Online fundraising for schools made simple
Donately is online fundraising software for schools, PTAs, booster clubs, and school foundations. Launch a donation page, a fun run, a product sale, or a ticketed event in minutes, take payments by card, bank, PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, and keep more of every dollar than a catalog fundraiser. Free to start.
Trusted by schools, PTOs, and school foundations
Quick answer
What is school fundraising software?
School fundraising software is an online platform that lets a school, PTA, or booster club collect donations, sell event tickets, and run peer-to-peer campaigns like fun runs and read-a-thons from one dashboard. Families and out-of-town relatives give from any phone or computer, and the money lands in the school's account with a receipt sent automatically.
Online fundraising vs. a traditional product fundraiser
Most schools aren't choosing between two platforms. They're choosing between going online and running another cookie dough or catalog sale.
Want to sell something?
Donately runs product sales too. Add cookie dough, spirit wear, or raffle tickets to a form with prices and quantities, take payment online, and skip the order sheets and cash envelopes.
The full math on what each fee model costs, including ours, is on our cost comparison page.
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Fundraisers you can run on Donately
Donation and campaign pages
Give your annual fund, a field trip, or a new playground its own page with a story, a goal, and a live progress bar. Or embed the form on your school website.
Campaign pages →
Fun runs, walk-a-thons, and read-a-thons
Every student gets their own fundraising page with a personal goal, and every gift counts toward the school's total. No accounts or passwords for families to set up.
Peer-to-peer fundraising →
Class and grade-level competitions
Run a peer-to-peer campaign with teams so each classroom, grade, or squad has a shared goal and its own team page that adds up every member's total.
Team fundraising →
Event tickets, auctions, and sponsorships
Sell gala tickets, spaghetti-dinner seats, sponsorship levels for the athletics program, spirit wear, or table reservations on the same form as a donation.
Event ticketing →
Product sales
Sell cookie dough, candles, spirit wear, or raffle tickets online. Set prices and quantities on the form, and every order lands in the same report as your donations.
Event ticketing and items →
Monthly gifts from families
Let parents give weekly, monthly, quarterly, or once a year so the PTA budget doesn't depend on one big event.
Recurring donations →
Giving days
Put a live progress bar on your website and a text-to-give keyword on the scoreboard, then watch the total climb.
Text-to-give →Built for everyone who raises money for a school
One account for every event of the year: fall fun run, teacher appreciation, spring auction. Each gets its own page, and every gift lands in one report for the treasurer.
Sell season sponsorships to local businesses, take gifts at halftime by text, and let each team raise toward its own goal.
Teachers can set up a fundraiser of their own, or the school can create a campaign for each need: a classroom, a new robotics lab, library books, a field trip. Campaigns can be anything, and each one gets a page you can share with families in an afternoon.
Run the annual fund, giving days, and alumni appeals with branded forms on your own website, and sync every donor to Salesforce, HubSpot, or Mailchimp.
Advancement teams can use the same tools for alumni giving, athletics, and scholarship campaigns, with branded forms and CRM sync for every department.
Why schools choose Donately
Every feature on every plan
Peer-to-peer, teams, ticketing, recurring gifts, text-to-give, and integrations are included on the free plan. Plans differ only by platform fee.
Fees as low as 0%
Start free at 4%, move to 2% for $99/month, or pay a one-time $5,000 license for 0% on up to $1M raised. That's over $40,000 saved for every $1M raised.
Pricing →Families never leave your website
Embed the form on your school site, or share a hosted page if you don't have one.
Built-in fraud protection
Sentinel watches for card-testing attacks on your forms, so a public donation link doesn't become a target.
Connects to the tools you already use
Salesforce, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Slack, Google Analytics, and Zapier, for everything else.
All integrations →What to look for in school fundraising sites
Check the platform fee and the processing fee together. On Donately, platform fees run from 4% down to 0%, and donors can choose to cover the fees so the school receives the full gift.
A donation is a gift, not a margin on a product. When you do want to sell something, the sale runs on the same form.
Credit and debit cards, ACH bank transfer, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Link.
