When using Charidy, you’ll see certain terms used throughout the platform—on your Dashboard, campaign pages, and reports. This article explains the most common Charidy fundraising terms so you can better understand how your campaigns work, track donations with confidence, and get the most out of your fundraising experience.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is a way of raising money by collecting donations from a large group of people, often online. With Charidy, crowdfunding helps nonprofits bring together both new and existing supporters to reach their fundraising goals, all through a trusted and engaging platform.
Charidy Campaign
Charidy Campaign is a fundraising campaign hosted on the Charidy platform, where your organization can raise money for your cause through a customized campaign page. It gives you the tools to engage your donor base, share your mission, and inspire contributions that help you reach your goal.
Goal
Goal is the target amount your organization sets on your Charidy campaign page—the total you aim to raise from your donors. It serves as a clear milestone to rally support, inspire giving, and measure your campaign’s success.
Matcher
Matcher is an individual, company, or foundation that pledges a large gift to your Charidy campaign. Their contribution is used to multiply donations from other supporters—often doubling or tripling gifts—to inspire more giving and help your campaign reach its goal faster.
Teams
Teams are a group of one or more donors (such as a family) led by an ambassador or raiser who rallies support within their own network. Each team contributes to the main campaign, helping expand your reach, inspire friendly competition, and bring in donations from new circles of supporters.
Levels
Levels are suggested donation amounts or suggested sponsorships that are offered in tiers on the donation page, and that encourage bigger donations when the donor selects a pre-set donation amount. Each level may include special recognition or rewards, based on which tier the donor chooses, making it easy for donors to see the impact of their contribution. For example, the donor can be displayed on a virtual donor wall in the tabs on the bottom of the campaign page as a special recognition of their gift.
Legal Entity
Legal Entity refers to your organization’s official nonprofit status in a specific country. To collect donations through Charidy in a given country, your organization must be legally recognized there as a nonprofit. This ensures donations are processed properly and that donors receive the correct receipts.
📍 The legal entity is used when adding a payment gateway in your Dashboard, and it is also submitted to Stripe when you create a Stripe account.
Payment Gateway
A Payment Gateway is the platform that securely processes your donors’ online contributions. Charidy supports several options—including Stripe, PayPal, and Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs). For the smoothest experience, we recommend setting up a Stripe account directly through your Charidy dashboard, which ensures fast and reliable processing.
Recurring Donation
Recurring Donation is when a donor chooses to give on an ongoing basis—most often once a month for 12 months. Instead of a one-time gift, the donor’s gift amount is automatically charged each month. The full pledge shows up on the campaign right away, and helps to maximize a donor’s donation.
Amount Charged / Actual Charge
The Amount Charged or the Actual Charge is the full amount that was processed on the donor’s credit card, in the currency they selected. This includes any add-ons, such as “cover gateway fee” or “tip.” It’s the exact amount that appears on the donor’s credit card statement.
Example: If a donor gives $100 and chooses to cover the $3 gateway fee, the amount charged is $103.
📍 You can find the “Amount Charged” in the Donation Export from your dashboard.
Real Donation Amount or Value
The Real Donation Amount or Value is the portion of the donation that counts toward your campaign goal. It excludes any added amounts for gateway fees or tips. If a donation is made in a different currency, the real amount is converted to your campaign’s currency to reflect its true impact.
Example: If a donor gives $103 ($100 donation + $3 gateway fee), the real amount is $100. Or, if the donor gave £100 GBP, the real amount might show as $135 USD (depending on the conversion rate).
📍 The “Real Amount” is displayed on your Organization Dashboard.
Effective Donation Value
The Effective Donation Value represents the full impact of a donation when factoring in matches and future estimated recurring contributions (but not gateway fees or tips). This is the most meaningful way to see how much a single donation contributes toward your campaign’s success.
Example: For a charge of $103, where $100 is the donation and $3 is donated to cover the gateway fee, let’s say it’s also a $100 donation that recurs monthly for 12 months and is matched 2x. It therefore has an effective donation value of $2,400 ($100 × 12 months × 2 matchers), and does not include the gateway fee.
📍 The “Effective Donation” is shown on both your organization Dashboard and on the public campaign page (where donors see the total impact of giving).
Online Donation
Online Donation is a gift made directly through the organization’s campaign page on Charidy. Donors contribute using one of the available payment gateways, such as credit cards, Apple Pay, or other supported methods, making it easy and secure to give online.
Offline Donation
Offline Donation is a non-electronic contribution collected directly by the organization, typically in the form of a check or cash. The organization enters these donations into their Charidy dashboard so they count toward the campaign goal, helping keep all fundraising efforts organized in one place.
At Charidy, we’re committed to giving your organization the tools and support it needs to fundraise with confidence. Our team is here every step of the way to ensure your campaigns run smoothly and successfully.
Need more help or have questions?
We’re here to support you every step of the way. Your Charidy Campaign Manager is always happy to help, or you can email us at support@charidy.com.