Changes to donation processing fees on the Big Give platform from 1 July 2026
What are the changes?
From 1st July 2026, the donation processing fees charged on the Big Give platform will be changing. These changes can be summarised below:
| Payment Method | ||
| Visa, Mastercard, or any credit or debit card for UK / EU donors (except American Express) Donation Funds (BACS bank transfer) Pay by Bank | Visa, Mastercard, or any credit or debit card for donors outside UK / EU American Express | |
| Fee (exclusive of VAT) to 30th June 2026 | 1.5% + 20p | 3.2% + 20p |
| Fee (exclusive of VAT) from 1st July 2026 | 1.9% + 25p | 3.2% + 25p |
Each donation made on our platform is subject to a small processing fee. Our processing fee is deducted from the donation at the point it is transferred to the charity. More details are available on Our Fees page.
Why are you making these changes?
Big Give is a registered charity (Charity Number: 1136547), and we work hard to keep the cost of donation processing as low as possible for our charity partners. We cover our costs through a few essential income streams, including the donation processing fee, which has remained unchanged since we moved to our current payment processor, Stripe, in 2021.
Like most charities over recent years, we are facing rising costs. There have also been changes to the regulatory environment, which will affect our operating model. These factors create pressure on our ability to sustainably deliver our work, and as a result, we have taken the careful decision to increase our donation processing fee to ensure we can support charities to raise vital funds.
The income we generate is critical for the sustainability of Big Give. Simply speaking, without this income, we wouldn’t exist. Because we’re a charity, our model is different to a lot of other donation platforms. Rather than paying dividends to shareholders, we deploy any revenue we generate, beyond what we need to run the organisation, in our Anchor Match Fund, which we use to match fund our charity partners participating in our campaigns.
Our updated fees are still very competitive. They are generally in line or slightly cheaper than most other donation platforms. We don’t, and will not be, introducing a monthly or annual platform fee for charities to register on the platform. We are also not making any changes to the fees we charge for claiming Gift Aid for charities that have opted in to this service. We remain committed to investing in maintaining, developing and improving the Big Give platform and campaigns to ensure an optimal experience for all of those who engage with us (funders, charities and the giving public).
What will that mean for me as a charity?
We wanted to give a worked example to show how these changes might impact our charity partners. Our fees page shows some worked examples of the cost of our processing fees for a £10 donation. The difference in fees for a UK Visa card without Gift Aid would be as follows:
| Description | Existing fee to 30th June 2026 (1.5% + 20p) | New fee from 1st July 2026 (1.9% + 25p) |
| Processing fee | £0.35 | £0.44 |
| VAT (20%) | £0.07 | £0.09 |
| Total fee (inc. VAT) | £0.42 | £0.53 |
| Total transferred to the charity | £9.58 | £9.47 |
We also developed a worked example of a charity partner that has raised £10,000 from the public in a Big Give campaign. In making these calculations, we have assumed the following:
- All of the donations have been made via UK debit/credit card (non-Amex).
- The average donation is £159 (the average donation across the Big Give platform last financial year), which means £10,000 is made up of 63 donations
| Description | Existing fee (exclusive of VAT) to 30th June 2026 (1.5% + 20p per donation) | New fee (exclusive of VAT) from 1st July 2026 (1.9% + 25p per donation) |
| Total amount donated | £10,000 | £10,000 |
| Donation processing fees charged | £162.60 | £205.75 |
| Total donation the charity receives | £9,837.40 | £9,794.25 |
| Match funding | £10,000 | £10,000 |
| Total received by charity – funding donations (including Gift Aid) + match funding | £19,837.40 | £19,794.25 |
In this example, the new fees have resulted in a reduction of £43.15 going to the charity, a 0.2% difference in the total received.
The new fee structure will be in place from 1st July 2026. Should you have any questions regarding these new fees, please visit our Support page.