Canadian charities have a variety of alternatives for receiving online gifts and integrating fundraising features into their websites. Whether you’re a tiny community organization or a national nonprofit, understanding the available platforms and their individual capabilities can have a big impact on your digital fundraising performance.
Finding the Right Digital Platform for Your Charity
From several well-known donation systems, each with special features, rates, and integration possibilities, Canadian organizations have options. Let’s investigate the main participants in the Canadian market and look at how actual businesses are effectively using these tools.
CanadaHelps: Canada’s Premier Donation Platform
As Canada’s preeminent digital fundraising platform, CanadaHelps serves over 30,000 Canadian charities with comprehensive online donation solutions. Being a registered charity itself, CanadaHelps has developed an all-in-one fundraising suite specifically designed for Canadian organizations.
Key Features and Integration Options
CanadaHelps provides multiple seamless integration options, including:
- Customizable donation forms that embed directly into existing websites
- Peer-to-peer fundraising capabilities
- Ticketed event management systems
- Donor management system to track and build relationships
- Automatic tax receipting compliant with CRA requirements
- Weekly direct deposits to charity bank accounts
The platform operates on a transaction fee model, charging 4% for one-time donations and 3.5% for monthly recurring donations, making it accessible to organizations of all sizes.
Success Stories
Several Canadian organizations have found success with CanadaHelps:
Willowbank, a unique private career college focused on heritage conservation, uses CanadaHelps to process online donations and engage supporters.
Foundations for Social Change, a Vancouver-based charity addressing homelessness through innovative programs, integrates CanadaHelps for their donation processing.
The Neighbourhood Group leveraged CanadaHelps’ ticketed events management system to coordinate attendees and ticket sales across five partnering agencies.
Fred Victor implemented CanadaHelps’ peer-to-peer fundraising tools to expand their donor reach with remarkable results.
Benevity: Corporate Giving Powerhouse
Benevity represents a different approach to charitable giving, focusing primarily on corporate social impact programs rather than direct-to-consumer donations.
Connecting Corporations and Causes
As one of Western Canada’s largest startups and one of Canada’s first B Corps, Benevity provides:
- Corporate purpose software connecting companies with charitable causes
- Employee engagement tools for workplace giving
- Corporate grant management systems
- Volunteer program coordination
Although Benevity usually does not interact directly with charitable websites, it generates important relationships between businesses and contributors that open major revenue sources for registered organizations. With donations in many languages and thorough screening procedures, the site helps more than two million NGOs across their worldwide network.
PayPal Giving Fund Canada: Multi-Channel Fundraising
PayPal Giving Fund Canada serves as a bridge between individual donors and Canadian charities through multiple technology platforms.
Integration Pathways
PayPal Giving Fund offers several integration options:
- Integration with PayPal’s payment processing system
- Partnerships with major fundraising platforms including GoFundMe, Humble Bundle, Deed, and Twitch
- No fees charged to charities for disbursements (though partner platforms may have their own fee structures)
Acting as a middleman, the fund gathers donations via several ways, gives tax receipts to contributors, and then distributes the money to beneficiary organizations.
Real Canadian Impact
Several Canadian organizations benefit from PayPal Giving Fund’s partnerships:
ShelterBox Canada used GoFundMe through PayPal Giving Fund to raise money for emergency shelter and relief items for those impacted by Cyclone Idai.
Rethink Breast Cancer hosted fundraising campaigns through the platform to support wellness retreats for women affected by breast cancer.
War Child Canada utilized the platform for their Crisis Response Fund.
As noted by the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, “Facebook and Instagram don’t charge fees for donations to non-profits! In Canada, PayPal Giving Fund processes donations and waives fees for non-profits.”
Zeffy: The Fee-Free Alternative
Zeffy positions itself uniquely as the only 100% free fundraising platform for nonprofits in Canada and the United States.
Comprehensive Toolset with No Fees
Zeffy’s platform includes:
- Customizable donation forms that integrate with existing websites
- Event ticketing capabilities
- Peer-to-peer fundraising tools
- Online stores for merchandise sales
- Raffle and auction systems
- Membership and donor management systems
Zeffy stands out for its creative funding approach: the platform charges no fees to charity and depends just on voluntary tips from donors during the checkout process. Their records show that over two-thirds of contributors decide to give a tip to help with running expenses.
