Effective fee calculator
Move the slider to a typical donation size and see what percentage actually reaches you after Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢. The fixed 30¢ is why small gifts cost a bigger share — knowing your effective rate helps you set suggested amounts. No sign-up; the math runs in your browser.
On a $25.00 gift, Stripe takes $1.03 (2.9% + 30¢) — an effective rate of 4.1%. The fixed 30¢ is why the rate is higher on smaller gifts.
| Donation | Stripe fee | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| $5.00 | $0.45 | 8.9% |
| $10.00 | $0.59 | 5.9% |
| $25.00 | $1.03 | 4.1% |
| $50.00 | $1.75 | 3.5% |
| $100.00 | $3.20 | 3.2% |
| $250.00 | $7.55 | 3.0% |
Based on Stripe's standard US card fee (2.9% + 30¢), which applies on virtually every donation platform, including CrowdCreate — we add nothing on top. The takeaway: encouraging slightly larger gifts lowers your effective fee rate. Estimates only.
The fixed 30¢ is the part people miss
Almost every card donation runs through a processor, and Stripe's standard US fee is 2.9% + 30¢ per charge. The percentage is easy to reason about; the fixed 30¢ is what quietly makes a campaign of many small gifts more expensive than the same total raised in fewer, larger gifts.
That fee applies wherever you take card donations, including CrowdCreate — it goes to Stripe, and CrowdCreate adds nothing on top. The practical lever is your average gift: nudging it up with suggested amounts lowers the share lost to the fixed fee.
Common questions
Why is the fee a bigger percentage on small donations?
Because Stripe's fee has a fixed part — 30¢ — on top of the 2.9%. On a $5 gift that 30¢ alone is 6%, so the effective rate is high; on a $100 gift the same 30¢ is only 0.3%. The bigger the gift, the smaller the fixed part's bite, so the effective rate falls toward 2.9%.
Does CrowdCreate add a fee on top of this?
No. CrowdCreate is $20/month flat with no cut of donations. The only fee on a donation is Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢, which goes to Stripe — the same fee you'd pay taking the payment through Stripe directly. This calculator shows that Stripe fee, not a CrowdCreate fee.
How do I lower my effective fee rate?
Encourage slightly larger gifts. Because the 30¢ is fixed, fewer-but-larger donations lose a smaller share to fees than many tiny ones. Suggested-amount buttons that nudge donors up a little can meaningfully cut your blended fee rate.
Keep more of what you raise
Add a donation widget to your own site, on your own Stripe, for a flat $20/mo — no cut of your donations.
Start your fundOr try the donation fee calculator and the flat-vs-percentage break-even calculator.