HopeGives vs Devotion Fund: 0% Platform Fee, Opt-In Tip, and an AI Writer of Its Own

I run Devotion Fund, so read this knowing I have a stake in the answer. HopeGives came up in my research this week as a platform I hadn't looked at closely — it's newer than GiveSendGo and smaller than Sowfund, but it does two things worth taking seriously: it charges 0% platform fee with a donor tip that's genuinely opt-in, not pre-checked, and it offers its own AI writing tool for campaign messages — which overlaps directly with something we've built our pitch around. Here's the honest comparison.

What HopeGives actually costs

• Platform fee: 0%. HopeGives states it never takes a cut of your campaign.
• Processing: 2.9% + $0.30 per donation, the standard PayPal rate (lower for registered 501(c)(3)s in PayPal's confirmed charity program).
• An optional "Impact Tip" is offered at donor checkout to support HopeGives. Their own site describes it as 100% optional and never deducted from your campaign — meaning, unlike GiveSendGo's pre-checked 10% tip, this one doesn't default to "on."

That opt-in detail matters and I want to give credit where it's due: a tip that isn't pre-checked is a more honest ask of your donor than one that is. If you're choosing between 0%-fee platforms specifically because you don't want a nudged tip riding on your supporters, HopeGives' model is the better-behaved version of that pattern.

The fee math, worked out

Devotion Fund charges 5% on bank transfers (ACH/SEPA) or 7% on card. On a monthly recurring gift, HopeGives' processing-only fees run cheaper than our bank-transfer rate above roughly $14/month, and cheaper than our card rate above roughly $7/month:

• At $10/month: HopeGives processing is 2.9% + $0.30 = $0.59 (5.9%). Devotion Fund is $0.50 by bank transfer (5.0%) or $0.70 by card (7.0%). Bank transfer is cheaper; card already loses.
• At $25/month: HopeGives is $1.03 (4.1%); Devotion Fund is $1.25 by bank transfer (5.0%) or $1.75 by card (7.0%). HopeGives wins either way.
• At $50/month: HopeGives is $1.75 (3.5%); Devotion Fund is $2.50 by bank transfer (5.0%) or $3.50 by card (7.0%). HopeGives wins comfortably.

Same shape as our comparisons against GiveSendGo and Sowfund: on raw fees, most monthly missionary support (typically $25–$100) costs less on a 0%-plus-processing model than on our 5-7%. That's consistent across this whole category, and I'd rather say it once clearly than bury it. See our full all-platform cost breakdown for the rest of the field.

The part that actually made me pay attention: their AI writer

Most of our comparison posts lead with fees because that's the easiest thing to verify and the thing missionaries ask about first. HopeGives is the first platform I've found in this category that also offers an AI tool to help write fundraising messages — the same category of feature as our AI-assisted prayer-letter draft. I don't have enough visibility into HopeGives' AI tool to say how it compares in practice (their public pages describe it only in general terms — "craft a message that moves people" — with no worked example I could check). But it means "AI-assisted writing" is no longer something only we offer in this space, and it's worth knowing that going in rather than assuming our AI assist is a lone differentiator.

Where HopeGives is broader than us — deliberately

HopeGives markets itself as crowdfunding for missionaries, churches, and nonprofits, with dedicated tooling for denominations. That's a real strength if your fundraising need sits above the level of a single missionary's support page — a church building fund, a denomination-wide campaign, a nonprofit project. It's a weaker fit if what you need is a purpose-built page for your own ongoing monthly partnership, because a platform built to serve churches and nonprofits equally well is, by definition, not optimized around any one of those use cases the way a single-purpose tool is.

Devotion Fund does one thing: recurring support raising for an individual missionary or ministry worker. Donor accounts, renewal handling, a donor CRM, and the AI-assisted prayer-letter draft are all built around that one relationship, not a generic campaign object that could just as easily be a church roof fund.

Where HopeGives is the better choice

• Your fundraising need is broader than one missionary's support — a church, denomination, or nonprofit project.
• Your typical gift is $25/month or more, where the processing-only model beats our 5-7% on raw fees.
• You specifically want a tip that's opt-in, not pre-checked, if a 0%-fee platform is the category you've already decided on.

Where Devotion Fund is the better choice

• You're an individual missionary building an ongoing monthly support base, not a church or nonprofit running a broader campaign.
• Most of your support is smaller recurring gifts (under ~$14/month), where our no-per-transaction-fee flat rate is actually cheaper.
• You want one all-in number with no separate tip prompt for your donor to consider at all, opt-in or not.

HopeGives is a legitimate platform and, on fees alone, usually the cheaper one for a typical monthly gift. If your need is broader than a single missionary's support page, it's worth a real look. If you're raising ongoing support specifically and want the tooling built around that one relationship, start a page on Devotion Fund.

Frequently asked questions

What does HopeGives actually charge?
HopeGives charges 0% platform fee. Payment processing runs through PayPal at the standard rate of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (lower for registered 501(c)(3)s enrolled in PayPal's confirmed charity program). At checkout, donors are offered an optional "Impact Tip" to support HopeGives — the platform's own site describes it as 100% optional and never deducted from the campaign, so unlike some 0%-fee platforms, it isn't pre-checked by default.

Does HopeGives support recurring monthly giving?
Yes. HopeGives explicitly supports monthly, weekly, and custom recurring gifts, not just one-time campaigns.

Is HopeGives built specifically for missionaries?
No — HopeGives markets itself as crowdfunding for missionaries, churches, and nonprofits, with dedicated tooling for denominations. It's a broader faith-based fundraising platform, not a tool purpose-built around a single missionary's ongoing support base the way Devotion Fund is.

Fees checked against HopeGives' own public fees-and-pricing page in August 2026. Devotion Fund's 5% is all-in (card processing absorbed); HopeGives' figures are their published 0% platform fee + standard PayPal processing, plus the optional Impact Tip. We update this post if HopeGives changes its pricing.

About the author

I'm Jussi, the founder of Devotion Fund — a recurring-first giving platform built for missionaries and ministry workers.

Last updated: 2026-08-12.