# The Truth About 100% Donation Policies | World Aid Network > Source: https://worldaidnetwork.org/blog/100-percent-donation-policy-truth > A 100% donation policy sounds absolute, but card fees are taken before money arrives: a £10 gift often lands as £9.65. Learn what to ask instead. Direct Answer A 100% donation policy claims every pound donated reaches the cause, but payment processing fees are deducted before the money arrives, so a £10 online gift typically lands as £9.65 to £9.75\. World Aid Network does not claim a 100% donation policy, because we believe donors should be told what genuinely reaches the cause. Few phrases in charity fundraising are as compelling as '100% donation policy'. The promise is simple and powerful: give £10, and £10 reaches the person who needs it. No administrative overhead. No salaries deducted. No waste. It is a claim that has become particularly prominent among Islamic and Muslim charities in the UK, where the concept resonates deeply with Islamic giving traditions that emphasise the full value of the gift reaching its intended recipient. But the claim deserves scrutiny — not because the charities making it are dishonest, but because the financial reality of receiving, processing and deploying a charitable gift is more complex than a single percentage can capture. Payment processing fees, fundraising platform charges, Gift Aid administration costs, and operational expenses exist whether they are disclosed in a donor-facing headline or absorbed into a separate budget line. The money has to come from somewhere. World Aid Network does not claim a 100% donation policy. This article explains exactly why — and what we believe donors should ask instead. ## What is a '100% donation policy'? A 100% donation policy is a fundraising claim made by some charities asserting that every pound donated by the public reaches the charitable cause directly — with none of it spent on administration, staff salaries, office costs, or other operational expenses. The claim typically works by separating a charity's income into two distinct streams. The first stream — public donations — is ring-fenced and directed entirely to the cause. The second stream — which funds operational costs — is sourced separately, from institutional grants, Gift Aid income, specific 'admin donations' from major donors, or in some cases from the profit generated by charity shops or trading subsidiaries. In this model, a charity can truthfully say that the public donation pot goes 100% to beneficiaries, because the operational costs are paid from elsewhere. The claim is technically accurate in a narrow accounting sense. But it does not tell the full story of what happens to a donor's money from the moment they press the 'donate' button to the moment it reaches a beneficiary. ## What are the costs that occur before your donation arrives? The most significant gap in most 100% donation claims is the treatment of payment processing fees. When you make an online donation using a debit or credit card, a payment processor — such as Stripe, PayPal, or Worldpay — facilitates the transaction. That processor charges a fee, typically expressed as a percentage of the transaction plus a fixed amount. These fees are deducted automatically and immediately, before the donation reaches the charity's bank account. The charity never receives the full amount you entered at the checkout. Yet very few 100% donation charities disclose this explicitly, because the fee is taken by the payment processor rather than by the charity itself. This means that a donor who gives £10 under a '100% donation policy' may believe £10 reaches the cause. In practice, the charity receives something closer to £9.65 to £9.75, depending on the payment method and processor used. The remaining 25p to 35p has gone to the payment company. The charity's 100% promise applies only to what it actually receives — not to what the donor intended to give. ## What they actually cost? UK charity payment processing fees vary by provider but are unavoidable for any organisation accepting online donations. Stripe, one of the most widely used payment processors, charges approximately 1.4% plus 20 pence per successful transaction for European debit and credit cards under standard rates. On a £10 donation, this is approximately 34 pence — meaning the charity receives £9.66. PayPal offers a reduced rate for registered charities through its PayPal Giving Fund — approximately 1.9% plus 20 pence — but this still results in a deduction of around 39 pence on a £10 gift. GoFundMe charges no platform fee but applies payment processing costs of approximately 2.9% plus 25 pence, taking around 54 pence from a £10 donation. For donors who give by Direct Debit, fees are typically lower — GoCardless, for example, charges 1% capped at 20 pence — but they still exist. Bank transfer incurs no processing fee, which is why some charities encourage this method for larger gifts. But the vast majority of online donations are made by card, and for those donations, a fee is always charged. None of this makes payment processors unreasonable — they provide a genuine service. The point is simply that the fee exists, it comes out of the money the donor