DonorsChoose vs JustGiving

DonorsChoose connects donors with public school teachers requesting classroom resources. Teachers submit supply or project requests, donors contribute, and DonorsChoose orders and ships funded goods to verified teachers. Teachers can sign up and post projects for free. Classroom Essentials offers curated basic supplies with no minimum, shipping items as funding arrives. Classroom Projects use a catalog of more than 1 million products from over 20 teacher-favorite stores, including Lakeshore, Amazon, and Staples. These projects require a $100 minimum and can remain posted for up to four months; if the goal is missed, donors may redirect contributions to the teacher’s next project. Submissions are reviewed before posting, typically within five business days. Eligibility covers full-time educators at public or public charter schools working directly with students, subject to detailed rules. DonorsChoose says it vets requests, reviews student privacy, and requires permission for student photos. Teachers provide donors a thank-you package with two project photos.

JustGiving helps people raise money for charities and causes they care about. Supporters can create personalised fundraising pages, shape their stories and share pages using built-in tools. Charities can build branded campaign hubs that bring donations and connected fundraising pages together for events, appeals or projects. Giving Checkout provides customisable direct-donation forms with 0% processing and platform fees on direct donations; UK Gift Aid processing carries a 5% fee. Other donations have a stated processing fee of 1.9% + £0.30, or 2.90% + £0.30 for donations in another currency, except fee-free Giving Checkout donations. Reporting supports up to eight saved report templates, selected-data exports and donor opt-in collection. Listed integrations include Strava, Eventbrite, ACTIVE Works, Blackbaud products, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce-related options. Start has no monthly subscription fee, though standard processing fees and a 5% Gift Aid reclaim fee apply. Grow is listed at £15 a month under stated VAT and annual fundraising thresholds. Eligible registered charities and nonprofits can join from the UK, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.