The lowest cost way for a nonprofit to take online donations is usually the setup with the lowest total cost per gift once you add up the card fee, the monthly fees, the fee on recurring gifts and the staff time spent on receipts. Stripe’s standard online price, 2.9% plus 30 cents per card, is easy to start with, and interchange-plus pricing (a model where you pay the real card cost plus a disclosed markup) can cost less once gifts are steady. This guide explains why the answer depends on gift size, how many donors use debit, and whether you also collect by invoice or ACH, and it lists what to ask before you move.
The short answer
- Small gifts feel the 30 cent fee most. On a $25 gift, 2.9% plus 30 cents is about $1.03, or roughly 4.1% of the gift.
- Debit cards are where flat rate overcharges. Large-bank debit is capped by federal rules, but a flat rate charges the full percentage anyway.
- In NPS’s 2026 pricing study, a model finds online sellers paying 19% to 31% less on pass-through pricing, across tickets from $15 to $2,500. It is a model by a processor that sells pass-through pricing.
- Flat rate can still be cheaper for a very new organization with low volume, where simplicity is worth more than a few dollars a month.
- The fee is not the whole cost. Receipts, year-end statements, recurring gifts and your accounting export all cost time, so count them.
What a nonprofit actually pays on an online gift
Every card donation passes through three costs. The first is interchange, a fee set by the card networks and paid to the bank that issued the donor’s card. The second is the card networks’ own fees, called assessments. The third is the markup charged by the company that processes the gift for you. A flat-rate processor rolls all three into one number. Stripe’s standard online price, as quoted in NPS’s 2026 pricing study from Stripe’s published pricing (accessed October 2026), is 2.9% plus 30 cents.
Interchange plus pricing, which NPS also calls pass-through pricing, splits them apart. You pay the real interchange and network fees for each card, then a fixed markup that is written in your agreement. NPS explains the model in its guide to four merchant account pricing models. The tradeoff is that the statement is longer and you must be able to read it.
One thing to settle first: this guide is about the cost of processing card and bank gifts. It is not about whether a nonprofit may get a discount, a grant or a special program from a particular provider. If you are comparing against Stripe, read Stripe’s current pricing page, and ask whether any nonprofit pricing exists and what you must do to qualify. Prices change, and we would rather you check the source than rely on our memory of it.
Gift size decides more than most boards expect
A flat per-transaction fee hurts small gifts most. Do the arithmetic on Stripe’s published online price of 2.9% plus 30 cents. On a $25 gift, 2.9% is 73 cents and the fixed fee is 30 cents, so the fee is about $1.03, or roughly 4.1% of the gift. On a $100 gift the fee is $3.20, or 3.2%. On a $1,000 gift it is $29.30, or about 2.9%. The percentage drifts toward 2.9% as the gift grows.
Fee by gift size
Stripe’s 30¢ fee hits small gifts hardest
| Gift size | Total fee (2.9% + 30¢) | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| $25 gift | ~$1.03 | ~4.1% |
| $100 gift | $3.20 | 3.2% |
| $1,000 gift | $29.30 | ~2.9% |
That arithmetic is why the average gift matters. An organization that runs on thousands of $10 and $25 online gifts is paying a high effective rate even before add-ons. An organization that raises most of its money from a few large gifts is paying close to the headline 2.9%. Look up your average online gift, and your median gift too, since a few big gifts can pull the average up.
Pass-through pricing also has a per-transaction piece, because the card networks and the provider each charge a small amount per item. The study’s model includes those costs, and it still shows lower costs for online sales than the flat-rate benchmark across tickets from $15 to $2,500. The study is a model and not a survey, so a quote built from your own gifts is the real test.
Why debit cards matter for donors
Check your own data for how many donors give with a debit card. Under federal rules (the Durbin Amendment, put into effect as Regulation II), interchange on debit cards from large banks is capped at 0.05% of the sale plus 21 cents, with a 1 cent fraud adjustment. On a $40 gift, the study says that is about 24 cents, against $1.46 for a processor charging 2.9% plus 30 cents.
Two cautions. The cap covers debit cards from large banks. Debit cards from smaller, exempt banks cost more, and the study’s model assumes 35% of debit volume comes from exempt issuers. And the Federal Reserve has proposed lowering the cap, a proposal the study calls unresolved.
For debit share, the study uses roughly 40% at a $15 ticket, 35% at $40, 30% at $75 and 25% at $150, which it says comes from NPS merchant experience. It also notes that customers under 30 use debit more often. A nonprofit with younger donors or small recurring gifts may see a high debit share. You can check yours: ask your processor for a report of gifts by card type, or look at your dashboard export.
What the study says, and what to be careful about
The study is called “The Flat-Rate Tax,” and it is by Allen Kopelman, the CEO of NPS. It is a cost model built on published rate schedules. It is not a survey of real organizations, and it was written by a processor that sells pass-through pricing. You can read it here: NPS’s 2026 pricing study.
