Give Lively is a free fundraising platform specifically built for nonprofits, but is it the right fit for your organization? Below, I’ll share pros and cons based on real user reviews to help you decide.
Join the fundraising movement! Join the fundraising movement!If Give Lively caught your eye as a potential fundraising platform, you’re probably eager to hear directly from real users.
Marketing itself as a free fundraising platform, Give Lively aims to provide simple yet efficient digital fundraising tools that don’t break the bank.
Let’s see what nonprofits like yours have to say about Give Lively’s fundraising features and pricing.
Users appreciate that Give Lively is easy to set up and use.
What I like most about the platform is how easy it is to use.” – Raziya H.
“It’s user-friendly, and has allowed me to bring our outdated ticket system of events with our nonprofit to the new digital age. Collecting information, easy transactions, and simply easy to use.” – Dimitri K.
“It’s very straightforward and user-friendly. Everything is as it seems, no coding, Googling how to set up, all quick and easy.” – Verified User
Some reviews speak about how affordable Give Lively is, noting that it’s a great option for smaller nonprofits with limited fundraising budgets.
As a nonprofit with a growing donor base, we greatly appreciate the pricing model.” – Bethany S.
Users appreciate that Give Lively offers more than just donation forms. Its peer-to-peer functionality, event ticketing, and text-to-give fundraising are widely used.
Give Lively has so many useful tools, including text-to-donate, peer-to-peer fundraising, and event ticketing.” – Anonymous User
“I love the live ticker you can use at events—it encourages giving and is really fun to watch in real time. I also like the peer fundraising feature, which lets others rally their own networks to donate. Give Lively makes giving easy, especially with the text-to-donate option.” – Michelle P.
While Give Lively is free to use, it requests optional tips from donors that go straight to the platform.
Some users feel the default tip amount is too steep for donors, and note that some donors raised concerns about tipping the platform directly. This can negatively affect your nonprofit’s impact and erode donor trust and confidence over time.
Nonprofits also cannot disable optional tipping on their fundraising campaign pages.
We have also HATED the new ‘tipping’ feature and wish that would go away.” – Jessie P.
“Right now, I feel the default tip amount is set too high, which can be concerning when donors are making large gifts.” – Bethany S.
“Some donors have complained about the add-on fees to support Give Lively directly…” – Michael C.
User reviews express that the platform offers limited customization of forms and pages.
One area that could be improved is having more advanced customization options for campaign pages, donor forms, and branded event pages … nonprofits need more flexibility to match their website branding, program-specific messaging, and donor engagement strategies.” – FWHFC F.
“I would love to be able to customize my landing pages more.” – Bethany S.
“I wish I was able to make more customizations. For example, changing the layout, or colors of items. Just more flexibility to make the page nicer.” – Verified User
If your organization requires more advanced customization, you may want to consider alternatives to Give Lively.
Some users note that donor management would be easier with a built-in CRM.
Our main complaint is that there is no CRM function to allow us to manage donors from the platform.” – Jessie P.
Give Lively has a 3.6 out of 5 “Value for Money” rating on Capterra, based on 8 reviews.
Powered by philanthropic founders and donor tips, it’s free to use by nonprofits, with no tiered subscription model. However, Give Lively relies on a donor tipping model – dubbed “Pay Free Forward” – to help fund its platform.
Tips are non-tax-deductible. Donors must toggle the switch to cover transaction fees and/or add a tip, as shown below.
Several Give Lively reviews express concern over the platform’s tipping model, noting that the fees are steep and confusing for donors.
See what these users had to say:
I … had several donors mention the steep fees associated with the platform, which was frustrating.” – Michelle P.
“It is not very obvious that the tips they ask for go to the platform and not our organization. Some of our donors believed the tip was part of the fees they were covering for us.” – Verified User
Optional tips can cause tipping fatigue and result in pushback from your donors. This may tarnish the supporter relationships you’ve worked so hard to build over time.
This platform’s features are rated 3.5 out of 5 stars on Capterra, based on 11 Give Lively reviews from nonprofit organizations.
Here are some of the most notable features:
If your nonprofit requires more advanced functionality, such as donation kiosk software for cashless in-person fundraising, you may find the Give Lively platform limited.
On Capterra, Give Lively’s customer support is rated 3.9 out of 5, based on 8 reviews.
Reviews are mixed, but most of them mention the support team having a good response time and an eagerness to help.
Give Lively offers an email help desk, chat support, and a knowledge base that breaks down answers to common questions.
Growing nonprofits often switch to Donorbox when they need global scalability, more customization, and deeper CRM insights.
Here’s why 100,000+ organizations worldwide choose to fundraise with Donorbox:
And more. Explore all the features here, and read case studies of organizations that have found success with Donorbox here.
Donorbox offers three pricing plans designed to grow with your fundraising needs.
The Standard plan is free and comes with a 2.95% platform fee for most features. For a reduced platform fee of 1.75% for most features, plus additional benefits like advanced form customization and tracking and analytics, upgrade to Donorbox Pro for just $150 a month.
Nearly 70% of Pro organizations raise an average of 9x more within six months of signing up.
If it’s a fee-free option you’re after, Donorbox allows you to give donors the option to cover processing fees, so more of their donation goes directly to your mission. Donors just need to tick the optional checkbox when donating to add platform and processing fees to their total.
And with Donorbox Premium, you’ll enjoy reduced platform fees of 1.6-2%, plus access to your own fundraising coach, 24/7 priority support, and more.
See what one Premium user had to say:
We have Donorbox Premium, so we’re assigned an account manager who knows all the context about our organization, and they know if an event is coming up. Whenever I need support, it’s really easy to get hold of them.” – Kristina Peralta, Director of Development, The Creekside School
See how The Creekside School streamlined donor outreach and reduced their spend on multiple platforms with Donorbox:
Interested in giving Donorbox a try? Sign up to start fundraising in just 15 minutes.
For more comparison articles and fundraising ideas, visit the Nonprofit Blog. Subscribe to the monthly newsletter for a curated selection of expert resources sent straight to your inbox.
Yes, Give Lively is a free fundraising platform specifically for nonprofits that relies on optional donor tips to fund its operations. Nonprofits cannot disable optional tips on fundraising campaign pages.
Based on several nonprofit reviews, the disadvantages of the platform include:
Amy has 7 years of professional writing experience in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Having served as a volunteer with food schemes and children's homes, she harbors a deep passion for purpose-driven organizations with lean teams and understands the unique obstacles they face. She combines this passion with her writing skill to share real-world insights and help nonprofits do more with less.
Join the fundraising movement! Join the fundraising movement!
