Zeffy Review

Zeffy (called Simplyk until April 2022) is a Montreal-based fundraising platform for nonprofits. It runs donation forms, event ticketing, raffles, auctions, memberships, online stores, a donor CRM and a Tap to Pay phone app. It charges the nonprofit nothing: no platform fee, no card fee and no subscription, and the organisation receives 100% of each gift. Zeffy pays the card processing costs itself and earns its money from an optional contribution, or tip, that donors are asked to add at checkout. That tip is pre-selected. In our October 2026 test on a live US form, a $50 gift came with a 17% ($8.50) contribution already chosen, and a $500 gift with 11% ($54.95). Donors can lower it or set it to zero through an 'Other' option, but the nonprofit cannot change the suggested amounts. Payments run on Stripe: each organisation gets its own Stripe connected account under Zeffy's platform. Payouts go out weekly on Mondays by default. Zeffy is open only to nonprofits and eligible public-benefit organisations, and this review covers its US (USD) and Canadian (CAD) offer. Donor reviews are strongly positive, but the most persistent complaint is donors who did not notice the pre-selected tip.

Estimated annual cost at three realistic processing volumes, using Zeffy’s published online rate plus monthly fees. Real costs vary with average transaction size, chargeback rate, and any negotiated terms.

What Zeffy is

Zeffy is a fundraising and payments platform for nonprofits, run from Montreal. It was founded as Simplyk by François de Kerret, now CEO, and Thibaut Jaurou, its CTO, who had built a volunteering marketplace in Quebec as university students. The company renamed itself Zeffy in April 2022, when it expanded to the United States, and said at the time that it had closed $3.7 million (CAD) in seed funding. It is still independent; we found no acquisition. Sources disagree on a founding year: a 2025 company press release says it was founded in 2017, a Stripe case study says de Kerret co-founded it in 2018, and Zeffy's own website says it started seven years ago. We do not state one.

Zeffy's own scale figures are inconsistent, so treat them as approximate. As of October 2026, its pricing and About pages claim more than 100,000 nonprofits and more than $2 billion raised, while a banner on the same pricing page and several help-centre articles still say 50,000. A May 2025 press release reported $1 billion processed and more than 50,000 organisations. Zeffy has been a certified B Corporation since March 2022, with a B Impact score of 91.4. It now serves nonprofits in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and Germany. This review covers the US offer, priced in USD, and the Canadian offer, priced in CAD.

How the tip model works

Most donation platforms take a percentage of each gift. Zeffy charges the nonprofit nothing and pays the card processing fees itself. Its revenue comes from a voluntary contribution that donors are asked to add on top of their gift, which Zeffy describes as its only source of revenue. The nonprofit receives the full gift amount; the donor pays the gift plus whatever contribution they leave, as a single card charge. The contribution is shown separately at checkout and in the confirmation email.

The contribution is pre-selected rather than opt-in. On a live US donation form on 16 October 2026, a $50 gift came with 17% ($8.50) already chosen, making the total $58.50, and the dropdown offered 20%, 22% and 'Other'. A $500 gift defaulted to 11% ($54.95), with 13% and 15% offered, and gifts of $5,500 and just over $10,000 to 7%. These are what one form showed us, not a published schedule. Zeffy's help centre confirms the percentage falls as the gift rises and says the wording and suggested amounts cannot be customised. To give nothing, a donor has to open the dropdown and choose 'Other'. The same checkout preselected the US bank account (ACH) payment method, with the note 'Help us reduce costs by choosing the bank account (ACH) payment method.'

How many donors tip is reported differently in different places. Zeffy's pricing page says 'On average, 2 of 3 donors tip', its help centre says 'Around 60% of donors choose to leave a voluntary contribution', and a 2024 Future of Good profile reported just over half, with around $15 million in revenue on about $600 million processed that year. Zeffy also says that if an organisation raises very large card sums with little or no contribution, it will get in touch and may set a temporary card payment limit on the form, steering larger gifts to bank transfer. That is rare by Zeffy's account, but it means 'free' depends on your donors' behaviour.