intends to give, and a claim of '100% reaches the cause' does not account for it unless the charity explicitly says so. ## What JustGiving, GoFundMe and others take? Many donors give through fundraising platforms rather than directly through a charity's own website. JustGiving — one of the UK's most widely used platforms — charges a platform fee of 1.9% of the donation amount, in addition to payment processing fees. On a £50 donation processed through JustGiving, approximately £1.90 goes to the platform and further amounts go to the payment processor, before the charity sees a penny. JustGiving does process Gift Aid on behalf of charities, which partially offsets these costs for eligible donations. But the platform fee is taken regardless, and it is not deducted from the charity's 100% donation pot — it is deducted from the donation itself, before it arrives. Other platforms have different structures. CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) charges varying fees depending on the service. Enthuse, a charity-focused platform, charges transaction-based fees. Virgin Money Giving, which closed in 2021, was notable for charging lower platform fees than JustGiving, prompting debate about the overall cost of fundraising infrastructure across the sector. When a Muslim charity or any other organisation says it has a '100% donation policy', it is important to ask: does that 100% apply after platform fees have been deducted? In most cases, the answer is yes — the policy applies to whatever the charity receives, not to the gross amount the donor contributed. ## How do 100% policy charities fund their operations? If 100% of public donations go to the cause, who pays the staff, the office rent, the website costs, the compliance fees, the auditor, the safeguarding training, and the dozens of other costs that any responsible charity incurs? The answer varies by organisation. Some charities fund operational costs primarily through Gift Aid reclaimed from HMRC. When a UK taxpayer donates £10 and ticks the Gift Aid box, the charity can claim an additional £2.50 from HMRC. If the charity directs this £2.50 — rather than the original £10 — towards operational costs, it can truthfully say that the donor's gift went 100% to the cause. The operational costs were funded by tax reclaim income. Other charities maintain separate institutional funding streams — grants from government bodies, foundations, or major donors who specifically contribute to cover running costs. Some operate trading subsidiaries or charity shops whose profits fund administration. Some solicit 'admin donations' from major donors who understand that their gift is funding the infrastructure that makes the 100% promise possible for everyone else. All of these approaches are legitimate and some are genuinely clever. But they do mean that the operational costs are being paid — just from a different pot. The total cost of delivering a pound of charitable impact always includes some overhead, even if that overhead is not visible in the donor-facing messaging. The question is not whether overhead exists, but whether it is funded transparently and efficiently. ## What the Fundraising Regulator says? The Fundraising Regulator is the independent body that oversees fundraising practice in the UK. It has not prohibited the use of 100% donation claims, but its Code of Fundraising Practice requires that all fundraising communications be 'accurate', 'honest' and 'not misleading'. The regulator has issued guidance making clear that charities using 100% donation claims must ensure that the claim is not misleading in context. If a donor could reasonably interpret '100% donation policy' to mean that the full gross amount they enter at checkout reaches the beneficiary — when in fact payment processing fees are deducted first — the claim risks breaching the code's honesty requirements. The Charity Commission for England and Wales similarly requires charities to report their income and expenditure transparently in their annual accounts, including a clear breakdown of charitable expenditure versus support costs. A charity's published accounts are publicly available on the Charity Commission register and represent the most reliable source of information about how donations are actually spent. The honest position — which some charities adopt and others do not — is to explain clearly that the 100% promise applies to what the charity receives after processing fees, and that operational costs are funded from a specific alternative source. That level of transparency respects the intelligence of donors and builds genuine long-term trust. ## Why World Aid Network does not claim a 100% donation policy? World Aid Network does not claim a 100% donation policy. We think the claim, however well-intentioned, creates a misleading impression in the minds of most donors — and we believe our donors deserve better than a technically-accurate-but-incomplete headline. The reality is straightforward. When you donate to World Aid Network online, payment processing fees are deducted by our payment provider before the money reaches our account. If you donate through a fundraising platform, that platform will also take a fee. These costs are