Zeffy vs Venmo: Fees, Features and CRM Compared

A Venmo charity profile takes 1.9% + $0.10 on each donation made in the Venmo app. Zeffy is free, with its own forms, monthly giving, events and donor CRM.

Zeffy is trusted by 100,000+ nonprofits

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We use Venmo's charity profile fee: 1.9% + $0.10 per donation received. Instant Transfer fees are not included. Source: venmo.com fees page, October 2026.

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Zeffy VS Venmo

Zeffy VS Venmo: What nonprofits should know before choosing.

Pricing

Completely free. Always. But how? →

1.9% + $0.10.

per donation to a charity profile. No setup or monthly fee.

On a $100 donation

100.

Every dollar of the $100 is yours.

$98.00.

kept after the 1.9% + $0.10 charity fee.

Processing fees

No fee on any gift, by card, wallet or bank.

1.9% + $0.10.

on each payment received in the charity profile.

Setup & monthly fees

No setup fee and no subscription.

$0.

No fee to open the account, no monthly fee.

Transfers to your bank

Paid to your bank automatically, at no cost.

Standard transfer free, 1 to 3 business days. Instant Transfer 1.75% ($0.25 minimum, $25 maximum).

Other fees

No platform, processing or payout fee.

Fees are not returned when a gift is refunded. A chargeback fee may apply.

What it means

Zeffy takes nothing from a gift, so the $2 a charity profile pays on every $100 donation stays with your nonprofit.

Venmo publishes a low charity rate, 1.9% + $0.10, with no setup or monthly fee. The fee stays with Venmo even when a gift is refunded.

Sources

How Zeffy is free

Fees · User agreement

Payments

Donors pay on your form by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or US bank, free. Venmo is not one of them.

Donations sent from the donor's Venmo app to your charity profile.

Venmo

Venmo is not a payment method on Zeffy.

Donors give from their own Venmo app.

Where donors give

On your own form, by link, QR code, embed or donate button.

Inside the Venmo app, from the feed or a search.

Cards

Credit and debit cards on every form, fee covered by Zeffy.

Through the donor's Venmo account, which can be funded by card.

Apple Pay & Google Pay

Apple Pay and Google Pay on Zeffy forms, at no cost to you.

Not publicly mentioned for charity profiles.

ACH / bank transfer

US bank transfers by ACH, with no fee.

Not publicly mentioned for charity profiles.

Donor-advised funds

Gifts from donor-advised funds, fee-free.

Not publicly mentioned for charity profiles.

In person

Zeffy's Tap to Pay app on iPhone or Android. No reader, no fee.

Not publicly mentioned for charity profiles.

Payouts

Every Monday or monthly, straight to your bank. Next-day payouts available.

Gifts available within seconds, pending reviews, then withdrawn to a bank or debit card.

Countries

Nonprofits in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and Germany.

US only, with a US bank account.

What it means

Zeffy lets any donor give on your own form by card, wallet or US bank, with no app to download and no fee taken.

Venmo reaches donors who already use the app, and gifts land within seconds. Giving happens inside Venmo, in the US only.

Sources

Payment processing · Tap to Pay

Charity profiles · User agreement · Fees

All-in-one fundraising

4.8/5.

Ease of use on Capterra. Your own forms, monthly giving, events and store, all free.

4.7/5.

Ease of use on Capterra. A charity profile for in-app gifts; campaign tools are not publicly mentioned.

Donation forms

Forms in your colors with suggested amounts, on your site or a shared link.

No form or campaign page publicly mentioned: donors give in the app.

Recurring gifts

Up to four frequencies per form, from weekly to yearly.

A recurring option set up by the nonprofit is not publicly mentioned.

Ticketing

Ticket types and QR check-in, with no ticket fee.

Event ticketing is not publicly mentioned.

Peer-to-peer

Personal and team pages, each with its own goal.

Friends see shared donations in their feed. Fundraising pages are not publicly mentioned.

Auctions

Silent auctions with bids from any phone.

Auctions are not publicly mentioned.

Raffles

Raffle tickets sent with their numbers, where your state allows raffles.

