How to Set Up JustGiving, Enthuse and Other Fundraising Pages the Right Way

Two charities can run the same fundraising challenge, raise the same amount from their supporters, and end up with noticeably different sums in the bank. The difference is rarely the appeal. It is the platform they chose, how they set it up, and whether the small settings that govern fees, Gift Aid and data were handled with care. This guide covers how to make those choices well.

The platforms, and what they are actually for

The online fundraising market is bigger than JustGiving, though JustGiving is where most people start. Each platform makes a different trade-off, and the right one depends on how you raise money rather than on which name is most familiar.

• JustGiving has the largest reach and the deepest integration with mass-participation events like the London Marathon. If your fundraising leans heavily on runners, riders and challenge events, its network is a real advantage.
• Enthuse keeps your branding front and centre and, importantly, gives you ownership of the supporter data. For charities that want donors to feel they are giving to you rather than to a platform, that ownership matters.
• CAF Donate suits charities already in the CAF ecosystem and handles Gift Aid cleanly.
• GoFundMe and similar tools work well for one-off, personal or crisis appeals where reach and speed beat brand control.

You do not have to pick only one. Many charities run Enthuse for their own campaigns and keep a JustGiving presence for supporters who arrive through big events. The point is to choose deliberately, matching the platform to the job.

Read the fees properly

Platform pricing is the most misunderstood part of online fundraising. Most platforms have moved away from taking a percentage of every donation and now charge a mix of a monthly subscription and a per-donation payment processing fee. That changes the maths depending on your volume.

To compare fairly, ignore the headline and work out the total cost per pound raised on your own numbers:

1. Take a realistic month or campaign of donations.
2. Add up every charge: subscription, processing fees, and anything deducted before payout.
3. Divide by the total raised to get your real cost per pound.
4. Repeat for each platform you are considering and compare the results, not the marketing.

The headline fee is a marketing number. The number that matters is what actually lands in your bank account for every pound a supporter gives, and you can only find that on your own volumes.

For a charity with steady, high volume, a subscription model can be cheaper per pound than a percentage model. For a charity that fundraises in occasional bursts, a pay-as-you-go option with no subscription may win. Run your own figures rather than trusting a general recommendation.

Set up the charity account correctly

Getting on a platform is straightforward, but a few setup choices decide how well it works for you. When you register your charity account, you will need your Charity Commission registration number and the charity bank details, and the account will need verifying before funds can be released.

Before you invite a single supporter to fundraise, get these right:

• Enable Gift Aid, so eligible donations are automatically topped up. On most platforms this is a setting and a declaration flow you should test yourself.
• Connect the platform to your CRM, or agree a routine for importing donations and contacts, so supporter data does not sit stranded on the platform.
• Complete your charity profile with a clear description, a strong image, and an honest line about what a donation achieves.
• Set up any recurring giving option if the platform supports it, since regular gifts are worth far more over time than one-off donations.

Make supporter pages easy to copy

Most of the money on these platforms is raised not by you but by your supporters, on pages they create themselves. The charities that do well give those supporters a head start. Left to improvise, a fundraiser will write a thin page with a low target and a blurry photo. Given a template, they will do far better with less effort.

Provide fundraisers with a simple pack:

1. A suggested page title and a short story they can adapt in their own words.
2. A realistic but ambitious target, since higher targets tend to raise more, not less.
3. A couple of strong images they are allowed to use.
4. A clear line on what different amounts achieve, so donors know what their gift does.
5. A gentle reminder to add Gift Aid and to share the page more than once.

This small amount of preparation is the highest-return thing you can do, because it multiplies across every fundraiser you have.

Close the loop with data and thanks

The job is not done when the money arrives. Two things separate charities that build lasting supporter relationships from those that treat each campaign as a one-off. The first is getting the data off the platform and into your CRM, so a person who fundraised for you is not lost the moment the campaign ends. The second is thanking people properly and promptly, both the fundraiser and, where you can, their donors.

A supporter who ran a marathon for you and heard nothing afterwards will not do it again. One who received a warm, specific thank you, and a note on what their effort achieved, is the beginning of a relationship rather than the end of a transaction. Set up your platforms with that follow-through in mind, and the pages become the start of your fundraising, not the whole of it.

Related reading: Charity Shop Digital Basics for 2026, Google Ad Grants for UK Charities: What's Worth Your Time and Charity SEO: The Pages That Actually Rank.