The holiday season is a time for giving. It is a great reminder for us to appreciate all we have and support the people we love and who are around us.
As the giving season approaches, Americans love to help their loved ones and donate to charities.
The giving season is important because it is a time to be generous, kind, and help those in need through charitable giving. Nonprofit organisations and charities engage in fundraising efforts, particularly during November and December.
In this article:
- 7 Best All-Round Donation Apps for the Giving Season
The gifts they receive from year-end giving are crucial to carrying out their mission throughout the year. 30% of nonprofits report that giving accounts for 25% to 50% of their annual funds during this period.
According to Giving USA reports, total giving amounted to $592.50 billion in 2024. It is up 6.3% in current dollars, 3.3% after inflation.
Source: Giving USA 2025
Giving by individual persons, corporations, and foundations has increased significantly. The reason behind this shift can be attributed to stock gains and the implementation of technology.
Technology has made giving fun, recurrent, and satisfying. The donation apps are helping fundraisers and givers alike.
Let’s deep dive into donation apps in the USA, their features, and other considerations in this article.
What Are Donation Apps?
People want to give, but would like to do so at their convenience and in a secure way. They want to understand that the funds they donate are used as intended.
A donation app is a mobile tool that enables individuals to donate to charities, nonprofits, or other philanthropic causes from their phones, computers, or tablets.
Why We Need Donation Apps
A donation app makes giving easier and faster. It is more effective for donors and charities as well.
Benefits for donors:
- Donors can give anytime, from anywhere. They can donate on the go during events or when visiting a charity foundation, or from the office during work hours.
- Donors can use their cards, UPI, or wallets as they prefer, or set up recurring payments with reminders.
- Donors get acknowledgement for their payment and automated messages. This helps to gain trust and satisfaction with the firm they are connected to.
Benefits for nonprofits:
Nonprofit operations can be streamlined for the donation process.
- They can track donations, donor behavior, and campaign performance.
- They can set up monthly giving to gain recurring revenue and grow sustainably.
- They can share donation links or QR codes via social channels like WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as via email.
- It is easy to integrate with events for live fundraising, auctions, or campaigns.
- They can match the look and feel of the apps with their brands and maintain professionalism.
Moving forward, let us review a few popular donation apps to gain a better understanding.
7 Best All-Round Donation Apps for the Giving Season
1. Donorbox
Personalized donor profiles: Each donor can have a personal profile. They can initiate donations, update, or contribute as they find feasible.
Flexible payment options: Donorbox supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Bank Payments. This allows donors to use their preferred payment method.
Recurring donations: Donors can repeat donations without re-entering their payment details.
Company gift matching: Donorbox automates the gift-matching process. It helps companies to match employee donations.
Global currency support: Donorbox supports more than 20 currencies. Donors can donate from anywhere in the world.
Multilingual support: Donorbox has multilingual (11 languages) support, so that donors and companies can navigate the platform easily.
Analytics: Analytic tools help identify trends, track donor behavior, and optimize fundraising strategies.
Figure 1: Salient features of Donorbox
Who is it for:
Donorbox is for Nonprofits of all sizes, churches, temples, and religious missions, educational institutions, political campaigns, charity events and peer-to-peer campaigns.
Additional information:
Donorbox follows stringent security policies. It has an anti-fraud system and encryption technology to secure donors' transactions.
It charges a nominal platform fee of 1.5% on monthly donations. The processing fee is as follows.
For ACH Bank transfers: 0.8% processing fee + $0.30 per transaction (a maximum fee cap of $30).
For PayPal and Stripe: 2.9% processing fee + $0.30 per transaction.
2. Givebutter
An overview: Givebutter is a free-to-use, user-friendly donation app with responsive customer support. The payouts are simple with awesome reporting features. It makes donation simple.
Special features: Some of the salient features include:
Figure 2: Salient features of Givebutter
Who is it for:
Small to mid-sized non-profits, student organizations, clubs, and grassroots campaigns.
Additional information:
It integrates well with Salesforce, a CRM platform; MailChimp, an email marketing platform; and Zapier, a workflow automation tool. It is PCI-compliant and SSL-encrypted for security.
3. Zeffy
An overview: Zeffy is an all-round fundraising platform with zero fees. It helps to raise funds through donations, ticketing, raffles, lotteries, donor management, online store, peer-to-peer campaigns, and memberships.
Special features:
Figure 3: Salient features of Zeffy
Who is it for:
Small to mid-sized non-profit organizations.
Additional information:
It has an in-built CRM. It is PCI and GDPR compliant.
4. GoFundMe
Overview: It is one of the largest crowdfunding platforms, easy to use, with a wide reach. It is an independent nonprofit that raises funds for emergencies, grants for crisis events and natural disasters
Special features:
Figure 4. Salient features of GoFundMe
Who is it for:
Nonprofits, individuals raising money for medical bills or other emergencies, families responding to a crisis, etc.
Additional information:
It carries no platform fee. Processing fee is ~2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
5. Givelify
Overview: Givelify is a customized mobile giving platform for faith-based organizations. For example, Church.
Special features:
Figure 5: Salient features of Givelify
Who is it for:
For churches and other faithful organizations, predominantly.
Additional information:
There is a standard transaction fee. It is PCI-compliant, SSL-encrypted, and follows donor protection policies.
6. Classy
Overview: It is a modern and mobile-friendly fundraising platform. It is simple and intuitive.
Special features:
Figure 6: Salient features of Classy
Who is it for:
It is for mid-sized to large nonprofits. It is best recommended for organizations running high-volume campaigns.
Additional information:
It charges a tiered pricing plan based on the features and volume. It is PCI-compliant, GDPR-ready, and SOC 2 certified. Many consider it expensive. However, it is worth the investment.
7. Fundly
Fundly is a crowdfunding platform designed for individuals, community initiatives, and nonprofits to raise funds.
Special features:
Figure 7: Salient features of Fundly
Who is it for:
Individuals and nonprofits.
Additional information:
It has no fee, but charges a percentage of the donation and a transaction fee. It has SSL encryption and secure payment processing.
Closing Note
A few popular donation apps have been discussed here. Choosing an app completely depends on the specific needs of the campaign.
Businesses should look for donation incentives and crowdfunding apps. An individual can select any, depending on the fundraising cause.
However, nonprofits should be selective when choosing a platform. It should be robust, support features such as donor management CRM and social sharing. The app should be transparent and impactful.
Ready to know more about fundraising? Learn how fashion supports charities here.
FAQs About Donation Apps
What is an all-round donation app?
An all-round donation app makes fundraising easy. It offers several features other than a payment gateway. They are recurring giving, donor management, mobile optimization, integration with CRM tools, and campaign management.
Do donor apps protect personal information?
Absolutely! Donor apps use industry-standard encryption and comply with data protection laws, PCI-DSS, GDPR, and more.
Can small nonprofits use these donation apps?
Yes, many donation apps (like Donorbox) are designed with a small team in mind. They can opt for free plans (or low-cost plans) and scale in due course.
Author Bio
Raviraj Hegde is a seasoned growth professional with over 10 years of experience in the B2B SaaS industry. With a strong background in management, SEO, marketing, analytics, and product management, he has a proven track record of scaling startups and driving revenue growth. As Head of Growth at Donorbox, he has led a team of growth marketers, SEO experts, content marketers, engineers, and product managers, overseeing all aspects of customer acquisition, retention, and monetization. He has successfully launched new products, expanded into new markets, and driven significant revenue growth for the company.
