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What is the ‘effective fundraising fee’? Where do I find my effective fundraising fee?

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The effective fundraising fee means ‘The total fees for the average payment.’

Simply put: It is the rate per transaction you are paying in fees total (as in both ConnectionPoint’s – if applicable – and your payment processors’). 

Whether you even need to care about this number is dependent on which pricing model your campaign is running in:

Simply Free –

This number will stay put at whatever your payment processor rate(s) is(are). Since Stripe and PayPal’s rates have a “plus X amount of cents” included, this number is approximate. For example, most Stripe rates are at 2.9% + 0.30, so your effective fundraising fee will remain around 3.5%. So if your campaign is on this model, you don’t need to care about this number.

Not Free –

This number will also be stagnant but higher. This is because ConnectionPoint’s 5% platform fee is included. With the same example above, this number will remain at 8.5%. If your campaign is on this model, you also don’t need to care about this number.

Nearly Free –

NOW you care about this number. The payment processor and ConnectionPoint’s fees are still being charged, but we’re asking your supporter if they will cover the fees for you so your campaign can receive the full intended contribution. This number considers that some (hopefully, most) of your fees are being covered, so it averages the fees that are NOT covered over each contribution you’ve received. 

The point of this is to check to see if, by using this ‘Nearly Free’ model, you are saving more money per contribution than on the ‘Simply Free’ model, where ConnectionPoint charges nothing but you still have to pay Stripe or PayPal their fees. 

If your effective fundraiser fee is lower than your payment processor rates, you are doing better than on the Simply Free model! Congratulations! You’re winning!

If your effective fundraiser fee is higher than your payment processor rates, you are paying more than you would be on the Simply Free model. You can switch pricing models to ‘Simply Free’ to lower the cost of your digital fundraising by removing ConnectionPoint’s fees.  

To find your effective fundraising fee: #

STEP 1 – Click ‘Analytics’ in the sidebar menu of your campaign.

Screenshot of a campaign in editor view. On the left sidebar panel, the tenth option from the top reads 'Analytics' and has a blue arrow pointing to it.

STEP 2 – Scroll down to ‘Payments KPI,’ and your effective fundraising fee is the last column.

Screenshot of a demo campaign's analytics page. Under "Payments KPI" are four boxes lined up horizontally. The last box on the right is highlighted with a blue arrow pointing to it. Underneath it says 'Effective fee rate" and the box reads 0.8%.
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