How Fair Raise works

Anyone 18 or older who's genuinely raising money for a school, classroom, PTA/PTO, youth sports team, club, band, or similar group — a teacher, a coach, a parent volunteer, a treasurer. You don't need a school email address.

While we're launching, Fair Raise is invite-only: you'll need a create code from the person who sent you here. Have one? Start a fundraiser.

A title, a paragraph or two about what you're raising money for, a goal, and your email. Optional: an end date, a cover photo (upload one from your phone or computer, or paste a link), and — only if you're raising for a registered nonprofit like a PTA — that group's EIN. That's about two minutes; connecting your bank with Stripe is a separate five, and can wait until you're ready.

Yes. When you create your fundraiser (and any time afterward, from your manage page) you pick the ladder of suggested amounts:

• $10 · $25 · $50 · $100 — classroom drives and small supply funds
• $25 · $50 · $100 · $250 — a good default for most school fundraisers
• $50 · $100 · $250 · $500 — sports teams, bands, and clubs
• $100 · $250 · $500 · $1,000 — big annual drives, alumni and corporate giving
• Custom — set two to four amounts of your own

It's worth aiming a little high: most people pick one of the buttons rather than typing a number, so the amounts you show tend to set the size of the average gift. The second amount is pre-selected. Whatever you choose, donors can always enter their own amount instead, so nobody is ever boxed in.

There are no passwords. Creating a fundraiser signs you in on that device for 30 days. From any other device, go to Sign in, enter the email you used, and we'll send a one-time link that works for 15 minutes — the same way Slack and Substack do it. Your manage page is where you edit, see donor details, download a spreadsheet, or close the fundraiser. On a shared computer, use Sign out when you're done; Sign out everywhere else kicks every other device off.

On your manage page, click Connect your bank with Stripe. Stripe (the payment company behind millions of businesses) verifies your identity and bank account in about five minutes. Stripe will ask whether the money goes to an organization or an individual:

• Organization — a PTA, PTO, booster club, or league with its own EIN and bank account. Pick this whenever the group is a real entity; your treasurer will have both. Money lands in the group's account, not anyone's personal one.
• Individual — a teacher raising for their own classroom, or a coach or parent with no separate entity. No EIN needed— you use your own name, Social Security number, and personal bank account, the same as any freelancer getting paid.

Two things to know if you go the individual route: donations to you personally are not tax-deductible for your donors, and Stripe may issue you a 1099-K for the money you receive, so it's worth a word with whoever does your taxes. Where a real group exists, the organization route is almost always the better choice.

From then on, every donation is charged directly to your Stripe account and paid out to your bank on Stripe's rolling schedule — typically within a couple of business days once the account is established (the very first payout can take a week or two while Stripe finishes verification). Fair Raise never holds your money.

As soon as your bank is connected. Your page is live and shareable the moment you create it; until Stripe setup is finished it shows "the organizer is finishing payment setup" instead of the donate button.

A person looks at every new fundraiser, usually within a day, before it's listed on the Fair Raise home page. Your page works and can take donations by link in the meantime — the review only affects the public listing. It's one of the ways we keep the site free of fakes.

Because donations go straight to your Stripe account, you issue refunds from your Stripe dashboard — there's a button for it on your manage page. Fair Raise can't refund money it never held.

When you refund a donor, we give back our 5% too, automatically and in proportion — refund half a gift and half the fee comes back. Your totals and donor wall update to match. The only piece nobody gets back is Stripe's own processing fee, which Stripe keeps on refunded payments.

If your PTA, PTO, booster club, or league is a registered nonprofit, enter its EIN and we check it against the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations. When it matches, your page shows a verified nonprofit badge with the IRS-registered name — and, for 501(c)(3)s, that donations are generally tax-deductible. Your treasurer will know the EIN.

It's optional, and it's separate from bank setup — this one only controls the badge donors see. If you're an individual rather than a group, just leave it blank.

Yes — there's a Cash & checks section on your manage page. Record the amount, who it came from, and (if you have a roster) which team member should get credit. It counts toward your total and theirs, and shows on the donor wall just like an online gift.

