Finding the best donation app to reach your goals is simpler than you may think, but it will require you to set aside time and evaluate your options. This guide to the most effective apps for donations is your go-to- resource to make a confident decision for your nonprofit, business, or yourself as a curious donor.
Below, you’ll learn what a donation app is, the different types, what to look for, and the best donation apps available for you to start using today.
Best donation apps for nonprofits:
- Zeffy: Best free donation app for nonprofits
- Venmo: Ideal for engaging younger generations of donors
- Cash App: Ideal for on-the-go and mobile giving
- Fundly: Ideal for social media fundraising
Charity donation apps for individuals:
- ShareTheMeal: Best to provide meals to those in need
- RoundUp App: Ideal for easily finding and donating to nonprofits
- Charity Miles: Best running app to donate to charity through movement
- Makua: Ideal app to give back with a sense of community
Best donation apps for businesses and eCommerce:
- Givz: Ideal for stores to collect donations for nonprofits through Shopify
- Easy Donation: Ideal for businesses to donate to charity
- Tip Cup: Ideal to collect donations as tips or upsells at checkout
.png)
What is a donation app, and what types of donation apps are there?
Whether you're looking to connect to more donors, charities, or both, you've come to the right place. Donation apps build awareness and facilitate a smooth mobile giving experience for charitable giving.
Most nonprofit website traffic comes from mobile devices, and the average time spent daily on a phone is average time spent daily on a phone 4 hours and 39 minutes in 2024. People enjoy the convenience of having everything they need at their fingertips, and a donation app helps make that possible.
What is a donation app?
A donation app delivers the flexibility and speed that create an optimized mobile giving experience. A few clicks can connect people and cause wherever and whenever they want.
It’s easier to give and collect funds, which increases the collective good we can bring to the world. You can find these apps through the Apple App Store, Google Play, and Shopify and download them onto your chosen devices.
What are the different types of donation apps?
- Nonprofit fundraising apps: An app for charitable organizations to collect mobile donations, engage donors online, and raise more for their mission.
- Charitable giving apps: An app for individuals to discover nonprofits and causes and contribute through action or donations from their phone.
- eCommerce donation apps: An app for businesses and merchants to integrate into their website, allowing customers to make donations as part of their purchase experience.
The best 11 donation apps in 2024
1. Zeffy: Best free donation app for nonprofits
App type: Nonprofit fundraising apps
Overview: Zeffy is the only zero-fee fundraising platform built for nonprofit organizations. Over 10,000 nonprofits use Zeffy to collect mobile donations, engage new audiences of donors, host creative campaigns, and save on fees.
Key features:
- Online donations
- POS & in-person donations
- Events ticketing
- Raffles & lotteries
- Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns
- Donor management and data
- Memberships
- eCommerce and online store
- Mobile-device friendly
- Secure payments
Pricing: Zeffy is 100% free. They give you $100, you get $100.
Best for: Nonprofit organizations who want to prioritize a seamless mobile giving experience, strong data to make informed decisions and complete assurance that every dollar goes to their mission.
2. Venmo: Ideal for engaging younger generations of donors
App type: Nonprofit fundraising apps
Overview: Venmo is an app where people can transfer money to friends and family, companies, and nonprofits. Venmo users link their bank accounts and credit and debit cards to the app to make purchases quickly.
Nonprofits and 501(c)(3) organizations can create Venmo charity profiles to accept donations.
Key features:
- Accepts Venmo balance and major credit cards
- Blue checkmark badge to build trust with donors
- Reporting on donation history
- Same-day transfer funds
- Mobile payments
- QR code for in-person donations
Pricing: Venmo charity profile pricing charges a fee of $1.00 or more for every donation.
Best for: Nonprofit organizations who want to appeal to younger generations of donors who already use the Venmo app. Venmo is great for donating directly to a cause but does not support features like marketing or the ability to engage and manage donors.
3. Cash App: Ideal for on-the-go and mobile giving
App type: Nonprofit fundraising apps
Overview: Cash App is a financial services platform that makes collecting donations on any device effortless and quick. The app has many social components like $cashtags that link to a shareable URL and help people enhance marketing to donors.
Key features:
- Shareable QR codes
- Ability to share $cashtags for payments
- Instant deposit of money
- Mobile-friendly design
- Payment verification options
Pricing: Cash App charges a 2.75% processing fee for purchases.
Best for: Nonprofit organizations who want to give donors a simple path to donate with a familiar interface and quick ways to share between mobile devices. Cash App lacks nonprofit-specific functionality for in-depth campaigns but can support direct giving.