Most parents will give from a phone. Pages and forms should load fast and look right on a small screen.
Your logo, your colors, and your own form fields, so the page looks like your school, not a vendor.
Who gave, to which campaign, and how much, exportable at any time.
How to set up an online fundraiser for your school
Then make a small test gift and refund it. It's the step people skip, and it catches a typo before 300 families do.
Sign up in under five minutes
Create your free account and connect Stripe, PayPal, or both to receive funds.
Build your page or form
Pick a template, such as a campaign page, a peer-to-peer fun run, or an event, then add your school colors, goal, and story.
Share it
Send the link home in the newsletter, post it on social media, embed it on your website, or put a text-to-give keyword on a flyer.
Watch it grow
Gifts, tickets, and fundraiser pages update in real time, and receipts go out automatically.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best online fundraising platform for schools?
The best platform for a school keeps cost per gift low, works without a catalog sale, supports student fundraising pages, works on any phone, and gives the treasurer clean reports. Donately covers all five, with every feature on every plan and platform fees from 4% down to 0%.
What is online school fundraising?
Online school fundraising means collecting gifts, ticket sales, and student-led pledges through web pages and forms instead of order sheets and cash. Families give from a link on any device, and the school receives the money with automatic receipts and reporting.
Are there any free fundraising sites for schools?
Most "free" sites still take a percentage of each gift or ask donors for a tip. Donately's free plan has no monthly fee and a 4% platform fee, plus card processing. Donors can choose to cover the fees, so the school can receive the full gift.
How much of each donation does the school keep?
Everything except the platform fee and payment processing. The platform fee is 4% on the free plan, 2% on the $99/month plan, and 0% on the one-time license. Processing through Stripe or PayPal applies on every plan, and donors can opt to cover it.
What is the best way to raise money for a school?
For most schools, online fundraising beats a traditional product fundraiser: there's nothing to order in bulk, store, or deliver, anyone with the link can give, and the school keeps nearly the whole gift instead of a margin on each item. If you still want to sell cookie dough or spirit wear, you can sell it online through Donately too.
What are some good virtual fundraisers for schools?
Fun runs and read-a-thons with a page for each student, classroom competitions, online giving days, and ticketed virtual events. Each runs on Donately with peer-to-peer pages, teams, event ticketing, and a live progress bar. For more, see 20 fundraising ideas for schools on the Donately blog.
Do schools need a fundraising app?
No. Families give from a link in any phone browser without downloading an app or creating an account, and Apple Pay and Google Pay make most gifts a few taps.
Which fundraising platforms work for both schools and universities?
Donately serves K-12 schools, PTAs and PTOs, booster clubs, school foundations, and colleges. The same account handles donation forms, peer-to-peer campaigns, event tickets, recurring gifts, and CRM sync with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Mailchimp.
Can parents set up recurring gifts?
Yes. Parents can give weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly, and change the amount or card themselves from their donor dashboard.
Can students have their own fundraising pages?
Yes. On a peer-to-peer campaign, a family sets up a page for their student with a name, a goal, and a story in a couple of minutes, with no account or password. Every gift counts toward both the student's goal and the school's total.
Can we sell event tickets and sponsorships?
Yes. Add tickets, sponsorship levels, spirit wear, or table reservations to any form, with prices, quantities, and inventory limits, alongside an optional donation in the same checkout.
Does a PTA or school need to be a 501(c)(3) to use Donately?
No. Anyone can use Donately: public and private schools, PTAs and PTOs, booster clubs, school foundations, and even for-profit organizations and social enterprises. Connect a Stripe or PayPal account to receive funds. Whether a gift is tax-deductible depends on your organization's status, so check with your treasurer.
Do donors get a tax receipt?
Yes. Donately emails a receipt automatically after every gift, and donors can download a yearly giving summary from their donor dashboard.
How fast can we launch?
Most schools sign up and publish their first page in under five minutes. Connect Stripe or PayPal to receive funds, pick a template, add your colors and goal, and share the link.
Launch your school's first online fundraiser
Live in under 5 minutes · No setup fees · No feature limits · Platform fees as low as 0%