Raffles are not publicly mentioned.

Online store

Merch and products with stock counts.

A store is not publicly mentioned for charity profiles.

Memberships

Paid memberships that renew on their own.

Memberships are not publicly mentioned.

What it means

Zeffy gives your nonprofit its own branded forms, monthly giving, events and a store, so the campaign lives on your site, not in another app.

Venmo's charity profile takes one-off gifts in the app, with a feed that shows them to friends. Forms, events and auctions are not publicly mentioned.

Sources

Donations · Ticketing · Peer-to-peer · Auctions · Raffles · Store · Memberships · Capterra

Charity profiles · Capterra

Donor CRM

A free CRM: each gift, ticket and email on one donor record.

Receipts sent and donor name and email shared. A donor CRM is not publicly mentioned.

Tax receipts

Sent on every gift, then a Giving Recap of the year each January.

Venmo sends tax receipts to donors on the charity's behalf.

Donor contact details

A full contact record: gifts, tickets, notes and custom properties.

Each donor's name and email, shared for thanks and receipts.

Giving history

Lifetime giving, gift count and last gift on each record.

Transaction history and statements, viewable in a browser.

Lists & segments

Filters on giving or campaign, saved as lists that update themselves.

Donor lists are not publicly mentioned.

Newsletters

Emails to any saved list, with opens, clicks and gifts tracked.

Newsletters are not publicly mentioned.

Price

$0, however many donors you have.

No donor CRM is mentioned, so managing donors needs another tool.

What it means

Zeffy builds a full record for every donor, with gifts, tickets, notes and emails, and lets you email any saved list for free.

Venmo sends tax receipts for charity profiles and shares each donor's name and email. Lists and newsletters are not publicly mentioned.

Sources

Donor CRM · Emails

User agreement · Charity profiles

Support

Chat and email for every nonprofit, with a call when you ask.

A phone line seven days a week and an online Help Center.

Help center

500+ articles on forms, receipts and payouts.

The Venmo Help Center, open at any time.

Phone

A call is set up on request. No phone line to ring.

855-812-4430, 8 AM to 8 PM CT, seven days a week.

Chat

An AI assistant answers first and hands over to a person.

Live chat is not publicly mentioned.

Replies within 2 to 6 business hours.

Online reports through the Help Center.

What it means

Zeffy answers email within 2 to 6 business hours, starts every chat with an AI assistant, and books a call for anything that needs one.

Venmo publishes a phone line open seven days a week and a Help Center for account and payment questions.

Sources

Contact

User agreement · Fees

Zeffy is 100% free, always.

Calculate savings

How is Zeffy free?

Why Zeffy over Venmo?

Your own forms, every dollar kept

💸

No fee on any gift

A Venmo charity profile pays $2 on every $100 donation. Zeffy keeps nothing: your nonprofit receives $100.

🔗

Your own donation form

Donors give on your form by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or bank, from any phone or computer. No app to install.

🗂️

Monthly giving and a donor CRM

Recurring gifts, events and a free CRM run in the same account, so each donor's history sits in one place.

Questions nonprofits ask when choosing between Zeffy and Venmo

What is the difference between Zeffy and Venmo?

Zeffy gives your nonprofit one free account for fundraising and donor management: its own donation forms, monthly giving, events, auctions and a store, with no fee taken from any gift. Venmo is a US payment app. A confirmed 501(c)(3) can open a charity profile and receive donations inside the Venmo app, for 1.9% + $0.10 each. Venmo sends the donor a receipt, but forms, events and a donor CRM are not publicly mentioned.

Does Zeffy accept Venmo?

No. Venmo is not a payment method on Zeffy. Donors pay by credit or debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or bank transfer (ACH) in the US, and can give through a donor-advised fund.

Can a nonprofit use Venmo?

Yes, through a Venmo charity profile. Nonprofits can't use a standard Venmo business profile. A charity profile sits on a PayPal confirmed charity account, which needs a valid US 501(c)(3) or equivalent, and it is managed in the Venmo app. Our guide to Venmo for nonprofits walks through the set-up.

