Payment-processor optimization.
What is your charity leaving on the table in processing fees? Public calculator; methodology disclosed; rate card refreshed quarterly. All computation runs in your browser.
You currently pay an estimated $97,500/year on processing (Stripe (standard nonprofit)). The lowest-cost option below is PayPal Giving Fund (no fees) at $0/year.
Estimated annual savings: $97,500
Method: $3,750,000 of $5,000,000 (75%) flows through cards; 50,000 txns/year implied at $75 avg gift.
| Processor | All-in % | Annual cost | Effective rate | Δ vs. current |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal Giving Fund (no fees) | 0.00% | $0 | 0.00% | −$97,500 |
| Stax (subscription + interchange)+interchange | 1.55% | $67,313 | 1.80% | −$30,187 |
| Helcim (interchange + 0.40%)+interchange | 1.95% | $81,125 | 2.16% | −$16,375 |
| Adyen for Nonprofits+interchange | 2.15% | $90,625 | 2.42% | −$6,875 |
| Stripe (standard nonprofit)Domain I: review | 2.20% | $97,500 | 2.60% | — |
| PayPal (501(c)(3) charity) | 1.99% | $99,125 | 2.64% | +$1,625 |
| Square | 2.60% | $102,500 | 2.73% | +$5,000 |
| GiveCloud (on Stripe) | 3.90% | $161,250 | 4.30% | +$63,750 |
| Donorbox (on Stripe) | 4.40% | $180,000 | 4.80% | +$82,500 |
Sector-wide · FY 2023 · n = 654 reporting orgs
What payment-processor optimization could save the US Muslim nonprofit sector
Across $1075.4M of FY 2023 revenue, at the current 75% credit-card share, the sector processes roughly $806.5M in card volume each year.
- If every org used Stripe's standard nonprofit rate (2.2% + $0.30):$21.0M/yr
- If high-volume orgs switched to Stax subscription:$14.2M/yr
- If smaller orgs used Helcim interchange-plus:$17.4M/yr
- If all card volume routed through PayPal Giving Fund (no fees, donor-data trade-off):$0/yr
Estimated $6.7M/year currently lost to payment-processor inefficiency
(Stripe-default vs. Stax-subscription baseline; the PPGF-equivalent delta — accepting longer disbursement + donor-data trade-offs — would be as high as $21.0M.)
This is a sector-wide upper bound. Each org's actual savings depends on volume, average gift size, card mix, and current processor. The Ihsan Standard Supplier-Stack Audit produces a per-org plan.
Methodology, rate-card sources, and citations
For each processor, the “All-in %” column is the rate we use in the calculation. Flat-rate processors (Stripe, Square, PayPal, Donorbox, GiveCloud) advertise a single percentage that already includes the card-network interchange. Interchange-plus processors (Helcim, Stax, Adyen) charge interchange as pass-through plus their own markup — to compare fairly, we add a blended industry-average interchange of 1.55% + $0.08/txn.
- Stripe (standard nonprofit): Verified-nonprofit rate of 2.2% + $0.30. Without verification, default is 2.9% + $0.30. Interchange already included. [source]
- Square: Online & in-person median rate. No nonprofit discount publicly advertised. Interchange already included. [source]
- PayPal (501(c)(3) charity): Confirmed charity rate, requires PayPal charity verification. Interchange already included. [source]
- PayPal Giving Fund (no fees): PayPal Giving Fund charges no fees: donor's full amount goes to the charity. Trade-offs: 14–45 day disbursement delay, charity does NOT get donor's email/address unless donor opts in (so retention/stewardship is hard), and the charity must be in PPGF's enrolled list (most US 501(c)(3)s are). [source]
- Helcim (interchange + 0.40%): Interchange-plus pricing: actual card-network interchange + Helcim's 0.40% markup + $0.08/txn. No monthly fee. Effective rate depends on your card mix — charity-rate cards (Visa Charity Tier ≈ 1.43% + $0.05) drop the all-in cost significantly. [source]
- Stax (subscription + interchange): Subscription model: $99/month + actual interchange + $0.08/txn (no % markup). Best-in-class for high-volume orgs (>$500k/yr) where the fixed cost dilutes. Smaller orgs save more with PayPal-charity or Helcim. [source]
- Adyen for Nonprofits: Interchange-plus pricing for enterprises and nonprofits. Effective rate depends heavily on negotiation. Generally requires $1M+ annual volume to engage. [source]
- Donorbox (on Stripe): Donorbox layers a 1.5% platform fee on top of Stripe's STANDARD (non-nonprofit) rate of 2.9% + $0.30. Donorbox does NOT pass through Stripe's nonprofit discount. [source]
- GiveCloud (on Stripe): GiveCloud layers a 1.0% platform fee on top of Stripe. Same observation: nonprofit-Stripe-discount not passed through. [source]
- Blended interchange (1.55% + $0.08): Weighted average of Visa Charity Tier (1.43% + $0.05), Mastercard Charity (1.35% + $0.05), Discover Charity (1.55% + $0.05), and AmEx OptBlue (~2.30% + $0.10) across a typical US donation card mix. Editable above for orgs with a known atypical mix. [Visa schedule] [Mastercard schedule]
Rate card v2026-Q2. Refreshed quarterly. No vendor pays for inclusion or favorable treatment.