This article explains how to configure your Raiser's Edge integration settings so fees paid by donors will appear as a gift!
At the beginning of 2025, we changed how fees covered by donors sync into Raiser's Edge to ensure the flat transaction fee paid by donors (~$0.31) is included, as well as to allow the ability to track donor-covered fees using Campaign, Fund, Appeal and Package labels.
Important:
When a donor chooses to "cover the fees", this means that the donor is giving an additional donation to cover transaction fees that will be charged once the payment is processed.
Since this is a donation, it can be tax deductible, so we allow syncing this into Raiser's Edge. (If you do not want donor-covered fees to be tax deductible, you can disable them in your fundraiser's Tax Receipt Settings.)
Since this is a donation to cover transaction fees, it will be automatically deducted from your payout and won't appear in your payout report.
How to Sync Donor-Covered Fees into Raiser's Edge
1. From your Dashboard, in the side menu go to Integrations > Raiser's Edge Settings
2. In the tabs, navigate to Gift Sync
3. From here, you will now see Donor-Covered Fees as a new purchasable type in the table.
4. If you do not want donor-covered fees to sync as a gift, select Do Not Sync as Gift from the Gift Type dropdown.
5. If you do want donor-covered fees to sync, select one of the gift type options, such as Cash/One-Time Gift.
6. You can also select a Gift Subtype for the donor-covered fees, or leave this blank.
7. Save your settings. This will now apply as your default to all your fundraisers!
Next up, make sure Donor-Covered Fees have a Campaign, Fund, Appeal and Package set up! See below for more on how to do this.
Please Note:
Raiser's Edge requires all gifts to have a Fund. If a Fund is not set for Donor-Covered Fees, then all gifts on the transaction will fail to sync.
Set the Campaign, Fund, Appeal and Package for Donor-Covered Fees
1. From the Dashboard > Fundraisers, click Edit on the fundraiser you would like to work with.
2. From the Sidebar, under Admin, select Integrations.
3. Go to Campaigns, Funds, Appeals and Packages.
4. On the Fund page, if your configuration level is set to Entire Fundraiser, then gifts created for Donor-Covered Fees will use this Fund.
5. If your configuration level is set to By Fundraiser Driver, scroll to the bottom of the page to configure a Fund for Donor-Covered Fees.
6. Once set, click Save.
7. Now repeat for Campaign, Appeal, and Package.
8. Once complete, Publish your fundraiser.
And that's it! Fees will now start syncing as a separate gift whenever transactions auto-sync into Raiser's Edge.
How Donor-Covered Fees Appear in Raiser's Edge
When the donation to cover fees sync into Raiser's Edge, those fees sync as a separate gift from the purchasable to which they are connected.
For example, if a donor buys four event tickets at $100 each, and the donor covers the $10.36 in fees, those fees will now sync as a separate gift into Raiser's Edge, instead of being connected to the event ticket, donation, and item gifts.
Note that a payout ID will never be attached to these fees, as they are deducted from your account to cover fees before they are paid out.
Did that answer your question? If you need help or guidance, feel free to reach out to support@trellis.org and we would be happy to assist.