Suggested voluntary contribution / Contribution volontaire suggérée
closed
C
Christopher
The suggested voluntary contribution is high. Donors do not understand that it can be changed. I didn't understand it the first time I used your platform.
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Rowan from Zeffy
(Réponse en français plus bas)
Thank you so much for your comments and votes. We wanted to address each concern below:
What is the voluntary contribution and how is the percentage determined?
Unlike other fundraising softwares, Zeffy is the only platform that covers all processing fees and doesn’t charge a platform fee. This means you are able to receive 100% of every payment made to your organization. Our mission is and will always be to provide free fundraising technology to nonprofits, so you can put 100% of your funds towards your cause.
As voluntary contributions are our sole source of revenue, they need to cover the costs of:
- Credit card fees for each payment
- Maintaining the platform (performance, speed, security of payments, among others)
- Salaries of our small team of 20 (working to support 10,000 active nonprofits)
- Continued development of features to keep up with your growing fundraising needs
Along with that, not all donors choose to leave a contribution. For these reasons, we need to suggest contributions that are higher than just processing fees in order to maintain our services.
How can we facilitate donor understanding?
Because we know that our model is newer and donors are curious by nature, we need your help to explain the voluntary contribution to them along with how Zeffy benefits your organization. Our model is about providing you with free technology, but it is also about collaboration. We would be extremely grateful if encouraged your donors to contribute to Zeffy so that we can continue to provide our tools for free.
We want to be able to address each concern thoroughly and we understand that each nonprofit may have a specific situation. Please feel free to reach out to our team at contact@zeffy.com.
----
Merci à tous pour vos commentaires et d'avoir pris le temps de nous faire part de l'expérience de vos donateurs. Nous avons voulu répondre ici aux points qui ont été amené:
Qu'est-ce que la contribution volontaire et comment le pourcentage est-il déterminé ?
Contrairement à d'autres logiciels de collecte de fonds, Zeffy est la seule plateforme qui couvre tous les frais de transactions. Cela signifie que vous pouvez recevoir 100% de chaque paiement effectué à votre organisation. Notre mission est et sera toujours de fournir une technologie de collecte de fonds gratuite aux OBNLs, afin que vous puissiez consacrer 100 % de vos fonds à votre cause.
Les contributions volontaires étant notre seule source de revenus, elles doivent couvrir les coûts suivants:
- Frais de carte de crédit pour chaque paiement
- Entretien de la plateforme (performance, rapidité, sécurité des paiements, entre autres)
- Salaires de notre petite équipe de 20 personnes (qui travaille pour soutenir 10 000 OBNLs)
- Développement continu de fonctionnalités pour répondre à vos besoins croissants en collecte de fonds.
Par ailleurs, tous les donateurs ne choisissent pas de laisser une contribution. Pour ces raisons, nous devons suggérer des contributions plus élevées que les simples frais de traitement afin de maintenir nos services.
Comment pouvons-nous faciliter la compréhension des donateurs ?
Parce que nous savons que notre modèle est moins commun, nous avons besoin de votre aide pour leur expliquer la contribution volontaire et comment Zeffy est bénéfique pour votre organisme. Nous vous serions extrêmement reconnaissants d'encourager vos donateurs à contribuer à Zeffy afin que nous puissions continuer à fournir nos outils gratuitement.
Nous voulons être en mesure de répondre à vos besoins et retours de manière approfondie et nous comprenons que chaque organisme peut avoir une situation spécifique. N'hésitez pas à contacter notre équipe à l'adresse contact@zeffy.com.
M
Maryse from Zeffy
Merged in a post:
Suggested payment amount of 15%??
w
william
Basically has scared a few people away, even when i reassure them that they can override it way down to 0%, the initial suggestion being as high as 9-15% is just way over the top from what people see initially on fees. This last donation ended up going through paypal as he felt safer. Not sure of the solution but the current suggestions, amount used, wording, method, etc requires a great deal of explanation to many and in many cases simply use other channels. My fear is how many do I loose from these high suggestions?
R
Rémi
As the comments have been so much ignored... i'll therefore promote zeffy only for free events... not for ticketing and donations.
M
Maryse from Zeffy
closed
E
Eric
Maryse from Zeffy: Does "closed" mean something changed?
