CAF Donate review
A focused UK charity fundraising platform with Gift Aid administration and transaction fees.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
CAF Donate is an online fundraising platform from the Charities Aid Foundation for charities collecting and managing donations. It supports branded donation pages, campaign pages with configurable targets, embedded forms, direct links and Donate Now buttons. Charities can accept one-off donations by card, PayPal and CAF Account, plus recurring donations through Direct Debit. Online and offline processing, donor reporting, Gift Aid administration and automated thank-you emails make it suited to organisations that want donation collection and related administration in one service.
The published plan shows no sign-up cost or monthly fee, while transaction fees apply: 4% on one-off donations and 2% on regular donations, with a 20p minimum for regular donations. Direct Debit setup fees also apply. This structure may suit charities that prefer usage-based costs over a recurring subscription, but organisations should account for transaction charges when assessing donation economics. The available plan is presented as CAF Donate rather than a range of feature-based tiers.
CAF Donate’s strongest fit is a UK charity that needs Gift Aid reclaim administration and reporting alongside donation processing. It also offers transaction monitoring and anti-money-laundering checks, donor and donation reporting with CRM export, and support for Facebook. Charities can use mobile and desktop experiences, embedded forms, links and buttons, while phone or post processing covers offline donations. It is less suitable for organisations seeking broad native platform integrations or a listed free plan. Choose it when Gift Aid administration, recurring Direct Debit and branded donation collection are priorities; consider an alternative when wider ecosystem coverage is essential.
CAF Donate pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Branded pages, campaign targets, embedded forms and donation buttons
- Gift Aid reclaim administration, reporting and compliance checks
- One-off, recurring, online and offline donation processing
- Where it doesn't
- Transaction fees apply to one-off and regular donations
- Web access is the listed platform coverage
- CRM support is provided through export rather than named integrations
CAF Donate fact sheet, pricing and score →
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