How fees and pricing work
A flat fee per campaign, no percentage of what you raise, and how Square's small card fee fits in.
PagePledge charges a flat fee per campaign — never a percentage of what you raise. Square charges its usual card-processing fee on each donation. That's it. No subscription, no setup costs, no per-student charge. Here's how the numbers work.
What PagePledge charges
An early adopter discount is available on your school’s flat campaign fee. We’ll confirm the price and discount before you get started, so you know exactly what you’ll pay.
Why flat, not a percentage?
A percentage punishes schools that fundraise well. A school that raises $20,000 shouldn't have to pay four times more than a school that raises $5,000 — they're using the same tool. The more you raise, the more your school keeps.
What Square charges
Square takes a small fee on every donation — about 2.8% + $0.30 CAD for online card donations. That goes to Square, not us, and it comes out before the money lands in your bank. The current rate is at squareup.com/ca/en/pricing if you want to double-check.
Donors usually cover the fee
At checkout, donors see a checkbox to cover that processing fee themselves — it's checked by default. When checked, the donor pays an extra dollar or two and your school gets the full pledged amount. When unchecked, your school still gets the donation, just with the fee taken off.
Most donors leave it checked — about 80% in the schools we've watched. An extra dollar to know 100% of their gift reaches the students is an easy yes.
Optional extra contributions
If checkout offers an optional extra contribution, its recipient and amount are shown before payment. Extra contributions are separate from your school’s campaign fee.
Canadian dollars only
We're Canadian and our schools are Canadian, so for now donations are in CAD only. We'll add other currencies if and when we head past the border.