campaigns, sell event tickets, and process recurring gifts. While these platforms are convenient, they often come with costs such as:
Flat transaction fees per donation
Percentage-based credit card processing fees
Platform or hosting fees
Additional charges for event ticketing, auctions, or peer-to-peer fundraising
Even modest fees can add up quickly. For example, a $0.30 transaction fee plus a 2–3% processing fee may seem insignificant on a single donation, but across hundreds or thousands of donors, the total cost can be substantial. These lost dollars could otherwise fund meals, supplies, programs, or staffing.
Introducing Zeffy: A Zero-Fee Fundraising Platform
In the episode, we introduced Zeffy, a for-profit company that provides completely free fundraising and donation tools for nonprofits. While Zefy itself is not a nonprofit, its business model is uniquely aligned with nonprofit sustainability.
Zeff does not charge:
Platform fees
Credit card processing fees
Transaction percentages
Setup or subscription costs
Instead, Zeffy operates through optional contributions made by donors. Importantly, these contributions are never required, and nonprofits are never charged, even if donors choose not to support Zeffy.
The result is simple but powerful: 100% of every donation goes directly to the nonprofit.
Why Fee-Free Donations Matter to Donors
Donors give because they believe in a mission, a cause, and the impact an organization is making. When donors learn that a portion of their contribution is lost to fees, it can reduce trust and discourage future giving.
By using a zero-fee platform, nonprofits can:
Increase transparency
Build stronger donor confidence
Encourage higher donation amounts
Demonstrate responsible financial stewardship
When donors know their full contribution is supporting the mission, they are often more willing to give again and to give more generously.
Zeffy’s Full Suite of Free Nonprofit Tools
Beyond donations, Zeffy offers a comprehensive set of tools that support daily nonprofit operations and fundraising efforts, all at no cost to the organization.
Key features include:
Online Donations with zero fees
Event Ticketing from registration through payment
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising to activate community supporters
Online Auctions and Raffles with full customization
E-commerce Tools to diversify revenue streams
Membership Management for recurring monthly income
Recurring Donations for predictable cash flow
Automated Donation Receipts that are tax-compliant
Donor Management Tools to track contacts, notes, and history
Tap-to-Pay POS Systems for in-person events
Email and Mail Communication Tools for Donor Outreach
Custom Donation Pages that require no coding
These tools allow nonprofits to replace multiple paid platforms with one integrated system, potentially saving thousands of dollars annually.
Proven Adoption and Reliability
Zefy is not an untested solution. According to publicly available data shared in the episode:
Over 50,000 nonprofits use Zeffy
More than $1 billion has been raised through the platform
Over $50 million has been saved in fees
Hundreds of thousands of fundraising campaigns have been launched
The platform also supports multiple payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and bank transfers, making it easy for donors to give in the way that works best for them.
Comparing Zeffy to Traditional Donation Platforms
Many popular donation platforms, including those designed specifically for nonprofits, still charge some form of processing or platform fee. While these fees may be lower than commercial payment processors, they still reduce the total funds received by the organization.
Zefy stands apart by eliminating these costs entirely. For nonprofits operating on slim margins, this difference can be transformative.
How Fee Savings Translate Into Impact
For nonprofits, saving even a small amount per donation can lead to meaningful outcomes:
A food pantry can purchase additional supplies
A community organization can fund more programming
An arts nonprofit can support more events or outreach
A small nonprofit can reinvest savings into growth and sustainability
Over time, eliminating fees can significantly strengthen financial stability.
Final Thoughts from Benchmark Ledger Solutions
At Benchmark Ledger Solutions, we work closely with nonprofits and small organizations that operate with limited resources. Financial clarity, efficiency, and cost control are critical to long-term success.
This Cash Grab podcast episode highlights an important opportunity for nonprofits to rethink how they accept donations and manage fundraising. By choosing tools that prioritize mission over fees, organizations can maximize impact without increasing workload.
