Should you ask your donors if they would like to pay the credit card fees for their gift?
Turns out you probably shouldn’t – look at this test done by the always-helpful NextAfter.
Their test showed that asking people making a gift online if they would like to cover the credit card fee of their donation resulted in raising 20.5% less than not asking donors to cover the fee.
Many people chose to pay the credit card fees. However, what also happened is that many people saw the option to pay the credit card fees and chose to not give at all. The result was a 20.5% drop in net revenue. (Click through to the post itself for all the details, which are fascinating if you like that kind of thing.)
Keep this study handy the next time “giving donors the option of paying credit card fees” comes up at your nonprofit!
