Complete Cover Program Feedback

Brian,

I just launched an online appeal this morning and thankfully went in to double check my giving form and noticed that we were switched over to Complete Cover since I created the form.

I also have feelings about this. In principle, giving donors the option to cover processing fees is a good thing. Unfortunately, it is my opinion that the way it is done here will be offensive to donors. When I went through a sample this morning, it automatically selected a 10% additional fee (which is WAY higher than what my org would have paid) and it would have required the donor to opt out (I much prefer opt in as the go to) in a method that wasn't immediately apparent.

Needless to say, I very quickly disabled this for all of my forms. If they work out the bugs, I will give it another look. But for now, this seems to actually benefit Blackbaud more than my organization.

All the best,

Stephanie Pariza
Director of Philanthropy
Mount Rushmore Society

Hi @Brian Davies, our organization also participated in the EAP. We have had very minimal feedback from our donors neither positive nor negative. The few phone calls I did have from donors, once I explained why the ask was higher, and how the program saved our organization a lot of money on processing fees, they were actually ok with it. They were glad it was helping us with our mission!

It is also important to note, that if a donor did pay the additional processing fees and was upset by it, you do have the ability to refund the fees portion of the gift while retaining the actual gift from the donor. This will help with any donor relations issues that may arise from a donor protesting the Complete Cover fees (and they didn't opt out).

I agree the default ask of 10% seems really high! But again the nice thing about Complete Cover is donors can choose the amount they wish to contribute, from opting out completely to donating a custom amount they choose. Either way, Blackbaud covers the processing fees whether donors choose to participate or not. Other “Donor Cover” programs are opt-in/opt-out only, and you'll only recover the fees donors choose to opt-in.

I would encourage any organization to try Complete Cover! Arm yourself and your Donor Relations staff with knowledge about how the program works, how it is different from other “Donor Cover” programs, and how it is saving your mission a ton of money in credit card processing fees; that should help quell any negative feedback you may receive from a donor that doesn't understand the value of Complete Cover.

@Carolyn Copp - The only way to get rid of this screen is to stop using Complete Cover. Take a look at the Donor Cover option instead, it is a little less extreme for the default option.