If your nonprofit is looking for ways to reduce costs, improve transparency, and make every dollar count, exploring fee-free fundraising platforms is a practical and strategic step.
To learn more about nonprofit bookkeeping, financial analysis, and cost-saving strategies, visit BenchmarkLedgerSolutions.com or listen to the Cash Grab podcast for more insights.
Podcast
Feel free to listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform, or directly on https://rss.com/podcasts/cash-grab-with-benchmark-ledger-solutions/
Transcript
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Cash Grab podcast. I hope everyone is doing well. I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. There really is no time enough in 2025. I feel like this year has just been flying by. But it's been a been a it's been a good year overall, I would say. Um, but next year is gonna be even better, so I'm excited for that. I'm really excited for Christmas, getting to see all my family and just seeing everyone together. As usual, this episode is brought to you by Benchmark Ledger Solutions, Benchmark Ledger Solutions as a virtual bookkeeping and analyst firm. You can learn more about punchmark legislations on benchmark ledgersolutions.com, and we are still offering the one month free to anyone who schedules their consultation before the end of year. Lastly, for anyone who might be listening to cash grab for the 1st time, welcome. This is a podcast where we talk about money saving tips and we go over organizations like businesses and nonprofits, as well as individuals. There are so many cash grabs out there in every industry, and on this podcast, I talk about the various methods, skills, tools, platforms that you can use, or are alternatives, so that you can keep that money instead. We do short, concise episodes twice a week on Monday and Wednesday, so if you're interested in saving money on literally everything, um, and save money for your business, your organization, or yourself, feel free to follow benchmark ledger solutions on all of our social media platforms, as well as here on your podcast service. So without further ado, let's get into today's episode. Today I'm going to be introducing a tool designed for nonprofit organizations. So if you're a nonprofit or you work in a nonprofit organization at all, you likely know exactly how much every single penny counts. Any savings that can be made for a nonprofit should and will be made. Any cost that can be cut should. So what about your donations? That's one of the biggest ways that nonprofits get their funding. It's, um, a lot of the time it's gonna be your donations and your grants. So if you're thinking about the donations that your nonprofits are receiving, what platform are you using and how much are they charging you to receive donations? So, joiners typically want 100% of their generation to go to the nonprofit they believe in. They donate it because they believe in their cause, their mission, their impact. And obviously, if you're donating $10 to UNICEF, you would prefer if all 10 of your dollars went there. But a lot of the time, this money doesn't get to the nonprofit. Most of it goes to operating, which does make sense because a nonprofit obviously has to employ people and they have to host their services and they have to book event venues and things like that. You want more of that donation to go towards actually making the difference in the communities you had donated to. And there are so many processing and hosting and planning and organizing fees that all kinds of services and softwares want to have you pay to operate your nonprofits fundraising. So the tool that I am introducing today is Zephi. So I'm just going to give you a little introduction about what Zefi is. Um, so Zefi is a for-profit corporation. So I do want to make that clear. Zefy themselves are not a nonprofit. This is an important distinction, and you'll see why a little more in the future, but it is important to keep in mind, if it matters to you, that they are a for-profit cooperation. They create free tools that allow nonprofits to receive donations without losing any of their donations to fees or percentages. So Zepi takes 0% of the amount donated and operates solely based on donations from the donors of nonprofits using Zepi. So I took this straight off of their website. They say on their website, and I quote, Zefy is completely free for nonprofits, no platform fees, no credit card fees, no fees period. We've never charged a single cent to nonprofits and we never will. 100% of all payments you receive through Zefi, go directly to your nonprofit. So this is a very important point because sometimes even if a business were to not charge you fees, for using their services, they can still charge you a processing percentage or transaction percentage. As the credit card processing fee. So, for example, PayPal, they have a program where each transaction is, I believe, somewhere around ¢30 and then you tack on another few percent. I believe it's maybe 2 ish percent. So they're taking that flat fee, which is