T
Tanya
R
Rémi
Autre idée, peut-être! Pourrions-nous opter pour un forfait ou l'organisme bénéficiaire paie un pourcentage de la facture.
Ou bien encore, un forfait mensuel/annuel qui couvrirait les frais
Si c'est optionnel, par événement ou autre, tout le monde pourrait y trouver son compte.
M
Markus
Aloha Maryse and all of you at zeffy: I am struggling how to say this. Most of us are small non-profits. We know about being different. We know about ʻsellingʻ different to our donors. The reason why we chose zeffy is because of your different approach. We do understand you need the voluntary contribution to survive financially. The same applies to us when it comes to donations. (Some of us have done this fundraising stuff longer than you at zeffy can imagine.) If you get our smart donors angry, because you ask for 15%, (and lately sometimes 18%, since your ʻchangesʻ, but that changes during the day?) they will chose $0 to make a point. Make a point to you, not us. It might be beneficial to listen to the community feedback from us the users if you want your model to succeed (and consequently have a job).
C
Christopher
Maybe a suggested contribution of 5% with a maximum of $100/$150 would make sense. I agree totally with Markus - the other platforms don't come close to 10%. We understand that you are relying on the generosity of OUR donors but you are alienating them toward the organization. The reason we switched to you is because your WERE a FREE platform. The way you present it does not look FREE at all. CJA
M
Markus
I will be blunt: could you please explain to me why you claim: "When you give on any other platform, up to 10% of your gift is used to cover fees." (your text) and you ask for 15% as the only visible option? This does NOT make sense and is not compatible with the philosophy you present and why we signed up with you. Please ask yourself "what image does zeffy want to convey to our donors?". I can only warn you, that many of our donors will chose 0%, because they are very angry about the suggested 15% they feel they are forced to give. Instead of fans you create unhappy people. Suggest 5%, 8 % and 10%?
I learned taxes are 15% in Montreal, and this might be normal for you, but in Hawaii taxes are 4% (and 4.5%)! Are you telling us we should be using another platform to save my donors money (may be one that charges 5%)? And yes, I will happy discuss this with any of you and bring it up again and again.
M
Maryse from Zeffy
Markus: Hi Markus! Thank you very much for your feedback, and of course we are always all ears and open to discuss our model with our users. Because it is so different, it's actually very important to us to understand your donors' perspective.
The big difference in the suggested percentage, is that it is not 100% of donors who will choose to contribute. I acknowledge that some other platforms will charge lower percentages, but 100% of donors will have to cover them. Whereas Zeffy suggests slightly higher percentages because not all donors choose to contribute. To be entirely honest, our ideal goal would be the following : if any donor who can afford to contribute does, up to the amount that they can afford, it doesn't have to be the suggested percentage, then it balances for the donors who cannot afford to contribute. And we know that there are some donors who simply can't, especially in the current times. But again, if all donors who can afford to contribute do so, then it helps cover the fees for the donors who can't, and it balances out.
Especially on ticketing forms, where donors purchase event tickets, or classes for their children, or camp registrations, etc., other platforms will charge fees on every transaction and nonprofits will have no choice but to raise their ticket prices up for 100% of donors. Our model allows you to keep your ticket prices as low as you can, because 100% of the price goes back to you, and it allows for donors to avoid paying additional fees if they can't afford to, as long as those who can afford to choose to contribue to the platform, so that we can maintain our free services. It's a very different, social and collaborative way of offering our service, but we very much stand behind this idea.
I will also send you a quick email just now so that I can continue to address your questions and concerns directly. Thank you very much again!
D
Darren
Maryse from Zeffy:
Yes, we all understand your model. However, by lowering your recommended percentage, more people will give, instead of getting mad about 18% and not giving anything.
Rowan from Zeffy
(Réponse en français plus bas)
Thank you so much for your comments and votes. We wanted to address each concern below:
What is the voluntary contribution and how is the percentage determined?
Unlike other fundraising softwares, Zeffy is the only platform that covers all processing fees and doesn’t charge a platform fee. This means you are able to receive 100% of every payment made to your organization. Our mission is and will always be to provide free fundraising technology to nonprofits, so you can put 100% of your funds towards your cause.