real, they affect the net amount we receive, and pretending otherwise would not be honest. Our operational costs — including the time spent assessing grant applications from partner organisations, maintaining financial controls, meeting our regulatory and reporting obligations, and running this website — are real costs that must be funded. We work hard to keep them as low as possible. But we will not pretend they do not exist. What we can tell you is this: once our charity registration is granted our annual accounts will be published on the Charity Commission register, we have a clear governance structure with an independent trustee board, and every penny of charitable expenditure is restricted to our two charitable Objects — sight-restoring eye surgery and cancer treatment for the poor, and emergency disaster relief. We do not fund programmes outside those Objects, and we do not pay trustees. We aim to be as lean as any responsible charity can be. But we will not make a promise we cannot keep in full. ## What to look for instead of a 100% promise? Rather than seeking out a 100% donation claim — which, as this article explains, is always more qualified than it sounds — donors are better served by asking a small number of more precise questions. First, what proportion of the charity's total expenditure goes to charitable activities versus support costs? This ratio is published in every UK charity's annual accounts and is the most meaningful measure of efficiency. A well-run charity typically directs 80% or more of total expenditure to charitable activities, though this varies by cause and scale. Second, is the charity registered with the Charity Commission? Registration requires meeting legal standards for governance and financial reporting. You can verify any UK charity at register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk and download their most recent accounts for free. Third, does the charity publish clear information about what its programmes actually do and how outcomes are measured? A charity that can tell you exactly how many operations it funded, or how many families it reached in a disaster, is a charity that is tracking impact rather than just processing donations. Fourth, does the charity enable Gift Aid on eligible donations? If you are a UK taxpayer and the charity is Gift Aid-registered, ticking the box adds 25p per pound at no cost to you. This is the single most effective way to increase the net value of your donation — more effective, in most cases, than choosing a charity based on a 100% donation headline. ### Key takeaways - A '100% donation policy' typically means that the charity directs its received donations entirely to the cause — but payment processing fees are deducted before the money arrives, and operational costs are funded from a separate income stream. - Payment processors such as Stripe, PayPal and GoFundMe deduct fees of between 1.4% and 2.9% plus fixed amounts from every online donation — before the charity sees the money. - Fundraising platforms such as JustGiving take a further platform fee (1.9% on JustGiving) from the donation amount, in addition to payment processing costs. - Charities that claim 100% donation policies fund their operational costs from Gift Aid income, institutional grants, major donor contributions, or trading profits — the overhead exists, it is simply paid from a different pot. - The Fundraising Regulator requires that 100% donation claims not be misleading; the Charity Commission publishes every registered charity's accounts, which show the real split between charitable and operational expenditure. - World Aid Network does not claim a 100% donation policy because we believe donors deserve full transparency about what happens to their money. - The most reliable ways to evaluate a charity are its published accounts, its Charity Commission registration, and the clarity of its reported outcomes — not its marketing headline. ## Frequently asked questions What does '100% donation policy' mean? A 100% donation policy is a claim made by some charities that every pound of public donations reaches the charitable cause directly, with none spent on administration or overheads. In practice, the claim applies to the money the charity receives after payment processing fees have been deducted, and the charity's operational costs are funded from a separate income stream such as Gift Aid reclaim, institutional grants, or major donor contributions. Do Muslim charities with a 100% donation policy really send 100% to beneficiaries? Islamic and Muslim charities that promote a 100% donation policy direct their received donations entirely to charitable programmes. However, payment processing fees are deducted by the payment provider before the charity receives the money, and the charity's running costs are covered by a separate funding stream. The claim is technically accurate in a narrow sense, but the full picture is more nuanced than the headline suggests. What fees are deducted when I donate online? When you donate online by card, a payment processor takes a fee before the money reaches the charity. Stripe charges approximately 1.4% plus 20p per transaction for European cards. PayPal charges approximately 