the ¢30 and then they're also taking the actual credit card transaction fee, which is the percentage on top. Zefy takes neither, so they don't take a fee when you sign up, when you set everything up. But they also don't take a percentage of what people are giving you, regardless of how they are giving you that donation. So I really like it. They allow non-profits to receive their donations completely free. Um, I actually found out about Zefi from using it with one of my nonprofits in the local area. And They have a gorgeous user interface, very powerful tools that require very little to no coding experience, but they look gorgeous, they're animated. They look simple, clean, minimalist, they have rounded corners. The colors are very beautiful. It goes very well with most nonprofits, and you can do customization of your specific items, which we'll get into in a little moment. So, Zefi operates off of the donations from people. That is how they can host payments without charging any percentage to the organization. So Zefi doesn't require donors to donate. That's a very important point to make. They do not charge the nonprofit, anything, even if nobody from who's donated to their nonprofit had donated to Zephi. So, Zefi allows for versatile donation methods, which increases the likelihood of donations from your visitor. So I took a couple quotes off of their website. Um, so they said, and I quote, your supporters can pay with credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and in some cases, bank transfers, all without any fees for your nonprofit. Zefi says they have never charged a single time to the 10s of 1000s of nonprofits using Zefi. So that is amazing news because these pennies really add up, even if it's only ¢30 per transaction. If you have 100 people donating, that is still $30 and if you are, for example, a food pantry, that could purchase a good amount of items for your pantry. So, Zefi actually does lose some money whenever they are hosting these products for nonprofits, but they are still profitable because most people who are donating to their nonprofit are also building to donate a dollar or 2 so that their nonprofit can make the most out of their donations. According to Zepi's website, over 50,000 nonprofits are using Zepi, over a $1000000000 has been raised by charities utilizing Zepi, over $50000000 have been saved by nonprofits, thanks to using Zepi and their low or their no fee items. And over 200,000 fundraising campaigns have been created on Zephi. So a lot of people are using it. They are very reliable. Um, they're up time is amazing. I have not seen any major downtimes or any recent um, events where their programs or systems were down for a long period of time. So Zefi is really going to be cheaper than pretty much any other alternative. Most other nonprofit donations that I looked at did still charge a fee even if they were very, very low. So if, for whatever reason, you don't want to use Zephy, these are some good options as well. So PayPal has a good program for its charitable donations. You do have to qualify, so they will have to approve that you can use this program, but they do, like I said, still take a few percentage and on top of their ¢30 fee. Um, and even comparing it to other nonprofit specific donation hosts. So, like, donor box, they only work with nonprofits, but they do still charge a flat rate an additional percentage that is lower than PayPal, but still is going to be more than the nothing that Zaffy asks for. Zefi lets Jonas give 100% of their money directly to the charity they believe in the mission of, which helps them feel, like they want to donate to Zefi as well, even though they're not a nonprofit, because they are making that impact all the more. Apparent. So Zefi not only offers payment and fundraising solutions, they offer a whole suite of tools and softwares for a nonprofits daily operations. And since nonprofits typically run on extremely slim margins, if they are not losing money, Which a lot of them are. Nonprofits typically run on extremely slim margins, even if they are not losing money. Nonprofits typically run on extremely similar margins if they are not losing money. So anything that can be saved and used towards the cause should be. Zefi's tools offer enormous cost savings for nonprofits. And I am going to go over all of their offerings just so you can have a good idea of if your nonprofit could maybe utilize some of the rich features Zepi has. So they offer donations, obviously, um, and 100% of the donations your donors give to your organization will go to the nonprofit. So they also cover any credit card processing fees, so you can get 100% of those donations. They offered event ticketing software for nonprofits that include a full suite of tools from registration to payment. Again, all of these tools are 100% free. There is no fees, there is no credit cards, nothing like that. So I'm not going to mention it again, but just keep in mind that all of these features and tools that I am talking about are 100% free for nonprofits on zepi.com. So they