Its findings for online sales are the part that applies to a donation page. The study says businesses selling online or by invoice pay 19% to 31% less in processing costs on pass-through than on flat rate, across average tickets from $15 to $2,500. Its flat-rate benchmark for online sales is Stripe’s 2.9% plus 30 cents. The model also leaves out chargeback fees, instant payout fees and other add-ons on the flat-rate side.
What the study does not say matters too. It does not study nonprofits as a group. It does not tell you your own savings. And NPS’s markup is an input to the model, not a price list. Treat the 19% to 31% range as a reason to ask for a quote on your own donations, not as a number to put in a budget.
When Stripe or another flat rate is still the cheaper choice
The study answers this directly. Flat rate is sometimes the better deal. In-person businesses with very small tickets, around $15 and under, save little by switching, and flat rate is simple for brand-new businesses with very low volume. A small nonprofit launching its first donation page falls into the second group.
NPS’s own pricing guide draws the same line. It lists flat rate as best for startups and merchants processing under $10,000 a month, and interchange plus as best for businesses processing over $25,000 a month. If your online giving is a few thousand dollars a month, a flat rate with no monthly fee and no contract may cost you less in total, and it costs you no setup time. If you are raising tens of thousands a month online, the gap in dollars is large enough to be worth the effort.
Pricing model tradeoff
Flat rate vs. interchange-plus for nonprofits
- Who is it best for?
- Flat rate (e.g., Stripe)Startups, under $10,000 a month
- Interchange-plus (pass-through)Businesses processing over $25,000 a month
- Debit card cost
- Flat rate (e.g., Stripe)Full percentage charged anyway
- Interchange-plus (pass-through)Capped at 0.05% + 21¢ for large-bank debit
- Statement complexity
- Flat rate (e.g., Stripe)One rolled-up number
- Interchange-plus (pass-through)Longer; you must be able to read it
- Potential savings online
- Flat rate (e.g., Stripe)Benchmark rate
- Interchange-plus (pass-through)19% to 31% less across tickets $15 to $2,500
Flat rate can still be cheaper for a very new organization with low volume, where simplicity is worth more than a few dollars a month.
Flat rate also wins when the cost of staff time is higher than the fee savings. If one volunteer handles the donation page and a change would take weeks, count that cost honestly. A good test is to ask how many dollars a year the switch would save in your own numbers, and whether that is more than the work.
Recurring gifts, receipts and year-end statements
For a nonprofit, the processing fee is only part of the cost of a donation. Staff time spent producing receipts and year-end summaries is real, and so is the cost of reconciling gifts in your accounting system.
NPS describes a nonprofit mode in its Smart Invoicing software that supports one-time and recurring donations, event payments, donor receipts and year-end summaries synced to QuickBooks by fund and class. It also describes donation pages and donation payment links, and says the software separates tax-deductible donations from non-deductible payments such as merchandise, creates tax-deductible receipts automatically, and lets donors download their giving history at year-end. Everything a donor sees is branded with your logo and colors, not NPS’s.
Whatever you choose, ask each provider the same questions about this part of the job:
- Does a recurring gift cost the same as a one-time gift, or are there extra fees?
- Who sends the receipt, and does it show the deductible part of a gift separately from a purchase, such as an event ticket?
- Can donors see and download a year-end giving history?
- Does it export to the accounting system you use, by fund or class?
- What happens to recurring gifts if a donor’s card expires or is replaced?
- Is there a per-user fee, so that adding a volunteer adds a cost?
Questions to ask
Ask every provider these six questions
- Does a recurring gift cost the same as a one-time gift, or are there extra fees?
- Who sends the receipt, and does it show the deductible part of a gift separately from a purchase?
- Can donors see and download a year-end giving history?
- Does it export to the accounting system you use, by fund or class?
- What happens to recurring gifts if a donor’s card expires or is replaced?
- Is there a per-user fee, so that adding a volunteer adds a cost?
If one provider has a lower card fee but you must buy a receipting tool and a recurring billing tool to match it, the cheaper card fee may not be the lower total.
Other ways donors can pay, and their cost
Cards are not the only way to give. ACH is a bank-to-bank transfer. NPS’s guide on ACH says optimized ACH is often in the range of 0.50% to 1% with a cap, compared with 2.5% to 3.5% for credit cards on its page. It also says ACH payments carry fewer chargebacks because they are not subject to card-network dispute rules. Read the details in the ACH optimization guide, and ask any provider for its exact ACH price in writing.
ACH fits best for large gifts, monthly pledges and event sponsorships, where a donor is comfortable giving bank details. Many donors still prefer a card, or Apple Pay and Google Pay on a phone, so offering both is common. NPS’s online payments guide describes email and text payment links, a self-service portal, recurring billing and QR code links. If you take gifts at events, a QR code to your donation page can be a low-cost way to collect them. See how to take payments online for a broader look.
