How Stripe fees work, and how nonprofits can get a discount
A guide to Stripe transaction fees on RevEngine, including standard vs. nonprofit rates, international charges, and how donors can cover costs.
RevEngine uses Stripe’s payment processor to execute transactions on debit and credit cards. Stripe charges a small fee for each transaction it executes, but nonprofit organizations can apply for a discount.
How Stripe fees work
How much? Stripe currently charges a processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 for each transaction made on its platform. That would equal 76 cents for a one-time contribution of $15. For nonprofits, the figure lowers to 2.2% + $0.30, or 63 cents on a $15 payment. Nonprofits also are subject to a special flat-rate fee on transactions made with American Express - those are charged at 3.5%.
Who pays? As a RevEngine user, your newsroom will absorb the cost of Stripe fees - they’ll be deducted from the total sum of revenue you collect from readers. You also can ask contributors to pay the fees when they make a payment.
This guide from Stripe offers a complete explanation of how Stripe calculates fees that are paid by contributors.
RevEngine’s default settings allow contributors to opt-in to cover Stripe fees as part of their transaction. You can disable the setting in the page editor and absorb 100% of the fees yourself, but we encourage you to give contributors the option to direct more money toward your mission.
Why does the math get weird? When contributors do pay your fees, it isn’t as simple as adding the fee value to their total contribution.
Let’s consider a $15 gift to a nonprofit organization that has a discounted fee rate.
The Stripe fee on a $15 contribution is $0.63. When the contributor elects to pay the fee, they agree to a new contribution amount of $15.63. Since this is the sum Stripe will process, Stripe assesses the fee on that amount - not the initial $15 contribution. This is why a contributor who pays the Stripe fee on a $15 donation will be charged $15.64, not $15.63. Essentially, electing to pay the fee causes the fee to increase slightly.
Additional fees are charged for international donations
Stripe adds the following processing fees for the following donations:
- +1% fee when donors use an international card
- +1% fee when currency conversion is used
Nonprofit organizations can apply for a discounted fee from Stripe by emailing nonprofit@stripe.com with the following information:
- Your EIN, or a letter from the IRS designating your 501(c)(3) status.
- Confirmation of the primary email address associated with your Stripe account
- Confirmation that greater than 80% of your payment volume will be tax-deductible donations.
- Some examples of non-eligible donations include: membership fees, tuition payments, ticket sales, registration fees, and auction payments.