also offer peer-to-peer fundraising, which allows nonprofits to utilize the communities even more effectively by allowing people to create subcampaigns under. So this can be extremely useful if you have maybe some community outreach and you are getting people, just regular people in your community to help. Um, do your fundraiser. They also allow for e-commerce, so that fee allows nonprofits to build a free online marketplace so that they can get revenue through various streams and kind of diversify a little bit. You can also launch a free online raffles for your nonprofits. The raffle tickets are numbered and there are plenty of customization tools to help make it branded to your nonprofit. So that's another great option, since raffles and lotteries can really help drive up donations while not having too many things to auction off. Speaking of auctions, they also offer auctions. You can host online auctions completely free with no costs for hosting, transactions, listings, or anything. So, it's really going to be a great cost saver, especially if your nonprofit focuses on products. Um, so Zefi also has a membership program. So their membership management tools allows your organization to get more revenue by letting them get that monthly recurring income. Your donor management tool through Zefi is constantly overlooked. So. Donor management is a constantly overlooked part of running a nonprofit. So, and a lot of people just use a CRM service, with SEFI nonprofits have a free option for their donor management, and it includes everything from gathering info, contacts, and notes. There is tap to pay, so if you currently have square and you have that little, um, Little square that you plug into your phone and receive payments for them. That is also something that Zephi offers so that you can have a POS system in person whenever you host in-person events. They also offer donor mail, allowing you to stay in contact and communicate with previous donors through email or regular traditional mail. Um, when you are creating your fundraising campaigns, you can also opt to have a fundraising thermometer, which essentially shows on a bar how close you are to your fundraising goal. And this helps give Jonor a little incentive to donate a little bit more since it will help you meet that goal. Um, you can also set donation receipts to be sent automatically. This is really good because it helps increase your chances of receiving a large donation from corporations or more affluent individuals because you can give them that tax compliant receipt automatically without any delay. You can also set up recurring transactions. Oh, sorry, recurring donations through Zephi, which helps bring that consistent and predictable revenue to your nonprofit. And their systems are a full stack tool. So they also have fundraising tickets where you can do everything online. So you can have your tickets, your selling, your management, seeing all your guests all in one single place. And they also obviously offer some other tools like digital wallets, which can help allow people to pay with Apple Pay and Google Pay. They offer membership cards that are digital so that people can get a card that shows your nonprofit and helps spread the word even more. They also provide you with a custom donation page that is really simple and animated. So that is really nice, especially if you don't have anyone at your nonprofit, who codes? So, lastly, I just want to sum up basically what makes is FE different. Um, one of the things I haven't touched on, but might be relevant to. So number one, free tools and services. Savation nonprofit tools are 100% free to use. So even though Zefi might be losing money in some cases, such as with their merchant services, nonprofits can utilize these numerous tools for their daily operations and save 1000s of dollars annually. Zefi also offers numerous nonprofit resources on their website, such as copy and paste templates, how to get started with fundraising, little tips and tricks as well as other things that you can use. Lastly, this might not be a huge factor to most, but they do offer international offices, so they have an office in the United States, in France, and in Canada. So their Canada office is in Montreal. The France office is in Paris, and the United States office is in Newark. So that is it for today's episode. Thank you, everyone, for listening. I appreciate your time and attention so much. Once again, the cash grab podcast is brought to you by Benchmark Ledger Solutions. You can visit Benchmark Ledger Solutions on Benchmark Ledger Solutions.com to learn more about them. You can also take advantage of the one month free of bookkeeping or analysis if you schedule your consultation before the end of year. If you have any suggestions or topics you would like me to talk about on this podcast, please reach out to us at podcast at benchmarklegersolutions.com, and we'll be happy to accommodate. I hope everyone has an amazing rest of your day and I will talk to you again soon.
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