The nonprofit organization responsible for the annual Colorado Gives Day – which is Tuesday – nearly doubled the fees it charges, going from 2.0% to 3.99%, after it migrated to a new platform that offers better functionality, the group confirmed to The Denver Gazette.

Kelly Dunkin, President and CEO of Community First Foundation, said the fees were raised because her group moved to the new platform, which is more expensive than the old one.    

The upgrade was necessary to benefit nonprofits and donors, Dunkin said.

“We heard form them repeatedly – through surveys, through interviews, through conversations – that the old platform was not meeting their needs,” Dunkin said. 

The group said that, under the old platform, nonprofits could not do fundraisers or make changes to their profile pages the way they wanted to. Donors also could not use different forms of payments in ways they wanted to, the group added.

Nonprofit organizations’ administrative fees have been in the news lately, as many victims and advocates were upset with the Colorado Healing Fund’s 10% administrative fee for donations to help the victims of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs. 

Community First Foundation maintained that it has been transparent about the new fee. The group also said the change was not made for Colorado Gives Day – the group said it made the switch on Sept. 1.    

The group said half of the 3.99% fee – 2.05% – goes to credit card processing, while the other 1.94% goes toward a “technology and platform improvement fee.”

The group clarified that donors have the option to pay the 3.99% fee at checkout. If donors decided not to pay the fee, only the credit card fee is withheld from the donation to cover that charge. The group said that credit card processing amount is less than what a nonprofit would pay on its own. 

Colorado Gives 365, which is a program by Community First Foundation, works to connect other nonprofits with donors. Since 2007, the platform has raised $500 million for Colorado nonprofits. 

Colorado Gives Day, which runs from Nov. 1 through Dec. 6 this year, is Colorado’s largest 24-hour giving event, according to the nonprofit’s website. Since 2010, Colorado Gives Day has raised $362 million for nonprofits across the state since it began.

FirstBank has been Community First Foundation’s corporate partner since the inception of Colorado Gives Day in 2010. The Community First Foundation is also a grant maker in Jefferson County.

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For donations made from Nov. 1 to Dec. 6, Community First Foundation, FirstBank and other community partners will help give those contributions a “boost” through a $1.4 million incentive fund.

FirstBank is a privately held bank based in Lakewood. It has more than 100 locations across the states of Colorado, Arizona and California.

Some donors said the new fee increase is frustrating, arguing their money would not go as far for the non-profits they wish to help support.

“As a former nonprofit worker and current financial industry worker and long-time Colorado Gives Day participant, what irks me is the lack of disclosure and transparency for donors and how that affects the organizations we care about,” Colorado resident and long-time donor Katrina Niemisto said in an email.

Niemisto has been a monthly donor since 2016 and began working for nonprofits in Colorado in 2009, although she is now working at a for-profit industry. There have been fee increases, price increases, cost of living increases, in addition to the financial effects from COVID-19, Niemisto said.

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“Similar to passing off ‘cost of living increases’ to workers as not a company’s problem, the lack of transparency erodes trust with Colorado Gives Day donors,” Niemisto said. “Trust in who you’re donating to is paramount and transparency on fees is part of that trust. By not disclosing the fee change, Colorado Gives Day administrators are setting organizations up for mistrust. Transparency for fees is essential.”

One participating charity, who asked not to be identified, got this reply from Mightycause when it asked about the increase. Mightycause.com provides the platform for processing the donations: 

“Yes, the donation fees are now 3.99%. All recurring donations that were set up on the old platform were migrated over at the original 2% fee. We wanted to make sure that the donor was charged the same amount they always have been and the nonprofit was receiving the same amount they always have been.

“If a donor goes in to make a change to their recurring donation, they will see the new fee rate of 3.99%.”

Community First Foundation disputed the notion that it has not been transparent about fee change. The group said it communicated this change extensively to participating nonprofits since April. 

The group said the change is also clear to donors – since they could see the fee at checkout and choose not pay it.

Community First Foundation confirmed that recurring donations were grandfathered in at the old 2.05% structure. If donors make a change to their recurring transactions, that’s when they get the option to pay the new, higher fee.    

As for how much the new fee would cost donors, the group said that data would be available after Colorado Gives Day is over. At that point, the group said it would be able to tell how many chose to pay the 3.99%, as donors have that option.       

Some people commented on social media that they didn’t mind the increase based on the convenience of the platform and pointed to platforms, such as GoFundMe, charging 2.9%. 

Colorado resident and FirstBank customer Kellie Rockey said that as someone who donates every year despite tight finances, she is frustrated by the lack of transparency, as well. However, she said the new fee will not affect how or what she gives this year.

“It’s not much though, and that’s why I count on that day to kind of double my donation,” Rockey said.

Editor’s note: This story has been revised to clarify several points and include comments from Community First Foundation.