Ticketing with a donation option

A donation ask at checkout is the highest-converting fundraising moment most organisations own — the supporter already has their card out. Doing it well is platform mechanics plus a little psychology; doing it badly means fees quietly shaving the donation.

The mechanics that matter

• Fee treatment: the crucial question — does the platform's percentage apply to donations too? A 6.95% + 59p structure applied to a £10 donation takes £1.28 of it. Zero-fee and flat-fee platforms pass donations through intact.
• Gift Aid: genuinely a 25% top-up on eligible donations from UK taxpayers — but only donations, not ticket purchases, and only with a declaration captured. If you're a charity, the platform must capture declarations properly (name, address, postcode) or the top-up is unclaimable.
• Reporting: you need donations separable from ticket revenue for accounting and Gift Aid claims — a lump sum is an accountant's afternoon wasted.

What converts

1. Suggested amounts beat open boxes — three options plus 'other', with the middle one where you want most people to land.
2. Anchor to the mission, not the ticket ('£5 funds an hour of coaching'), in one sentence.
3. Opt-in always — pre-ticked donations poison trust and breach consumer-law expectations.
4. Round-up asks ('make it £20') convert startlingly well on sub-£20 baskets.

Platform notes

Humanitix (itself a charity) and TicketSource handle charity flows maturely, Eventbrite supports donation ticket types with its fees applying by configuration, and Tickts passes donations through fee-free with Gift Aid declaration capture and CSV export. Whatever you use, test a live £1 donation and trace it to the report before launch.