Let's Learn
The "Cover the Fee" option allows donors to voluntarily add a small amount to their donation so that 100% of their intended gift reaches your organization. This article explains how the feature works, how amounts are calculated, and how to read your reports correctly.
How Cover the Fee Works
When a donor makes a donation through your Panorama P2P event or donation form, they see a checkbox asking if they'd like to cover the processing fee. If they check it, a calculated fee amount is added on top of their donation. Your organization receives the full donation amount — the added fee covers FrontStream's processing costs.
Example:
Donor intends to give $100
Processing fee: ~3.5% = $3.50
With Cover the Fee checked: donor is charged $103.50; your organization receives $100.00
Without Cover the Fee: donor is charged $100.00; your organization receives ~$96.50 after fees
How the Fee Amount Is Calculated
The fee percentage shown to donors is based on your organization's payment processing rate. The exact rate depends on your FrontStream contract and whether you're using FrontStream Global Fund or a third-party payment processor.
To see your rate: go to Panorama > Configuration > Payment Processing. If you're not sure what rate applies to your account, contact your FrontStream account manager.
Understanding Your Disbursement Reports
This is where most confusion happens. When you look at your disbursement report, you'll see two different figures:
| Report field | What it means |
|---|---|
| Gross / Total Charged | The full amount charged to the donor's card, including any Cover the Fee amount they added |
| Donation Amount | The donation amount the donor entered — this is what counts toward your fundraising goal thermometer |
| Fee Covered | The additional amount the donor added to cover processing — not counted as a donation |
| Net Disbursement | The amount actually deposited to your organization's account |
Why does the disbursement total not match the sum of my donations?
This is normal if some donors covered the fee and some didn't. Donors who didn't cover the fee had their processing costs deducted from their donation before disbursement. Your net disbursement will always be slightly less than your total donation amount unless all donors covered the fee.
Why does the donation total on my dashboard look higher than what I received?
Your dashboard thermometer typically shows the gross donation amount (before fees). Your disbursement is the net amount after processing fees are deducted for donors who didn't cover the fee.
Enabling or Disabling Cover the Fee
Admins can enable or disable this option per event:
Go to your event in Panorama and open Event Settings.
Navigate to Details > Payment Options
Toggle the button for Cover the Fee
If Cover the Fee is enabled, the checkbox is shown to donors but is opt-in — it is unchecked by default unless you configure it to be pre-checked.
Related Articles
How to Enable the BiddingForGood "Cover the Fee" Feature (for auction events)
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.