Each credit card order placed on FutureFund is charged a platform fee. This fee is the combination of the following:

• Processing Fees: These are fees charged by processors, interchanges, and credit card companies to cover the costs of accepting credit cards, preventing fraud, and managing payouts.
• Platform Fee: This fee funds development of the FutureFund platform and support costs.

For simplicity, we refer to both fees as Platform Fees. There are no other fees other than the Platform Fee.

For a full breakdown of current rates by payment method and campaign type, see our pricing page.

Platform Fee Payment Options

Each account can select their preferred option to cover the cost of the Platform Fee:

1. Purchaser will cover 100% of the platform fee (this is the default option)
2. School will cover 100% of the platform fee
3. The purchaser will have the option to cover the platform fee, if they decline, the school will cover the fee

To change the payment option for the Platform Fee:

1. In the Admin, navigate to Account Settings > Account
2. Click the Edit button
3. Select the desired option
4. Click the Update button

Making One Campaign Always Fee-Free for Buyers

Sometimes you want buyers to have a fee-free checkout on just one campaign, like a membership drive or a sponsorship push, without changing the fee setting for your whole account. You can do that with a per-campaign override.

To turn it on:

1. In the Admin, open the campaign under Campaigns
2. Click the View button, then the Options tab
3. Expand Advanced settings
4. Check “Organization always pays the platform fee”
5. Click the Update Campaign button to save the change

With this checked, buyers never see a fee charge for that campaign, your organization absorbs it out of the deposit instead. The fee amount itself doesn’t change, only who pays it does, and it overrides your account-wide fee setting for that campaign only.

This is available on Donation Drive, Purchase, Membership, Membership Level, Sign Up, Ticket, Pledge, and Campaign Bundle campaigns (not Auction, External, or Shop campaigns). Ticket campaigns can also turn it on from the campaign edit screen.

If a buyer’s cart has items from more than one campaign, FutureFund splits the fee fairly: they’re only charged a fee on items from campaigns that don’t have this option turned on. For a Campaign Bundle, the bundle’s own checkbox governs the whole bundle price.

Ways Supporters Can Pay Less

Supporters aren’t limited to paying by card. Two other payment options carry a lower fee:

• In-person payments (SnackBar): Tap, dip, and swipe payments taken in person through SnackBar cost less to process than an online card payment.
• ACH Direct Debit: At checkout, a supporter can choose to pay directly from their bank account instead of a card. This is FutureFund’s lowest-cost payment option. It’s offered automatically when the order totals $250 or more and doesn’t include event tickets, an A-Thon pledge donation, or a payment plan (installments), since those need money right away or a scheduled follow-up charge that a bank payment can’t provide. Because a bank payment takes a few business days to clear, the order shows as Pending on the Orders page until it settles, then finalizes and emails the receipt automatically like any other order.

See the pricing page for exact current rates on every payment method.

Notes

• When the purchaser is given the option to pay the platform fee, the option defaults to ‘on’. Buyers can opt out of the fee during checkout.
• Platform fees for installments are collected up front when the order is placed. Future installments will have a zero fee associated with the payment.
• The collected platform fee can be refunded; however, this will debit your organization’s account to cover the cost. There is a separate platform fee for each organization if more than one organization is used in the order.
• Platform fees are not applied to check/cash orders.
• This feature is available in the store and First Step checkout pages.
• This feature is not available when manually creating an order in the Admin.