1.9% plus 20p for registered charities. GoFundMe charges 2.9% plus 25p in processing costs. If you donate through a fundraising platform such as JustGiving, a platform fee of 1.9% is also deducted. These fees are unavoidable for any charity accepting online card payments. Does JustGiving take a percentage of my donation? Yes. JustGiving charges a platform fee of 1.9% of the donation value, in addition to payment processing costs. On a £50 donation, approximately £1.95 goes to JustGiving as a platform fee, and further amounts go to the payment processor. JustGiving does process Gift Aid on behalf of charities, which partially offsets these costs for eligible donations. Donating directly through a charity's own website, where possible, typically results in lower total fees. How do charities pay their staff if 100% of donations go to the cause? Charities operating a 100% donation policy fund their operational costs — staff, premises, compliance, technology — from separate income streams. These typically include Gift Aid reclaim from HMRC (25p per pound of eligible donations), institutional grants from foundations or government bodies, contributions from major donors designated for operational costs, or profits from trading activities such as charity shops. The overhead is real; it is simply funded from a source other than the public donation pot. Is the '100% donation' claim regulated in the UK? The Fundraising Regulator's Code of Fundraising Practice requires all fundraising communications to be accurate, honest and not misleading. The regulator has not prohibited 100% donation claims but has made clear they must not create a false impression in the mind of a reasonable donor. The Charity Commission requires all registered charities to publish annual accounts showing the real split between charitable expenditure and support costs, which are available to the public for free. What is Gift Aid and does it affect the 100% donation claim? Gift Aid is a UK tax relief that allows registered charities to claim 25p from HMRC for every £1 donated by a UK taxpayer. When a charity uses Gift Aid reclaim income to fund its operational costs, it can direct 100% of the donor's gift to the cause while still covering overheads. This is a common and legitimate structure. Higher-rate taxpayers can also claim back the difference between their tax rate and the basic rate through Self Assessment. Why doesn't World Aid Network have a 100% donation policy? World Aid Network does not claim a 100% donation policy because we believe the claim, as commonly presented, is misleading. Payment processing fees are deducted from every online donation before we receive it. Our operational costs are real and must be funded. We believe donors are better served by honest transparency about these realities than by a headline that requires significant qualification to be accurate. Once our charity registration is granted, our accounts will be published on the Charity Commission register, and we welcome scrutiny of how we spend every pound. How can I check how a charity really spends my money? The most reliable source is the charity's annual accounts, which all registered UK charities must file with the Charity Commission. You can download them free at register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. The accounts show the total income and expenditure split between charitable activities and support costs. A well-run charity typically directs 80% or more of total expenditure to charitable activities. You can also check whether the charity is registered, who its trustees are, and whether its accounts are up to date. What is the best way to donate to maximise how much reaches the cause? The single most effective step is to tick the Gift Aid box if you are a UK taxpayer — this adds 25p per pound at no cost to you and no reduction in the amount the charity receives. Donating by bank transfer avoids payment processing fees entirely. Donating directly through the charity's own website, rather than through a third-party platform, avoids platform fees. Giving by Direct Debit rather than card typically incurs lower processing costs. Combining Gift Aid with a direct bank transfer or low-cost Direct Debit maximises the proportion of your gift that reaches the cause. This article was reviewed by the World Aid Network editorial team for factual accuracy against WHO, NHS, HMRC and Charity Commission sources. World Aid Network is a UK Charitable Incorporated Organisation (charity registration in progress), governed by named trustees. ### Donate to World Aid Network — transparently We do not promise what we cannot deliver. We promise to be honest about where your money goes, to keep our costs as low as responsible charity management allows, and to direct every pound of charitable expenditure to sight-restoring eye surgery, cancer treatment and emergency disaster relief. Donate today. [Donate Now](/donate) Charitable Incorporated Organisation Funds restricted to our charitable Objects Gift Aid will apply for UK taxpayers once registration is complete --- World Aid Network is a UK Charitable Incorporated Organisation (charity registration in progress; application ref 5290505, ICO ref ZC156579).