A Fee For My Donation

Thank you for your $100 donation. The total amount due is $103.

It seems that these days when I make an online donation to a charity, I am asked to cover the cost of the transaction fee.

Often the fee is added to the amount of my donation automatically and I have to search for, and uncheck, the box agreeing to the fee.

I rarely agree to this additional fee. It seems to me that the charity is charging me for the privilege of giving a donation. It rubs me the wrong way.

I understand that there is a credit card fee and fees charged by third party payment processing companies, of anywhere from 3 percent to in the most recent case I encountered, nearly 5 percent. And I understand that paying these fees takes away from the amount of money that can be used to support the charity's good works.

But still, I feel as if the charity is saying "Thank you for your donation. That will cost you an additional 3 percent for the privilege of donating to us."

This just seems wrong to me, especially when the fee is automatically calculated and added to the amount of my donation. Should donors be charged an additional fee to cover the cost of the organization's computer system? Should there be a fee to cover the cost of electricity to run the computers and pay for software? How about a fee to help pay employee salaries?

In my mind, if a non-profit accepts online donations via credit cards (a few do not), then fees for accepting these donations are simply a cost of doing business. It's like paying for electricity or heat or water at the group's headquarters.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I don't believe that donors should be charged a fee for their charitable donations.