Online Donor Forms and New Fees

Yes, received same email. That's what I came away with as well.

@Jennifer Lee I believe BB can do this because of this clause in their Payment Services Terms (point 10.2 in linked doc):

"Blackbaud may add or amend Payment Services Fee sat any time in its sole discretion. In the event of such a change, Blackbaud will post a revision to its Fee Schedule and Your continued use of the Payment Services will be subject to such revised Payment Services Fees thirty (30) days after the date they are posted. Your continued use of BBIP or Payment Services after the expiration of such thirty (30)-day window constitutes your acknowledgement and acceptance of the revised Payment Services Fees"

https://www.blackbaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/paymentservicesterms.pdf

Thanks, Evan,

Their email to us seems to not characterize this as a payment processing fee and instead is characterizing this as a "platform fee" for use of the RE-NXT online forms. This might be because of the state-restrictions on those types of fees. "Third-party processors and merchants can add a percentage fee (often called a surcharge) on credit card transactions, but it is highly regulated. Whether it is legal and permissible depends heavily on state laws, credit card network rules, and how the fee is applied." They may be trying to get away from these state laws and cc network rules by saying it's a platform fee for using their online forms. My BB rep used the analogy that our subscription is for the "building" and these new charges are like "paying for electricity". I don't see how if you have a lease for a building where electricity is included, the landlord can unilaterally start charging for electricity without violating the terms of the lease.

@Jack Wagner Exactly my response to the email. Where did this come from? First I ever heard of it. July 1 is less than 2 months out to charge a new fee.

I know BB is trying to get everyone to use Donor Cover or Complete Cover, but I think they could have given us more time. I also found it odd that I seemed to be the only one who received the email and I am not the main contact.

In the email, there are a lot of resources listed in the email and steps to take to help minimize the fee, but it would be helpful if BB should provide a few information sessions to help us wrap ourselves around the changes and figure out our next steps to take.

Fees will be also be charged for OLX Event Reg forms. There is no mention of increases in School website > Event Registration forms, School forms, or Tap to Pay fees.

I get increases in fees, but I would appreciate more than a 45 day notice and answers to questions.

@Maureen Kelly, this new fee CANNOT be passed onto the donor. Our organizations are going to eat it, full stop. It's only the credit card processing fees that are covered by either Donor Cover or Complete Cover.

Why do you say that it cannot be passed on to the donor? If you use donor cover, that is exactly what happens.

I do wonder if donors will begin to stop covering fees as of July 1 because they will be higher.

We don’t believe extra costs should be passed along to our donors for supporting us, so we absorb extra fees. Also I’ve read about other user’s experiences with donor cover and I don’t need another headache to deal with.

It might not even be Org Admins since I received the email and I'm not one but I sure do put in a lot of support tickets, attend webinars, do trainings etc

I stand corrected. I have a meeting scheduled with our customer success rep and a few other people he's looped in tomorrow and I asked the question directly. You are correct that Complete Cover will include this fee, and they are recalculating the Donor Cover algorithm now to include the new added fee. I cannot believe donors are going to be willing to pay a 4-5% fee to use a credit card. I expect fewer will cover the fee at all.

For anyone else following, if you use Smart Thing for donor cover in your OLX fees, you can actually change the calculation yourself and increase the fee. It doesn't feel ethical to me, but it can be done.

I liked the upgrades I saw coming on the PUB, should have known they wouldn't come free lol. Gotta pay for all the AI nonsense somehow, I guess.

@Tioga Anderson Most of the new AI tools are for the premium subscription though!

@Evan Webb I was just reading through the payment services terms and looked at the processing fees site. According to the website, the new fee is listed separately as an "Online Forms Platform Fee", which sounds like a use fee of the platform not a payment fee. Also the fee doesn't apply to all transactions so it's not a true payment processing fee. Also I don't see a post about this or a revision to the website, nowhere does it have a revision date or a implementation by date. And I'm still waiting for an email about this….how can they impose a new fee without the organization knowing. If I wasn't active on here and in the FB groups, I would have never known.