Online Donor Forms and New Fees
Answers
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Just want to share this write up from AFP: Nonprofit-First: Considerations for Platforms Enabling Charitable Donations
Consideration 1 — Fee Transparency
For donors: Donors are entitled to clear, specific, and plain-language disclosure of all fees associated with their transaction. Fee disclosures should be conspicuous and accessible, not buried in footnotes or obscured by complex language. When donors agree to terms of service, those terms should clearly identify who receives each fee and for what purpose, so that donors can make informed decisions before completing their gift.
For nonprofits: Where a nonprofit accesses or uses a platform, the same principles of transparency apply. Fee disclosures should be clear, specific, and in plain language, covering all applicable fees, including those the platform controls and, where known, those set by third parties such as payment processors.Consideration 5 — Resolution and Accountability
Nonprofits deserve fair treatment, clear communication, and a genuine opportunity to be heard when problems arise. Platforms should maintain accessible support channels, provide clear explanations when campaigns are flagged or suspended, and offer nonprofits a meaningful appeals process. Platforms should provide adequate notice of material changes to policies, fees, or operations.
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If Blackbaud can just add a new fee for online forms which is already part of a contract, what is to stop them from adding other fees whenever they want. A fee for attachments that is based on usage, each relationship record created, each integration…
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This is a good point.
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We are also customers of GiveCampus and they have reached out to us directly to notify us of this change and to see how they can assist us. Too bad Blackbaud didn't reach out to us first with this news and also endeavor to learn from us what this impact would be and how they might assist. If Blackbaud could get its customer relations practices mastered, they would be a more powerful entity in this space. It seems GiveCampus is eating their lunch.
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What they should have said in the article is we didn't make the profits we were expecting last year and we are committed to finding new ways of revenue regardless of impact to our clients and their donors.
The product is very basic and doesn't offer much other than a very simplistic donor page. They want us to pay for a premium product that isn't even close to that yet.
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Grrrr…..just did the math on this for our Org. 😡
1. Our Budget is based on Calendar Year. For the remainder of 2026, this fee will cost us approximately $20,000 that is NOT in the budget! (Based on $1.3M in online gifts from 7/1/25-12/31/25.)
2. We participated in Complete Cover from the EAP to 4/9/2026. Yep, we just stopped using Complete Cover last month because one too many donors complained about the 10% Additional Tip to Blackbaud to cover processing. It's extremely unlikely we'd start using Donor Cover instead.3 -
Given how Complete Cover is designed, it’s difficult for us to see it as a viable option. It feels misaligned with what we think a donor-focused experience should be.
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Our contract is up for renewal this year and we are seriously looking at alternatives because of this new fee. We too have sent emails regarding these changes and their impact on our organization.
Complete Cover did not work for us as we had way too much push back from donors, and the Donor Cover is not as clear as it should be from the donor perspective. We are still using Donor Cover, but have had a few complaints about it as well.
At this point I suggest to our donors to send checks to avoid the fees whenever possible.
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I've seen that some of you have estimated the new fee expense for your organizations. How did you calculate that? I have our total online form and Online Express gifts, but they include pledge and recurring gift payments. Since the new platform fee only applies to initial pledge payments and recurring gift payments, how are you taking that into consideration?
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That's a great point. I was trying to understand how they could justify this fee, but I think you're correct as it's a platform fee for use of the form not a payment processing fee.
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@Kyle Tiney Have you heard anything from BB regarding the new forms fee?
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@Jason Weaver - We haven't heard anything new from Blackbaud. We scheduled a call with our customer success representative for June 4, 2026, and they're bringing a Managing Director to the meeting. We're going to ask questions, let them know of our displeasure, and see what they say. I don't know if expressing our displeasure will do any good.
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Thanks - that provides more clarity. Saying the fee cannot be passed along is very different from your organization choosing not to pass the cost along to donors. It is still the donor's choice, but I certainly respect your policy. I'm never given the option when I shop at businesses - it is an automatic fee!
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Has anyone heard back from Blackbaud regarding this concern? In writing? Or are they just going to continue being silent and impose new fees even in the middle of an existing contract. Can't shake the bulldozed impression this leaves. In one brief one-on-one call, we were told "it was a business decision, it's happening, won't stop".
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@Laura Moretti We have a meeting with our Blackbaud Customer Success Rep and a Program Manager tomorrow. We'll see what they say. Per a discussion with our Customer Success Rep, she said that we are her only customer that is complaining about the new platform fee. I have no idea how many other clients she supports, but they are all Archdioceses. I can't believe that we're the only Archdiocese that's asked for a conversation on this subject.
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@Jack Wagner Just wondering how your meeting unfolded on this topic…? BTW, I too, have a hard time believing that us folks raising the flag are such a small number/proportion of clients. I don't think it's right that clients should be treated as though our concerns are futile.
