Challenge

When co-founders Tom Maitland and Murray Bunton began developing Raisely, online fundraising was new to most charities in Australia. Many charities relied on traditional fundraising methods such as phone calls and street solicitations. Constrained budgets and small teams meant most charities could not access tools and resources to create online fundraising campaigns. To change this, Raisely knew it needed to start by finding a payment provider that would enable it to capture payment details, process payments efficiently, and monitor and manage donations effectively – all while minimising fraud risk.

Maitland wanted to do this while maintaining a “purpose before profit” approach that provided an affordable platform with the capability of making online fundraising easy for not-for-profits of any size, anywhere. This meant Raisely needed a solution that could enable quick onboarding of new fundraisers, wherever they were in the world. Raisely also needed payment support for its own subscription offerings, which included additional services and marketing tools to support fundraising.

Solution

As Maitland prepared to launch Raisely in 2016, he quickly determined Stripe was the most innovative payment provider available. “With Stripe, because we did not have to invest heavily in payment rails or technologies, we could focus on building the best platform possible,” he said.

From the beginning, Raisely used Stripe Connect, which enables platforms to manage multiparty payment flows, such as those between Raisely, the organisations it supports, and their donors. “Stripe Connect is the glue that binds payments into our platform,” said Maitland.

This integration with Connect allows organisations access to rich management tools that reconcile payments into bank accounts, refund donations as needed, set up receipts, and combat fraud. Connect facilitates fast, easy onboarding and routes payments globally, so new fundraisers can launch campaigns quickly.

Raisely then adopted direct debits in 2023, fulfilling requests from a large proportion of its customer base, who wanted to give donors the option to pay with their bank accounts. “Stripe’s localised payment methods, payment rails, and its unified APIs enabled us to add direct debit and associated receipt and processing in just a few months,” said Maitland.

In 2019, Raisely also turned to Stripe Billing to power Raisely Pro, its premium subscription service with marketing automation functionality. Stripe Billing enables Raisely to manage subscriptions seamlessly, including collecting payments, issuing receipts, and managing accounts for Raisely Pro.

Results

2,000+ customers raise $500 million AUD via Raisely

To date, Raisely has helped over 2,000 organisations raise more than $500 million AUD across approximately 10,000 fundraising websites. Oxfam Australia, Beyond Blue, and the Starlight Children’s Foundation are among the charities and not-for-profits in 34 countries that use Raisely. And several hundred organisations are joining Raisely per year, with especially strong growth in the platform’s target markets: Canada, the UK, and the US.

Fundraising campaigns that launch in weeks

Most charities and not-for-profits launch their first campaign in just a few weeks, allowing them to respond quickly to crises or changing circumstances, and deliver multiple campaigns to support beneficiaries and causes. Once launched, charities on Raisely significantly outperform industry averages for fundraising. According to industry stats, online fundraising is growing 10%–15% per year, while not-for-profits that use Raisely are experiencing growth of about 80%. Raisely fundraisers have also seen a 48% increase in average funds raised per visitor through ongoing platform improvements within the donation form enabled by Stripe Payments.

“From onboarding new fundraisers to launching their campaign, to raising funds and achieving their targets, Stripe supports Raisely in helping to accelerate it all,” said Maitland.

500 fundraisers now using new direct debit option

500 fundraisers have started offering direct debit to their donors since Raisely began supporting the payment method in mid-2023. This is just one example of how Stripe has helped Raisely improve its offering and work toward its ambition to reach 10,000 charities and not-for-profits around the world.

For Maitland, partnering with Stripe means working with a payment provider committed to innovation and support. “You need to consider where your business will be in five years, and when you look at where Stripe is today, you can see that the breadth and completeness of its products will really help you grow over time,” Maitland said.

About Partner

Raisely is a purpose-before-profit business powering charities all over the world. Founded to help charities and not-for-profits bring their fundraising ideas to life, take control of their revenue, and improve the well-being of people and the planet. Since 2016, it has helped raise over $500M AUD with its online fundraising platform that removes the need for technical expertise or infrastructure, empowering more and more fundraisers.