Donor Covered Fees in Live Events

Donor Covered Fees lets attendees help cover the cost of transaction fees through checkout and text-to-donate forms on Live Events.

When turned on for either feature, a box will appear in the attendee’s cart, donation form, and invoice to opt-in to cover fees.

The calculation for donor covered fees works just as it does in GoFundMe Pro. Even the add-on rate set on the connected campaign will carry over to the event.

Learn more about Donor Covered Fees on GoFundMe Pro

Turn on Donor Covered Fees

If you use both the Auction and Text-to-Donate features at your event, you'll have separate donor-covered fee settings for each.

The option gives your attendees the option to cover fees, but you can also manually opt them in.

Manage auction settings

To manage donor-covered fee settings for your auction items:

1. In your event menu, select Auction
2. Select the Details tab
3. Scroll down to Donor Covered Fees

Then, you can turn on or off donor-covered fees, view the add-on rate set for the event, and adjust the appeal that appears next to the option when attendees checkout.

Manually opt in attendees to fees

Sometimes, you might want to opt your attendees in to cover fees. To do so:

1. In your Live event menu, select Attendees
2. Select Manage Columns
3. Search for and select Donor Covered Fees
4. Select the checkbox

Then, the fees will be applied to the attendee's balance.

Manage text-to-donate settings

To manage donor-covered fee settings for your text-to-donate transactions:

1. In your event menu, select Text-to-donate
2. Select the Settings tab
3. Donor Covered Fee settings appear under the Instructions

Then, you can turn on or off donor-covered fees, view the add-on rate set for the event, and adjust the appeal that appears next to the option when attendees checkout.

Frequently asked questions

Do attendees cover fees by default?

Attendees are opted out of donor covered fees by default.

Can an attendee opt-in to cover fees for just one item?

Yes! When attendees checkout, they’ll also have the option to opt in or out of covering fees on their invoice.

Where can I view who has opted in to cover fees?

You can add a column to your Attendees report in Live Events that shows who has opted-in to cover fees.

To add the column:

1. In your Live event, select Attendees
2. Select Manage Columns
3. Search for and select Donor Covered Fees

Why can’t I turn on donor covered fees for my event?

Donor covered fees must be turned on in the connected campaign settings to use it for the Live event.

Learn how to manage a campaign’s donor covered fee settings

Where can I edit the event's add-on rate?

The add-on rate is set in the connected campaign's settings. Select Edit Add-on Rate to visit the connected campaign where you can edit the rate for the campaign and event.

How does GoFundMe Pro calculate the fees charged to attendees?

GoFundMe Pro uses the same calculation as Stripe to ensure you receive the total intended donation amount.

View a detailed breakdown of the equation