Criticism of the model

The pre-selected tip is the most common complaint about Zeffy. On Zeffy's own public feature-request board, a 2023 request by a user to let organisations change the default percentage, citing a 17% minimum, has 196 votes. A 2024 request to make the contribution default to $0, which mentioned defaults of 17% or 34%, has 224 votes and was closed in March 2026. Zeffy did not adopt a $0 default. Instead it labelled the contribution '(optional)', separated it more clearly from the gift and let donors request a refund from their confirmation email. Trustpilot's summary of reviews also lists unexpected or automatically added tips as a recurring complaint. The practical risk for a nonprofit is that a donor who misses the dropdown pays more than intended and holds the charity responsible. Zeffy's terms forbid organisations from adding warnings, disclaimers or messages designed to unfairly discourage tipping, though its help centre offers approved wording explaining that the contribution is optional.

Payments, limits and payouts

Donors can pay by credit or debit card up to $4,999 per payment, Apple Pay or Google Pay up to $1,000, or bank transfer (ACH in the US, PAD in Canada) up to $20,000, as of October 2026. Cards from abroad are charged in the organisation's currency. Bank-transfer gifts take 5 to 10 business days to finalise and are switched off on event and raffle forms in the 10 days before the event. In person, the free Tap to Pay app turns a compatible phone into a contactless terminal; there is no card reader option and it does not run on tablets.

Payouts go out weekly every Monday by default, or monthly on the first Monday. Next-day payouts are available to organisations Zeffy deems eligible. Each payment first goes through a mandatory anti-fraud review that typically takes 1 to 3 business days, weekly payouts are initiated on Fridays, and payouts cannot be triggered manually or held until a campaign ends. Zeffy also runs ongoing verification of organisations after onboarding, which it says usually takes 2 to 5 business days, and payouts can be paused while a review is in progress.

Refunds, disputes and account risk

Card payments can be refunded through Zeffy for up to 180 days; ACH and PAD gifts can only be refunded once 60 days have passed since the payment cleared. If the balance is too low, Zeffy pulls the money from a US or Canadian organisation's bank account first, which can take up to seven business days. When a donor disputes a card charge, the amount is reversed from the balance, Zeffy submits evidence on the organisation's behalf, and the full cycle usually takes around 90 days. We found no published chargeback fee, consistent with Zeffy's statement that it charges nonprofits nothing.

The terms, applicable from August 2026, give Zeffy broad discretion. It can suspend or close an account, with or without notice, at its sole discretion and without having to give reasons beyond broad categories, for risk reasons that include high chargeback or refund rates, loss of charitable status, high-risk transaction patterns or reputational risk. If Stripe suspends or rejects the organisation's connected account, Zeffy may have to close the Zeffy account too, and it may close an account that has not finished Stripe onboarding within 90 days. On closure, Zeffy may refuse a final payout and refund the processed transactions to donors instead; ACH refunds in that case can take up to 120 days. Organisations are liable for every negative balance, and Zeffy can require a reserve from those with a history of disputes. There is no contract length or termination fee, and either party can end the agreement at any time.

Why we list Zeffy as a payment facilitator

Zeffy does not hold its own acquiring relationship. Its terms say it uses Stripe as its payment processor, and each organisation's payments run through a Stripe connected account created through Zeffy's platform, governed by Stripe's Connected Account Agreement. Zeffy onboards and verifies organisations, sets the pricing, controls payout schedules and can hold or refund funds. That is the facilitator model in practice, with Stripe as the registered processor underneath. It is not a merchant of record: donations are legally made to the organisation, and only the separate contribution belongs to Zeffy.

Reputation

As of 16 October 2026, Zeffy has a TrustScore of 4.7 from 571 Trustpilot reviews, with 84% five-star and 8% one-star. The profile is claimed, Zeffy invites reviews, and it has replied to 94% of negative reviews. Praise centres on the absence of fees and ease of use. Complaints centre on the pre-selected tip, delayed payouts and account verification holds. We found no Better Business Bureau profile for Zeffy in the US or Canada, and no lawsuit or regulatory enforcement action naming the company. In the US, Zeffy (Simplyk, Inc.) says it is registered with the California Registry of Charitable Trusts as a fundraising platform.

Who should use Zeffy

Zeffy suits a small or mid-size US or Canadian nonprofit, school group, club or church that wants donations, tickets, raffles, memberships and a donor database without paying anything, and that is comfortable with its supporters being asked to tip the platform. Before switching, look at your own donation form as a donor would and decide whether you are happy with the contribution it pre-selects (17% on a $50 gift in our October 2026 test). A nonprofit that relies on large card gifts, needs card readers or a full point of sale, or wants control over everything its donors are charged should compare platforms that deduct a published fee instead. Zeffy is not available to for-profit businesses.