Some organizations also add a line that lets donors cover the processing fee. Whether and how you may do that, and how to word it, depends on the rules that apply to you and to the card networks. Ask your provider and your advisor before you add it.
A short checklist for comparing two quotes
Use one recent quarter of real online gifts. Gather the number of gifts, the total raised, your average and median gift, the share of gifts that are recurring, and any refunds or disputes. Then ask each provider to price that exact set, all fees included, in dollars.
With both quotes in front of you, check that you are comparing the same things:
- Total fees for the quarter, divided by total gifts, as an effective rate.
- Monthly, gateway, PCI, statement and software fees.
- The fee on recurring gifts, refunds and disputes.
- Whether the price depends on keeping a minimum volume.
- Contract length and what it costs to leave.
- What support you get, and whether a person answers the phone.
One more point from NPS’s guides is worth repeating: ask about special interchange categories. NPS’s guide says some qualifying organizations, including nonprofits, may qualify for special interchange categories if the account is categorized and set up correctly. In NPS’s 2026 pricing study, a flat rate such as 2.9% plus 30 cents charges the same percentage on every card, whether it is a low-cost debit card or a premium rewards card. Ask any provider how it handles special interchange categories. That is a question to ask, not a promise. Read more in the guide to special interchange rates.
Comparing two quotes
How to compare two processor quotes fairly
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Pull one recent quarterGather the number of gifts, the total raised, your average and median gift, the share of gifts that are recurring, and any refunds or disputes.
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Ask each provider to price itAsk each provider to price that exact set, all fees included, in dollars.
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Check the effective rateTotal fees for the quarter, divided by total gifts, as an effective rate.
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List every feeMonthly, gateway, PCI, statement and software fees; the fee on recurring gifts, refunds and disputes.
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Check contract termsWhether the price depends on keeping a minimum volume, contract length and what it costs to leave.
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Ask about special interchangeAsk any provider how it handles special interchange categories, as some qualifying organizations including nonprofits may qualify.
For the full picture across every sales channel and average ticket, read our guide to cheapest payment processing in 2026.
Who wrote this, and where NPS fits
Nationwide Payment Systems (NPS) publishes this guide. We are a payments company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in business since 2001, and we sell payment processing, so we are not neutral. We offer interchange-plus pricing, a payment gateway, ACH and Smart Invoicing with a nonprofit mode, and we also offer flat-rate programs. We do not publish a price list, because pricing depends on volume, gift size, card mix and risk. The study we cite was written by our CEO. Browse more in our payments guides, or see how we compare with Stripe in our guide to a Stripe alternative for small business.
We are not the right fit for every organization. If your giving is small, you want to start today with no application, or your platform already includes donation tools you like, staying put may cost you less.
Bottom line
The lowest cost way for a nonprofit to take online donations compared to Stripe is the one with the lowest total cost on your own gifts, not the lowest headline rate. Small gifts feel Stripe’s 30 cent fee, debit cards are where a flat rate gives up the most, and receipts and recurring gifts add costs that never show up on a rate sheet. In NPS’s study, a model finds online sellers paying 19% to 31% less on pass-through pricing, and it also says flat rate can win for very small or very new operations. If you would like a second opinion on a quote or on your current statement, you can contact our team, and if staying with Stripe is the better answer, we will say so.
Frequently asked questions
What does Stripe charge a nonprofit for an online donation?
In NPS’s 2026 pricing study, Stripe’s standard online price is 2.9% plus 30 cents per card payment, from its published pricing accessed October 2026. Ask Stripe whether a nonprofit rate applies to you and read its current pricing page.
Is interchange plus cheaper for online donations?
It can be. In the study, a model finds online sellers paying 19% to 31% less on pass-through pricing across tickets from $15 to $2,500. It is a model from a processor that sells pass-through pricing, so test it on your own gifts.
Do small gifts cost more to process?
As a percentage, yes. With a fixed 30 cent fee, a $25 gift costs about 4.1% on 2.9% plus 30 cents, while a $1,000 gift costs about 2.9%.
When is a flat rate the better choice for a nonprofit?
The study says flat rate is simple for brand-new businesses with very low volume. NPS’s pricing guide lists it as best for merchants under about $10,000 a month. If setup time costs more than the savings, stay with it.
Can donors give by bank transfer instead of card?
Yes. ACH is a bank-to-bank transfer, and NPS’s guide says optimized ACH is often 0.50% to 1% with a cap. Ask any provider for its exact ACH price in writing.
Does NPS offer tools for donation receipts?
NPS describes a nonprofit mode in its Smart Invoicing software with recurring donations, donor receipts and year-end summaries that sync to QuickBooks by fund and class.
Does NPS review my current statement for free?
Yes. NPS offers a free statement review. Send a recent statement and ask for the math on your own gifts.