As voluntary contributions are our sole source of revenue, they need to cover the costs of:
- Credit card fees for each payment
- Maintaining the platform (performance, speed, security of payments, among others)
- Salaries of our small team of 20 (working to support 10,000 active nonprofits)
- Continued development of features to keep up with your growing fundraising needs
Along with that, not all donors choose to leave a contribution. For these reasons, we need to suggest contributions that are higher than just processing fees in order to maintain our services.
How can we facilitate donor understanding?
Because we know that our model is newer and donors are curious by nature, we need your help to explain the voluntary contribution to them along with how Zeffy benefits your organization. Our model is about providing you with free technology, but it is also about collaboration. We would be extremely grateful if encouraged your donors to contribute to Zeffy so that we can continue to provide our tools for free.
We want to be able to address each concern thoroughly and we understand that each nonprofit may have a specific situation. Please feel free to reach out to our team at contact@zeffy.com.
----
Merci à tous pour vos commentaires et d'avoir pris le temps de nous faire part de l'expérience de vos donateurs. Nous avons voulu répondre ici aux points qui ont été amené:
Qu'est-ce que la contribution volontaire et comment le pourcentage est-il déterminé ?
Contrairement à d'autres logiciels de collecte de fonds, Zeffy est la seule plateforme qui couvre tous les frais de transactions. Cela signifie que vous pouvez recevoir 100% de chaque paiement effectué à votre organisation. Notre mission est et sera toujours de fournir une technologie de collecte de fonds gratuite aux OBNLs, afin que vous puissiez consacrer 100 % de vos fonds à votre cause.
Les contributions volontaires étant notre seule source de revenus, elles doivent couvrir les coûts suivants:
- Frais de carte de crédit pour chaque paiement
- Entretien de la plateforme (performance, rapidité, sécurité des paiements, entre autres)
- Salaires de notre petite équipe de 20 personnes (qui travaille pour soutenir 10 000 OBNLs)
- Développement continu de fonctionnalités pour répondre à vos besoins croissants en collecte de fonds.
Par ailleurs, tous les donateurs ne choisissent pas de laisser une contribution. Pour ces raisons, nous devons suggérer des contributions plus élevées que les simples frais de traitement afin de maintenir nos services.
Comment pouvons-nous faciliter la compréhension des donateurs ?
Parce que nous savons que notre modèle est moins commun, nous avons besoin de votre aide pour leur expliquer la contribution volontaire et comment Zeffy est bénéfique pour votre organisme. Nous vous serions extrêmement reconnaissants d'encourager vos donateurs à contribuer à Zeffy afin que nous puissions continuer à fournir nos outils gratuitement.
Nous voulons être en mesure de répondre à vos besoins et retours de manière approfondie et nous comprenons que chaque organisme peut avoir une situation spécifique. N'hésitez pas à contacter notre équipe à l'adresse contact@zeffy.com.
R
Rémi
Rowan from Zeffy: N'y aurait-il pas des partenariats avec des fondations/gouvernements pour soutenir cet outils?
Les cartes de crédits ne pourraient pas vous diminuer vos frais?
Rowan from Zeffy
Thank you all for your comments and votes. We really appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We wanted to address the different concerns you have raised below:
What is the voluntary contribution and how is the percentage determined?
Unlike other fundraising software, Zeffy is the only platform that covers all processing fees and doesn’t charge a platform fee. This means you are able to receive 100% of every payment made to your organization. Our mission is and will always be to provide free fundraising technology to nonprofits, so you can put 100% of your funds towards your cause.
As voluntary contributions are our sole source of revenue, they need to cover the costs of:
- Credit card fees for each payment
- Maintaining the platform (performance, speed, security of payments, among others)
- Salaries of our small team of 20 (working to support 10,000 active nonprofits)
- Continued development of features to keep up with your growing fundraising needs
Along with that, not all donors choose to leave a contribution. For these reasons, we need to suggest contributions that are higher than just processing fees in order to maintain our services.
How is Zeffy working to explain the contribution model?
We understand that our model may not be familiar for most donors, that’s why we mention it twice on our forms. The first - when the donor is beginning to fill it out and the second - at the payment confirmation step. We’ve also added additional opportunities for donors to learn more about our model on our forms, in donor confirmation emails, in the donor dashboard and more.