Impressive Savings
Several Canadian organizations have achieved significant cost savings by using Zeffy:
- Kids Cancer Care saved approximately $195,000 in fees by fundraising through Zeffy
- Friends of Rescue Animals saved $1,700 in fees using the platform
- SPCALL saved $7,000 in transaction fees through Zeffy’s fundraising platform
- University of Montreal successfully implemented Zeffy for their fundraising needs
- CMHA Vancouver-Fraser utilizes Zeffy for their donation processing
Additional Canadian Solutions
DonorPerfect
DonorPerfect offers a comprehensive fundraising and donor management platform specifically tailored for Canadian organizations. This Canada-native platform features:
- Online and mobile donation forms that integrate with websites
- Grant and gift tracking capabilities
- Customer relationship management tools
- Mass mailing features
- Canadian-compliant tax receipting tools
- Bilingual support in English and French
- Data hosting within Canada
According to their statistics, nonprofits using DonorPerfect raise approximately 20% more funds in their first year using the platform.
AKA raisin
AKA raisin provides specialized fundraising software designed to unify the digital experience for nonprofit organizations, offering:
- Website building tools for nonprofits
- Integration with CRM and marketing systems
- Peer-to-peer fundraising functionality
- Donation form capabilities
- Event management tools
Several major Canadian nonprofit organizations utilize raisin for their fundraising initiatives:
- JDRF Canada used the platform for their campaign where Canadians walked 100 kilometers to commemorate the centenary of insulin’s discovery
- Jack.org employed raisin for their ride supporting youth mental health initiatives
- Kids Help Phone utilized raisin for their nationwide 5K walk presented by BMO
Other Platforms Supporting Canadian Charities
- Raisely allows Canadian charities to accept donations in Canadian dollars, issue CRA-compliant tax receipts, and conduct bilingual campaigns. While not Canadian-based, it serves many Canadian organizations and charges a 4% platform fee.
- Donorbox supports Canadian Pre-authorized debits (PADs) for nonprofits in Canada who use Stripe as their payment processor. This enables both one-time and recurring donations from donors with Canadian bank accounts.
- Giveffect offers several pricing tiers for Canadian charities, starting at $299/month for fundraising-only functions, with more comprehensive packages for larger organizations.
Making the Right Choice for Your Organization
When selecting a digital donation platform, Canadian charities should consider several key factors beyond just fees:
- Website integration options: How seamlessly will the donation process work with your existing website?
- Donor experience: Is the donation process straightforward and mobile-friendly?
- Tax receipt handling: Does the platform automatically issue CRA-compliant receipts?
- Language support: Can you offer bilingual giving experiences if needed?
- Technical support: What assistance is available when issues arise?
- Reporting capabilities: How easily can you track donation data and analyze performance?
- Additional features: What other fundraising tools (events, peer-to-peer, etc.) might benefit your organization?
Conclusion
Canadian charities can choose from a variety of digital donation platforms, each with its own set of benefits. CanadaHelps remains the most popular platform developed particularly for Canadian charities, while others, such as Zeffy, provide new fee-free models. Benevity, a corporate giving platform, and PayPal Giving Fund, a multi-channel solution, offer extra fundraising opportunities.
The success examples mentioned show that organizations of all sizes and sectors have achieved success with these systems, implying that viable solutions exist for almost every Canadian charity looking to improve its online fundraising capabilities.
When deciding which platform will best meet your organization’s needs, schedule demos with your top options and chat with other comparable organizations about their experiences. The right digital donation platform can have a big impact on both your fundraising efforts and your capacity to create long-term relationships with donors and supporters.
Ready to Elevate Your Charity’s Digital Presence?
At Alstra Solutions, we understand that choosing and implementing the right digital donation platform is just one piece of your charity’s online strategy. As a federally registered IT firm based in Toronto, we specialize in comprehensive nonprofit and charity website solutions that integrate seamlessly with these donation platforms. Whether you need a custom-designed responsive website, ongoing maintenance and SEO optimization, or assistance with email marketing through our MailCan.app service, our multicultural team is dedicated to helping Canadian charities maximize their online impact. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your organization not just accept donations online, but create a digital experience that truly engages your supporters and advances your mission.