4. Fundly: Ideal for social media fundraising
App type: Nonprofit fundraising apps
Overview: Fundly is an iOS app for nonprofits to raise money and accept donations from a mobile device or online. Individuals can also use Fundly to donate through Facebook, contributing 25% of all Fundly donations.
Key features:
- Facebook integration
- Secure payments
- Fundraising guides for donors
- Custom donation page
- Mobile optimized
- Payment verification options
Pricing: Fundly charges a 2.75% processing fee for purchases.
Best for: Nonprofit organizations who want to build awareness to gain more donors and share crowdfunding campaigns online. Fundly's integration with Facebook makes it easy to share with new audiences of donors with a mobile donation option.
See how Zeffy compares to more donation tools
5. ShareTheMeal: Best to provide meals to those in need
App type: Charitable giving apps
Overview: ShareTheMeal is an app created for fundraising in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme. The app gives you a simple option to donate meals to those facing food insecurity worldwide.
To date, ShareTheMeal has shared over 212,000,000 meals to fight global hunger.
Key features:
- Add donation options for tax-deductible monthly or one-time gifts
- Donations can be changed or canceled anytime
- Option to set up ‘Challenges’ to fight hunger with others
- Secure payment processing through Braintree, a Paypal company
- Visibility into where donations are going and who they help
Pricing: Minimum donation amount of $0.80 to begin.
Best for: Individuals looking to serve the hungry population worldwide from their phones.
6. RoundUp App: Ideal for easily finding and donating to nonprofits
App type: Charitable giving apps
Overview: RoundUp App is a fundraising tool for donors to find nonprofits and donate their change to make a difference. Individuals can manage one-time and recurring donations to various nonprofits from the app.
Key features:
- New cause discovery
- Link multiple credit and debit cards at once
- Round up purchases to provide donations each month
- Donations can be paused or re-started at any time
- Monthly donation maximums
- Available on all devices
- Donations can be made as a gift
- Tax-deductible donations
Pricing: RoundUp App is free for all donors.
Best for: Individuals who want to find new causes and nonprofits to give to at once while tracking it all from a single user-friendly app.
7. Charity Miles: Best running app to donate to charity through movement
App type: Charitable giving apps
Overview: Charity Miles is a donation app that tracks exercise and turns miles into donations. You can donate to your favorite charities every time you run, walk, or bike ride while sharing your fundraising efforts with friends and family through the Charity Miles app.
Key features:
- Activity tracking synced to internal phone pedometer and GPS
- Strava, Apple Health app, and Apple Watch integrations
- Pledge Pages to gain support from others for your activity
- Social media engagement to post updates and secure pledges
Pricing: Charity Miles is free for all users.
Best for: Active individuals who want to turn their passions and hobbies for movement into a way to give back through simple mobile tracking on their phones.
8. Makua: Ideal app to give back with a sense of community
App type: Charitable giving apps
Overview: Makua is a fundraising app that helps you find nonprofits that align with your values and make donations. You also benefit from learning about causes, from education and healthcare to the environment and animal rights.
Makua Communities also allow you to contribute recurring donations to the causes you want to build closer relationships with.
Key features:
- User-friendly interface
- Nonprofit community discovery
- Social giving to follow and connect with other givers
- One-time and monthly donations
- Manage multiple donations from a single profile
Pricing: You can use Makua by donating a minimum of $1 to a nonprofit's community.
Best for: Individuals looking to get involved with causes on a deeper level and meet like-minded individuals who share similar charitable values.
9. Givz: Ideal for stores to collect donations for nonprofits through Shopify
App type: eCommerce donation apps
Overview: Givz is a Shopify app that helps eCommerce stores collect donations on a charity's behalf. Businesses and companies can set a flat-rate donation amount for purchases of a certain total or apply a donation to any purchase.
You can also use Givz charity donation promotions without a Shopify store.
Key features:
- Donations with product purchases
- Add to Shopify cart or checkout page
- Donation products or landing pages
- Flexibility to choose nonprofits to support
Pricing: Givz offers three payment plans with varying levels of functionality:
- Basic: $19/month
- Essential: $99/month
- Advanced: $299/month
Best for: Businesses with a Shopify store who want to increase revenue and contributions to charities to boost brand reputation.
10. Easy Donation: Ideal for businesses to donate to charity
App type: Commerce donation apps
Overview: Easy Donation is a Shopify app for businesses and companies who want to find charities to donate to and an easy way to allow customers to donate. Donations are added as part of the checkout process on Shopify stores while keeping purchases swift and easy.
