Fee Coverage

When Complete Cover™ is enabled, Blackbaud Merchant Services waives the processing fees for online transactions up to $3,000. In exchange, we ask supporters to give toward Blackbaud's service. Your organization is responsible for paying the fee for each transaction equal to or greater than $3,000 through a Complete Cover-enabled form.

For example, if an event registrant purchases a $10 ticket and declines to give extra towards Blackbaud, you receive the full registration amount of $10 and Blackbaud pays your processing fees. Participation is optional; supporters are not required to give to Blackbaud.

Donor cover lets donors pay the processing fee for their transaction. When donor cover is enabled, Blackbaud Merchant Services automatically calculates the fee based on the payment method and adds it to the gift amount. Donor cover participation is optional.

For example, if a donor chooses to cover the fee, you receive the gross amount and pay no fees. If the donor doesn’t cover the fee, you only receive the net amount. Donors may cover up to $5 in fees for USD direct debits or all of the fees for alternative payment methods. The charged amount is tax-deductible for your donor and listed on both the gift record and the donor's confirmation email. For more information on how the fees are calculated, see this Knowledgebase article.

Tip: To split donor cover transactions and use a different fund for fees, select the fund from Control panel, Settings, Gift management, Donor cover designation. Otherwise, Raiser's Edge NXT uses the gift or event fund for fees.

Note: If you allow donors to split gift amounts on donation forms and don't set a fund for donor cover, Raiser's Edge NXT uses the first fund a donor selects for the donor cover amount. If you allow registrants to make additional donations on a registration forms, don’t set a fund for donor cover, and don’t select an event fund — such as for a free event — Raiser's Edge NXT uses the gift fund for fees.

To assume responsibility for all related fees and hide the option for supporters to contribute towards operating costs, select My organization pays on your forms.

From Events, open an event record. Under Online registration forms, open a registration form. Next, under Get started, in the Process payments with field, select a payment configuration for a Blackbaud Merchant Services account. Then under Fee coverage, choose how to cover the fees. For more information, see Online Registration Form Get Started.

Note: Currently, event registration forms are only available for organizations based in the US.

From Tools, Donation form designer, and open a form. Under Get started, in the Process payments with field, select a payment configuration for a Blackbaud Merchant Services account. Next, under Fee coverage, choose how to cover the fees. For more information, see Donation Forms.

From Events, open an event record and review the information under Online registration forms.

From Tools, Donation form designer, and review the summary at the top of the page.

For credit card transactions, you can refund the amount toward Blackbaud or the full amount. For credit card transactions where the donor covered the fees, you can refund a partial or full amount. Direct debits are refunded in full. You can view refunds in your Blackbaud Merchant Services web portal.

In web view, from the top of the gift record, select Refund, and choose how much to refund. The gift adjusts and the amount returns to the donor’s original payment method. The refund also updates in Blackbaud Merchant Services.

To cancel the covered amount for future recurring gift payments, in the recurring gift record, select Amend gift amount. Clear the fee coverage option for future payments. For more information, see Recurring Gift Amendments.