How much does Venmo charge nonprofits?

Venmo's fees page lists one rate for charity profiles:

1.9% + $0.10 on each donation received.
$0 to open the account, $0 a month.
Standard transfers to your bank are free and typically take 1 to 3 business days.
Instant Transfer: 1.75%, with a $0.25 minimum and a $25 maximum.
On a refunded gift, the fee you paid is not returned.
A $100 donation leaves $98.00 for the charity after $2.00 in fees.

Through a Zeffy form, that $100 donation stays $100, with or without a contribution from the donor. Source: venmo.com fees page and user agreement, October 2026.

Does Venmo send tax receipts for donations?

Yes, on both. Venmo's user agreement says it sends tax receipts to donors on the charity profile's behalf, and it shares each donor's name and email with the charity. Zeffy sends a tax receipt on every gift too, adds a Giving Recap of the year each January, and keeps the gift on the donor's record.

Can donors give monthly with Venmo?

A recurring option that the nonprofit sets up is not publicly mentioned for Venmo charity profiles. On Zeffy, each form can offer weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly or yearly giving next to a one-time gift, and monthly donors get one cumulative receipt for the year.

Is Zeffy really free?

Yes. Zeffy charges your nonprofit nothing: no processing fee, no platform fee, no setup or monthly fee. Donors can choose to add a contribution to Zeffy when they check out, and the gift reaches you in full either way. See how Zeffy is free.

Should we use Venmo or Zeffy?

Choose Zeffy if you want your own donation forms, monthly giving, events and a donor CRM, with no fee taken from any gift.

Choose Venmo if many of your supporters already use the app and you want their gifts to show in their friends' feeds. The two can run side by side: a charity profile for in-app gifts, Zeffy for the rest.

What is the difference between Zeffy and Venmo?

Does Zeffy accept Venmo?

No. Venmo is not a payment method on Zeffy. Donors pay by credit or debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or bank transfer (ACH) in the US, and can give through a donor-advised fund.

Can a nonprofit use Venmo?

How much does Venmo charge nonprofits?

Venmo's fees page lists one rate for charity profiles:

1.9% + $0.10 on each donation received.
$0 to open the account, $0 a month.
Standard transfers to your bank are free and typically take 1 to 3 business days.
Instant Transfer: 1.75%, with a $0.25 minimum and a $25 maximum.
On a refunded gift, the fee you paid is not returned.
A $100 donation leaves $98.00 for the charity after $2.00 in fees.

Through a Zeffy form, that $100 donation stays $100, with or without a contribution from the donor. Source: venmo.com fees page and user agreement, October 2026.

Does Venmo send tax receipts for donations?

Can donors give monthly with Venmo?

Is Zeffy really free?

Should we use Venmo or Zeffy?

Choose Zeffy if you want your own donation forms, monthly giving, events and a donor CRM, with no fee taken from any gift.

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For 7+ years, Zeffy has supported nonprofits with free, user-friendly fundraising tools.

As a startup nonprofit with only two members, and no funding (yet) we’d need something with low (or no) fees. Zeffy was a dream come true.

Masey, Loose Ends.

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“We were incurring a ton of fees for our past fundraising platform and Zeffy has helped us receive so much more of our donations.”

Zeffy has been invaluable in helping me track our donors, sales, events, and revenue in one spot. The coolest thing about Zeffy is it really is free!

Everything about Zeffy suits us starting with (of course, NO fees) but also the ease of use and customer experience as well as their client support!!

Zeffy is very easy to use and ensures that every dollar quickly gets into our account.. A huge help to our work!

Zeffy is very simple, allows for a lot of customization and seamlessly integrates into our website. The fact that all of this is free is still wild to me.

We couldn't believe there was a free payment platform for our Girl Scout group. Zeffy took ZERO fees from us, which is huge when you run on very small amounts of money.

We were ready to sell tickets in less than 30 minutes. The reporting capabilities were better than some other paid-for sites.

Since using Zeffy, our conversion rate of donations has skyrocketed. It's an easy platform to use. Plus customer support has always been responsive and helpful!