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We're meeting with our Customer service rep today and bringing it up. Will let you all know what she says
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Update from BB Rep (legal department), if anything I have more questions…
Thank you for your patience as I got an answer to this question from our legal department. Here is the response:
How can Blackbaud impose a platform fee in states that have laws that limit credit card surcharges?
Many states regulate credit card surcharges, which are generally fees charged to a cardholder for the use of a credit card as a form of payment. Blackbaud’s platform fee charged to its customers is not a credit card surcharge.
In addition, Donor Cover is a fee coverage model that gives donors the option to cover processing fees for eligible transactions, so 100% of their payment goes directly to the organization. Donor Cover is structured to avoid being treated as a prohibited card surcharge.
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@Laura Our meeting was cancelled by Blackbaud at the last minute. We haven't heard back from anyone about rescheduling the meeting. We will try to reschedule, but members of our executive team aren't available at the same time until the last week of this month.
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We brought up the fact of it being mid contract & our rep said they had the authority to raise fees based on the contract. They are trying really hard to differentiate this fee from processing fees, although that's what is is to us as users. She is going to bring it up with our renewals specialist, but we're not holding out much hope…
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Never mind that they are already forcing us to use Blackbaud Merchant Services for processing at horrible rates. Any anti trust lawyers out there think this is illegal "tying"?
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Our organization feels the same way, un-budgeted fees in the middle of the year. This should already be provided for in our existing contacts as upgrades and service. As customers perhaps we need to band together and consult with legal and/or find new platforms that are not charging fees for as they put it " upgrades and securing the platform" as they have already advised us that our platforms are secure, so are they currently secure or not?
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Sorry for the delay in seeing this, @Jason Weaver! Unsurprisingly, the response was pretty mediocre and they're sticking to their script.
I don't see the Online Form Platform Fee as a Payment Services Fee, but there's not much we can do about that.
We're scouting out alternatives to make the move when our current contract is up as we have no assurances they won't do this to us again at any point in time.
Hi Kyle –
Thank you for your patience while we reviewed this internally and for your candid feedback. I want to acknowledge upfront that I hear your frustration, particularly given the timing, your current fiscal planning, and the broader concerns you’ve raised.
To provide clarity: the Online Form Platform Fee being introduced July 1, 2026 is a new fee applied to certain online form transactions and is separate from existing Blackbaud Integrated Payments processing rates. It is being introduced across applicable solutions globally and is not tied to contract renewal timing.
The intent of this fee is to support ongoing investment in secure, reliable, and high-performing online giving infrastructure. This includes enhancements to donor experience, privacy, and system performance that underpin online fundraising capabilities today and going forward. Platform fees are an industry-standard way to support continued investment in modern online giving experiences throughout the digital fundraising market.
Within Raiser’s Edge NXT, you can choose to offset the Online Form Platform fee (as well as other Blackbaud Integrated Payment processing fees) by opting to use the two fee-cover models.
Section 10.2 in the Payments T&Cs outlines our ability to apply said fee:
"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."
Lastly, I also want to acknowledge your point regarding current service gaps, specifically around consolidated receipting for our Canadian customers. You’re right to call out the importance of core functionality, and I will ensure your feedback is escalated appropriately so it is reflected in ongoing prioritization discussions. I will report back to you on this.
Thanks,
Tanya0 -
Has anyone looked into an alternative Online Giving platform? I'm dreading having to do this. But this 1.5% will add ~$70k to our budget 😔
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Absolutely crazy. Can't believe they're doing this. We've used Vanco and PayPal before. Both are now cheaper than Blackbaud. PayPal has name recognition and lots of ways to integrate with other solutions but pretty abysmal technical support. Vanco has some nice features including a donor portal that's easy to manage and gives donors a cart so they can select multiple things to donate to at once, but last I checked they didn't support international donations from very many other countries - they said they were working on it, so that might have changed.
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@Kyle Tiney thank you so much for sharing. I know you've referenced this in your post, but I must also do the same because I am in complete disbelief about what I'm seeing in the Blackbaud rep's response to you. In the second paragraph of their reply, they refer to the "Online Form Platform Fee" yet the excerpt from the T&Cs specifically refers to "Payment Services Fee".
So which is it? This question is not directed at you or the other clients/users here, it is directed at Blackbaud. If they are truly listening, they should respond.
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I agree 100%, that was my argument to our rep and they came back with a similar response.
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Agreed. I really don't interpret the Online Form Platform Fee as Payment Services by their definitions in the terms. But it's not something we would pursue legal action over of course. Instead, we'll consider whether Blackbaud is the best platform for us to continue using at the end of our current contract.
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