As for the transparency and accessibility to adjust the contribution, we are working on various design options that we will be rolling out in the coming months. These type of changes affect both donors and nonprofits, therefore we will need time to do extensive testing on the impact on donor experience along with the impact on our model.
It's important to us that donors understand and encourage our model, so changes moving forward will be focused on the donor experience.
How can we facilitate donor understanding?
Because we know that our model is newer and donors are curious by nature, we need your help to explain the voluntary contribution to them along with how Zeffy benefits your organization. Our model is about providing you with free technology, but it is also about collaboration. We would be extremely grateful if encouraged your donors to contribute to Zeffy so that we can continue to provide our tools for free.
We want to be able to address each concern thoroughly and we understand that each nonprofit may have a specific situation. Please feel free to reach out to our team at contact@zeffy.com.
E
Elea
Rowan from Zeffy: I really appreciate the response on this issue. My sense is that most people using Zeffy understand the need for the contributions to cover costs and agree to the model (otherwise we shouldn't be using Zeffy). I think the primary concern is that despite efforts by Zeffy to explain to the donor (in TWO places) people just breeze through these forms and then they are shocked that they were charged more - definitely their fault but then we need to find a way to prevent that.
My suggestion (in a different thread) has been to include an acknowledgement - like a terms & conditions check box that a donor MUST check off in order to finish the payment. Also to adjust the language and sizing of some elements.
Another option would be to do a button selection (like you do for the suggested donation amounts) instead of a drop down. That might be more obvious so that they HAVE to click an amount or click "other" and put their own amount in.
So a line that says "The processing fees for this transaction are absorbed by Zeffy and therefore, FREE for the charity you are giving to. Help keep it free by making an additional contribution to Zeffy.
And then put the button amounts below > They click.
> could add a smaller check box that says, I understand this amount will go to Zeffy to help cover processing fees.
The total (which should be a larger font than the donation alone) adjusts and they proceed to payment.
As for the PAD payment method on larger donations - few people understand what that is. It may just need more words of explanation and instead of other payments in small letters below (again, donors breeze past that) I would put both options up (the way it looks when you actually do click "other payment options") and with the explanation people will be more inclined to pick the debit option.
Just my ideas. Feel free to contact me for clarification.
Rowan from Zeffy
Hi Elea ! Thanks so much for sharing these. We are currently working on a design with select buttons and will begin the testing stage in the coming weeks. Like I mentioned, we need to do quite a bit of testing in order to ensure that it works for the donor experience and for the model. We will update this post as we progress! Thanks for your patience on this.
You raise on great point on the PAD/ACH payment method. We understand that this is not a commonly used method and unknown for many donors. We do have some limitations in how we can present it along with the quality of the user experience since all the payment flow and much of the communications on it is fully through Stripe. We have added quite a bit of documentation in our knowledge base on this to answer any donor or nonprofit questions while the payment is processing.
Thanks for your input on the display of the other payment method, we have prioritized this feedback and will be updating this feature request as well as it progresses. I've attached that here.
Thanks again for your feedback!!
M
Michael
Rowan from Zeffy, your repeated assertions that you need "quite a bit of time" to do "extensive testing" on alternative donation models suggests to me that even after reading all our comments you do not get what a serious problem of mistrust you're facing! -- and making your participating orgs face too!
So, IMO, you need to make your model transparent immediately in a way that incorporates your need for testing, and here's how I suggest you do it:
1) Change your introductory blurb from
Did you know? When you give on any other platform, up to 10% of your gift is used to cover fees. We choose to fundraise on Zeffy to receive 100% of your gift.
to something like
Do you know?
When you give on any other donation platform, up to 10% of your gift is used to cover service fees.
We fundraise on Zeffy because Zeffy gives us 100% of your gift, and gives you options for supporting them in return, including the average percentage they need to maintain their service and 0% for hard-pressed donors.
2) Provide clear and straightforward button options instead of pull-down menu options as Elea suggested: like first a couple of above average percentages, then the average percentage you need, a couple of below average percentages, and a 0% option, all labeled clearly.
3) Adjust the average percentage you need according to the data you get back, and of course make it high enough at first -- high enough to make sure you don't tank right away.
Value + Trust through transparency is our real bottom line!
N.B. I too am recommending that the nonprofits to which I donate not use Zeffy until you make such changes, so if you do, please tell me as soon as you've done it and I'll recommend you immediately.
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