We don't take a fee on cash, because we never touched it. You can delete an entry if you record one by mistake.

Yes. Under Who can manage this on your manage page, add a co-chair, treasurer, or coach by email address. They sign in with their own email at /sign-in — there's no password to pass around — and can edit the fundraiser, see donors, and record cash. Remove them any time.

Yes. If your fundraiser has an end date, we email you at 7 days, 3 days, and on the last day with where you stand. If you have a roster, each team member's parent gets their own note showing that member's total and their link to share — the last few days are usually the biggest, and a nudge is most of what makes them happen.

Yes — everything except the web address can be changed from your manage page: title, story, goal, end date, photo, EIN. Close it any time; the page stays up as a record, with donations turned off. Fundraisers with an end date close themselves.

Open the fundraiser link, pick an amount (or type your own), add your name and an optional message, and pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or a card on Stripe's secure checkout. No account, no app. It takes about twenty seconds.

Yes. Tap Other and type any amount you like — the buttons are only a shortcut. The minimum is $1. (For gifts above $50,000, get in touch with the organizer directly so it can be handled properly.)

Either way, the page shows you exactly what the school or team receives before you pay.

It's a box, checked by default, that adds a few dollars to your gift to cover card processing and Fair Raise's 5% fee — so the school or team receives the full amount you meant to give. Uncheck it and you're charged exactly your gift; the fees come out of the amount the school receives instead. Either way, the page shows you what they'll receive before you pay.

Directly to the organizer's verified Stripe account — Fair Raise never holds it. Every fundraiser page tells you who that is, in plain words: for example, "Donations go to Lincoln Elementary PTA, a registered nonprofit" or "Donations are paid to Dana Park personally, the organizer for Roosevelt Middle." Stripe verifies the identity and bank account behind every one.

It depends on who receives it, not on Fair Raise. Gifts to a registered 501(c)(3) (many PTAs and leagues are) or to a public school are generally deductible; gifts paid to a teacher or coach personally are not. When a fundraiser has a verified 501(c)(3) badge, the page says so. When in doubt, ask the organizer and your tax adviser. Fair Raise doesn't issue tax receipts.

Yes. If you enter your email at checkout, Stripe emails a payment receipt and Fair Raise sends a thank-you with the details. Skip the email field if you'd rather not.

Tick hide my name on the donor wall. The public page will show "Anonymous" with your amount and message. The organizer can still see your name so they can thank you and keep records.

Your card details are entered on Stripe's checkout and never touch Fair Raise's servers — we don't see or store them. Stripe is the same processor used by Amazon, Shopify, and Instacart, and is certified to the highest payment-security standard (PCI DSS Level 1).

Contact the organizer — their name is on the fundraiser page. They refund from their Stripe account, and you get the full amount you were charged back. If you can't reach them, email hello@fairraise.org and we'll help you get in touch.

Every fundraiser page has a Report it link at the bottom of the donate box. A person reviews every report, and we can pause a fundraiser immediately if needed.

Because a percentage is the fair way to charge: a $400 classroom drive pays about $20, a big drive pays more, and a fundraiser that raises nothing pays nothing. No setup fees, no subscriptions, no minimums, no penalties for missing a goal. For comparison, the companies most schools use today keep 20–50%.

5% covers hosting and the cost of running this properly. It can be 5% instead of 20% because there's no sales team, no offices, and no reps visiting schools — the expensive part of how the big companies operate is the part we don't have, and we're not interested in adding it.

Card processing (2.9% + 30¢, charged by Stripe) is separate and passed through at cost — we don't mark it up. Full breakdown on the home page.

An IT security professional in Arizona, working through Fair Raise LLC. It started because the fundraiser sites friends kept sending around for their kids' schools and teams were expensive, clunky, and cagey about where the money went. It stays deliberately small — that's what makes a 5% fee possible.

Your money never passes through us. Donations land in your own Stripe account, in your name, and stay under your control. There's nothing of yours for us to hold, delay, or lose.

Questions, ideas, problems: hello@fairraise.org.

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