Key features:
- Choice of single and multiple donation widgets
- Standalone donation pages for churches and nonprofits
- Engagement with nonprofits around the world
- Custom donation receipts and tracking
Pricing: Easy Donation offers two pricing plans:
- Basic plan: $6.99/month
- Advanced plan: $9.99/month
Best for: Shopify store merchants looking to integrate a donation feature into their shop and customize the experience to collect donations.
11. Tip Cup: Ideal to collect donations and tips or upsells at checkout
App type: eCommerce donation apps
Overview: Tip Cup (formerly known as Tip Jar) is a Shopify app that encourages customers to offer a donation as a tip for a purchase. You can choose where to place custom upcharges on your website or at checkout.
Key features:
- Compatible with PayPal, Shop Pay, Google Pay, and Apple Pay
- Cashless tips are available through a custom button on Shopify storefront
- Flexible wording to either accept donations or make an upsell
Pricing: Tip Cup costs $9.99 per month.
Best for: eCommerce stores that want to offer multiple avenues to donate various interaction points throughout a customer's experience on their site. Tip Cup may require your business to facilitate the transfer of donation money to a nonprofit or cause.
How to choose the right donation apps
Checklist: Choosing the best donation apps for nonprofits
- Fundraising capabilities: Can you run diversified fundraising campaigns, including raffles and lotteries, donation websites, event management, and peer-to-peer fundraising?
- Donor Management: Will you have the donation management tools to cultivate relationships with supporters and strengthen donor retention?
- Donation tracking: Can you view donation data and activity and make informed decisions?
- User-friendly interface: Can your team and donors use the app easily with a simple experience that encourages repeat giving?
- Secure and flexible payment processing: Can you accept multiple payment types with full confidence that all payment information is protected?
- Simple sharing: Can you reach donors with mobile QR codes and social media sharing options?
Checklist: Choosing the best donation apps for individuals
- Navigation: Is using the app on your phone and tablet device simple?
- Secure payment processing: Is your data safe from fraud or leaks?
- Tax-deductible donations: Can you claim deductions for donations made through the app?
- Charity discovery: Is finding a charity or nonprofit you connect with easy?
- Donation management: Can you easily manage and track donations made through the app?
Checklist: Choosing the best donation apps for Businesses
- Customization: Do you have the flexibility to set donation incentive amounts, and find charities or nonprofits to become corporate sponsors?
- Seamless process: Will the app avoid any disruptions to the checkout process?
- Ease of use: Can customers intuitively donate without needing support?
- Analytics: Will you have access to all donation activity and metrics to determine the app's performance for your store?
How Farzana uses Zeffy to raise more than $80,500 for Childhood Education
The Farzana Naeem Foundation raised over $80,500 using Zeffy’s donation websites to collect donations and build awareness. Website visitors can access the mobile-optimized donation form from the nonprofit’s website with an easy-to-find donate button.
Fundraising features that made it happen
- A mobile-optimized online donation form embedded into their website
- Monthly and one-time donation options
- A variety of secure payment options, including direct debit (ACH), credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay
- Suggested donation amounts that make a positive impact
- Corporate donation option to support corporate sponsors
- Clarifying for donors that 100% of the gift will go to the cause
- Quick share links to build awareness through a direct link, email, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X
- An optional pop-out to learn more about exactly where the donation will go to build trust without lengthening the donation form
Zeffy's 100% free cost structure additionally saved the Farzana Naeem Foundation $4,025 in fees.
View more stories of successful nonprofits who trust Zeffy for fundraising
Conclusion: Selecting the best donation apps
Whether you're a nonprofit, curious donor, or business, there are donation apps to help you make a lasting impact for good. The app you choose should give you the easiest path to achieve your goals anywhere and anytime.
Nonprofits have a 100% free tool to gain a modernized donation form and complete fundraising platform with Zeffy. Zeffy manages mobile, in-person, and other online donations in one place.
That means you can feel confident that your donors have a seamless experience and every penny of their gift goes to the mission.
FAQ: Giving and collecting donations through an app
Can you tell me how to create a donation app?
To create a donation app, you can develop software or customize an existing one.
Read how to create donation apps from scratch.
Several apps on the market take the guesswork out of connecting with causes with the experience you’re looking for.
Nonprofits can also offer a mobile-optimized donation experience with a tool like Zeffy that makes it seamless to donate from your phone in a few clicks.
Can you tell me how to set up an online donation?
To set up an online donation process and accept donations online as a nonprofit, you can add a donation form to your website. Zeffy makes it easy to do this for free, handling your payment processing and donor management without hidden fees.
To set up an online donation as a donor or business, you can visit a nonprofit's website and establish a one-time or monthly gift. Choose how much to give, how to pay, and a frequency to make the donation automatically.
