Can donors cover the fees?
Yes. When paying a donation, a membership fee or a ticket, a checkbox offers the donor or buyer the option to add the equivalent of the bank fees to their payment, so that your association receives 100% of the amount. This box is ticked by default, and around 4 in 5 donors leave it ticked.
Which payments this option applies to
This option appears on all payments made via Donoor: a one-off or recurring donation on your donation page or fundraiser, a membership fee, an event ticket or a shop purchase. In each case the principle is the same: a Cover the fees checkbox, showing the name of the provider, is offered just before the payment is confirmed, and its amount is recalculated automatically if the donor changes the donation amount or the contents of their basket.
What the donor sees when paying
On the payment page, just before confirming, the donor sees a Cover Stripe fees or Cover PayPal fees checkbox: the label shows the provider actually used for that payment. A tooltip explains that bank fees are deducted from each donation, and that by covering them, the association receives 100% of the donation. The exact amount added is recalculated live and shown before confirmation: the donor always knows what they will pay in total, and can untick the box at any time if they do not want to cover the fees. Nothing is confirmed until they click the final payment button, which itself shows the exact total, with or without fees depending on their choice. You can watch this journey in a video in the module The donor payment journey.
What this amount actually covers
On the same page, a second option appears separately: Support Donoor. The two options do not go to the same place, and it is important not to confuse them.
| Option | Covers what | Goes to whom | Visible to the association |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover Stripe or PayPal fees | The bank fees on this payment | Your association, in full | Yes, in the donation details |
| Support Donoor | Nothing: it is a voluntary contribution to the platform | Donoor | No, never displayed on the association side |
Covering the fees is therefore never a way of funding Donoor: it is an amount that offsets what the payment provider deducts, and which goes entirely to your association. This separation is deliberate: it lets your donor know exactly where each euro they add to their donation goes, without ever mixing what returns to your association with what supports the platform. For an overview, read Is Donoor really free? and transaction fees.
And the tax receipt, in this case?
If your association issues tax receipts (reçus fiscaux), the amount of fees covered by the donor is included in the deductible amount on their receipt: a donation of €10 with €0.50 of fees covered gives a receipt of €10.50, since that is indeed what the donor paid to your association. Only the Support Donoor contribution, which goes to a different beneficiary, is excluded from the tax receipt. This rule is based on tax guidance, which counts all payments made to the beneficiary organisation without any consideration received by the donor. For the rest of how receipts work, see how tax receipts work.
Can your association turn this option off?
Yes, for your donation page. From the home screen of your dashboard, open the Your payment link card, click Edit, then in the Options section, switch off "Cover the fees" option. This setting applies to your donation page and your fundraiser, and is presented in detail in the module Fundraising goal and options. Once switched off, the option disappears entirely from the page: the donor no longer sees it at all, and cannot re-enable it themselves.
Important: Donoor advises against switching this option off. The setting itself notes this: 4 in 5 donors choose to cover the fees so that the association receives the full donation. Once switched off, the fees are systematically deducted from what you receive.
Good to know: whatever their choice, the donor always sees, before confirming, the exact amount they will pay in total.
Key takeaways
- The Cover the fees checkbox is ticked by default on the payment page, and around 4 in 5 donors leave it ticked.
- This amount offsets the payment provider's fees and goes entirely to your association.
- Support Donoor is a separate option, invisible to the association: it never funds bank fees.
- If the donor covers the fees, this amount is included in their tax receipt.
- You can switch this option off for your donation page, but Donoor advises against it.