GoFundMe vs JustGiving: Which Site Should You Use?
Crowdfunding is one of the quickest, easiest and most secure ways for Australians to make a big difference and raise funds for the causes you care about. When thinking about your fundraising strategy, it’s important to select the fundraising platform that best suits your needs, which is why we’ve outlined the benefits of using GoFundMe vs JustGiving.
From comparing the associated fees, to customer support and security, we want your crowdfunding experience to be as simple and effective as possible – whether fundraising for a charity or a personal cause – and for vital funds to get to the people that need them most.
Comparing GoFundMe vs JustGiving
Whether you’re considering GoFundMe vs JustGiving to raise money for a community initiative, an emergency, your school, charitable endeavours, or something else, there’s sure to be an online platform that’s right for you. We looked at 21 of the top crowdfunding sites in more detail to see what they offer.
With so many different fundraising platforms available, it can be tricky to know which the best option is. GoFundMe and JustGiving are both digital crowdfunding platforms, but what each platform can offer donors and fundraisers is slightly different. Let’s compare GoFundMe vs JustGiving two to see which one is most suitable for your fundraiser.
GoFundMe fees
GoFundMe wants to make it easy for you to raise more funds for the causes you care about, which is why, unlike other sites, we offer 0% platform fees for personal and charitable fundraisers in Australia. You don’t have to hit your target to withdraw the funds like most platforms.
Transaction fees of 2.2% + $0.30 apply. Certified Australian charity campaigns incur a 1.9% + $0.30 fees and will all donors will be issued a tax-deductible receipt.
JustGiving fees
JustGiving charges a 4.5% platform fee in Australia across both personal and charity fundraisers.
Charities also incur transaction fees of 1.75% + $0.30 fees.
This means that a $10 donation becomes $8.97, a total of more than 10% taken from the amount raised for your chosen charity.
Withdrawing funds
GoFundMe: Access your money quickly
With GoFundMe, you can set up withdrawals right away and once verified, donations appear within 2-5 days.
GoFundMe offers both charity and personal fundraising options, so if you want to fundraise for a cause you care about that isn’t represented by a registered Australian charity, the GoFundMe Trust and Safety team can work with you to make a personal cause withdrawal plan.
Money raised for registered charity fundraisers go directly to the charity. You can set up a charity fundraiser in minutes. The funds are sent directly to the charity, meaning no need to withdraw. There is 0% platform fee for charity fundraisers on GoFundMe in Australia.
This is particularly important in crisis moments. In January 2020, GoFundMe delivered over $31 million to the people affected by the Black Summer bushfires, across thousands of personal and charity fundraisers nationally, in the days that followed the emergency.
GoFundMe organisers can also invite someone else to withdraw the funds as the beneficiary so that they can directly access the donations.
JustGiving: No personal option
Customers using the JustGiving fundraising platform in Australia can currently only fundraise for a registered charity using the 4.5% platform fee model. There is no option to fundraise for a personal cause or create a grassroots movement for a cause in your local community.
GoFundMe: A global community
GoFundMe boasts a huge giving community of more than 120 million donors from around the world. This makes us the largest social fundraising platform in the world. We’ve raised over $14 billion (and counting) for essential causes, evidencing the level of trust users have in our service.
GoFundMe: No deadlines
GoFundMe organisers don’t have to worry about falling short of their target because, unlike many similar platforms, there are no deadlines, limits or penalties for fundraisers staying live. Fundraisers remain online until you turn off donations or remove them. If you choose to, you can leave your fundraiser active indefinitely and continue accepting donations even after reaching your goal.
JustGiving: Expiry dates
All JustGiving pages have an expiry date. This means that if you want to extend your deadline, users are required to log into their account and manually change this.
At GoFundMe, we understand that people have busy lives. We want to make fundraising as simple as possible for our users, which is why we don’t expect our users to spend their valuable time manually adjusting the timeframe in which they can fundraise. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to crowdfund for the causes you care about.
Support and advice
GoFundMe’s hardworking team of Customer Care agents are on hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This means that whenever and however you choose to manage your account, we’ll be right here when you need us.
Our user-friendly GoFundMe mobile app also lets you launch and manage your crowdfunding page on the go, and the GoFundMe blog offers plenty of fundraising tips and fundraising ideas.
How we are protecting donors and organisers
The GoFundMe Guarantee
GoFundMe is the safest crowdfunding platform thanks to the GoFundMe Guarantee – the first and only donation protection guarantee in the crowdfunding industry and a welcome JustGiving alternative that offers reassurance to users. For beneficiaries, this means that if an organiser fails to deliver funds, we will donate the difference. Equally, in the rare instance that GoFundMe discovers that funds have been misused, we will refund a donor’s contribution.
Our Trust and Safety team, who comprise a third of our staff, is dedicated to keeping customers financially safe. GoFundMe uses advanced payment encryption technology, with donations stored securely until you request a withdrawal via electronic bank transfer directly into your bank account. Security specialists monitor the site around the clock to make sure that funds go to the intended recipients. When considering GoFundMe vs JustGiving, with GoFundMe our team will make sure that nobody loses out.
JustGiving: No protection
JustGiving does not offer a fraud protection guarantee. In their Terms of Service, the platform states that it “shall have no liability to donors whatsoever for any use or misuse of donations made to the JustGiving Crowdfunding page. The JustGiving Crowdfunding page may state that page owners will use donations only for specific purposes, but JustGiving cannot guarantee that they will use them for such purpose.”
Pick the right fundraising platform for your cause
When it comes to GoFundMe vs. JustGiving, we believe that GoFundMe offers the best support and protection for our users, at a competitive price. Looking to fundraise? For low transaction fees, 24/7 support and, most importantly, the GoFundMe Guarantee, consider crowdfunding with GoFundMe.