# Costs

## Cost schedule

To cover our costs, we deduct a percentage of all funds received, as follows:

| Amount raised per year          | Amount deducted |
| ------------------------------- | --------------- |
| On the first $200,000           | 8%              |
| On the next $300,000 (to $500k) | 6%              |
| On the next $500,000 (to $1m)   | 4%              |
| On amounts above $1m            | By arrangement  |

Totals reset on 1 April of each year.

{% hint style="info" %}

### Example

Let's say your Collective raises $350,000 in a year.

We'd deduct 8% of the first $200,000, which is $16,000, then we'd deduct 6% of the remaining $150,000, which is $9,000.

That's a total deduction of $25,000 on the funds your Collective raised in that year, which is equivalent to 7.1%.
{% endhint %}

### What our deduction covers

Our deduction covers the costs of running Gift Collective, such as:

* Our staff, who review every expense and respond to your queries
* Use of [Open Collective](https://opencollective.com), the system that keeps track of everything
* Expert advice and support from our lawyers and accountants

[Our own budget](https://opencollective.com/giftcollective#section-budget) is tracked transparently too, using the same system our Collectives use.

### How we compare

A traditional crowdfunding platform would charge 5-7%, but those platforms don't provide fundholding services - you have to account for all the money yourself. On the other hand, most fundholders charge around 10% (it varies a lot!), but don't generally provide online donation forms or an easy way to manage your expenses.

With Gift Collective, you get an end-to-end crowdfunding and fundholding solution, for one simple amount. Our deductions reflect these higher overheads, including the enhanced assessment, monitoring, and reporting we have to do to ensure everything is compliant with the laws and regulations that apply to charities.

For projects that want to offer donation tax receipts to their supporters, or which need a registered charity to be their umbrella organisation for a grant, it's a pretty sweet deal!

## Payment processing

We also deduct from Collectives' balances to cover the costs charged to us by payment processors.

#### Contributions

Debit and credit card payments are processed by [Stripe](https://stripe.com), which charges a fee of 2.7% + $0.30 per transaction. (Higher fees may apply to some payment methods.)

No fee applies to contributions received via bank transfer.

#### Expenses

Outgoing expense payments are processed by [Wise](https://wise.com). For expenses paid in NZD to accounts within New Zealand, they charge $1.38 per transaction.

For other expense payments, you can get an estimate of Wise's fee by using the [calculator](https://wise.com/nz/pricing/send-money) on their website - make sure to select 'Your balance' as the payment method.

{% hint style="warning" %}
If there isn't enough in your Collective's balance (at time of processing) to cover the Wise fee applicable to an expense, we won't be able to pay that expense.
{% endhint %}

In all cases, the Wise fee is calculated and an equivalent cost deducted from your balance at the time of processing.

## Employment services

Additional costs are deducted from Collectives which employ staff, as there's more work involved for us.

* $2,000 NZD is deducted for each new employee when they are onboarded, to cover our costs in onboarding them, and to cover the HR and legal advice we facilitate.
* $165 NZD is deducted per employee per month, to cover our ongoing costs, plus the facilitation of five hours of annual legal/HR support.
* If we facilitate additional legal/HR support for you, the costs we incur for this will also be deducted.

## Discounts

We **do not** offer discounts on our deductions.

From time to time, The Gift Trust may decide to make a contribution to a kaupapa that's aligned with its strategic priorities. If that kaupapa is a Collective, then that contribution may take the form of a credit for part of our deduction. We **will not** accept unsolicited applications for such credits.

*All figures are in New Zealand Dollars (NZD) unless specified.*


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