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14 questions to ask a vendor

A checklist you can send to a colleague · 22 September 2026

Fundraising platforms demo well. They all show you a beautiful page, a progress bar and a total. The differences that matter only surface in month four, so the point of this list is to surface them in the first call.

Send it to whoever is running the evaluation. Ask every question in writing and keep the replies; half of these will be in your contract eventually. We wrote it for organizations whose members raise money — clubs inside an association, workers inside a mission agency, students inside a programme — but most of it applies to any fundraising software purchase.

1. Whose bank account does a gift land in first?

   The single most consequential question, and the one most often answered with a diagram instead of a name. If the money passes through your organization, it is your income, your liability and your reconciliation work until it leaves again.

   A good answer: a clear statement of who the merchant of record is, and whether each fundraiser has their own account with the payment provider. Not “it goes into the platform”.

2. What happens to money in flight if you go out of business?

   Every vendor says this will not happen. Ask about the account structure anyway: segregated, safeguarded, or working capital.

   A good answer: “We never hold it — it settles to the fundraiser's own account with the payment provider.” Or, if they do hold it, the name of the safeguarding arrangement.

3. Who is named on the supporter's card statement?

   If it is a brand the supporter has never heard of, some of them will call their bank instead of you. Disputes are expensive and they land on whoever holds the balance.

   A good answer: your organization's name, or the platform name shown on the page they paid on — and the ability to set it.

4. Which countries and currencies can a fundraiser be paid in?

   This is where most shortlists collapse. A platform that only pays out to US bank accounts is unusable for a European federation, however good the pages look, and you will not find out from the marketing site.

   A good answer: a list of supported payout countries, and what a supporter in another currency actually pays.

5. What does a fundraiser have to do before they can be paid?

   Identity verification is mandatory and it is not the vendor's choice. What is their choice is how much of it they hide, how well they explain it, and what happens when it fails.

   A good answer: the actual list of documents, the typical time, and the flow for a fundraiser whose verification is rejected.

6. Can a person under 18 raise money, and how?

   If your members are junior athletes, pupils or scouts, this decides whether the platform works at all. Payment providers will not open an account for a minor.

   A good answer: a guardian or organization-held account model, with the relationship shown on the page. Silence here means they have not thought about your sector.

7. Who decides who is allowed to create a page?

   Open to anyone, members only, or approved case by case. This is the difference between a platform you are proud of and one you spend your Mondays moderating.

   A good answer: a configurable approval step, a membership check you control, and an audit trail of who approved what.

8. How do we take a page down?

   You will need to, eventually: a dispute, a safeguarding concern, a member who leaves, a page that misrepresents your organization. Ask how fast, who can do it, and what happens to money already raised.

   A good answer: an unpublish button your own staff can press, and a documented rule for funds already collected.

9. What are all the fees, including the ones we do not pay?

   Processing, platform, payout, currency conversion, and any “tip” the supporter is asked for. Ask for the total cost of a €50 gift and a €20 monthly gift, in writing, with each line named.

   A good answer: a worked example. See our guide on fees for what to compare it against.

10. Is the fee deducted from the gift or added to the supporter's total?

    These produce very different conversations with your members. Deducted means a €50 gift arrives as less than €50; added on top means the supporter chose to cover it.

    A good answer: a clear default, a statement of whether it can be changed, and confirmation that the supporter sees the breakdown before they pay.

11. What happens when a monthly gift fails?

    A recurring supporter base leaks every month through expired cards and lapsed mandates. Recovery is unglamorous and it is worth more than any feature on the demo.

    A good answer: automatic retries on a schedule, an email to the supporter with a link to update their card, and a report of what it recovered.

12. Whose customer are the supporters, and can we export them?

    Some platforms treat the supporter list as their asset. Ask whether you can export names, emails and giving history, in what format, and whether it is still available after you leave.

    A good answer: export on demand, in a standard format, with no exit fee, plus a plain statement of who is the data controller.

13. Under whose privacy notice and terms do supporters give?

    If your name is on the page, supporters will assume they are dealing with you. You need to know who is the controller for their data, who answers a subject access request, and whose terms govern a dispute.

    A good answer: named controller and processor roles, a data processing agreement offered without being asked, and EU or UK hosting if your members are there.

14. What can we change, and what will you build for us?

    Every vendor says “fully customisable” and means a logo and a colour. Ask what your own competition schedule, membership check, team structure or reporting line would cost to build, and whether it is even possible on their platform.

    A good answer: a straight distinction between what is configuration, what is a paid change, and what they will not do at all.

How to read the answers

Two patterns are worth more than any individual answer.

Watch for the questions they answer with a feature. “Who holds the money?” answered with “we have Stripe integration” is not an answer. Every platform has Stripe integration; the question is what account it pays into.

Watch for the questions they have clearly never been asked. If under-18 fundraisers, payout countries or takedown produce a pause, the platform was built for a different sector than yours, and you will be its first customer of your kind. That can work, at a price. It should not be a surprise.