Everyday Hero is an online, fundraising platform that is available to schools (and other groups) to raise money for a variety of project based events. This is a guide for schools, sporting clubs and NFP community groups in Australia, and outlines how the platform works and the costs involved.
How does Everyday Hero work?
Schools sign up to the platform as members, which enables them to create customised pages for fundraising campaigns, such as a school fun run or read-a-thon. The school is able to brand a landing page for the campaign, as well as individual fundraising pages for each child.
Students can share their unique page with friends and family, who can then donate directly to that child, with all the funds safely collected online and passed onto the school.
Unlike some other crowd-funding platforms in Australia, Everyday Hero requires membership to use it which admittedly adds an extra layer of work. However this adds legitimacy to the campaigns and Everyday Hero doesn’t seem to have suffered from the bad press associated with some other sites which have unwittingly supported scams and fraudulent campaigns.
NOTE: If your school has an ICSEA value under 1000 (Index of Community Socio-Education Advantage) then you are eligible to use the Fundraise Yourself platform, supported by national educational charity Schools Plus. It provides your donors with tax-deductable giving. Learn more here.
What fundraising events are suitable for Everyday Hero?
Any event that requires sponsorship or pledges is suitable for this platform, including fun run, colour run, lap-a-thon, read-a-thon, skip-a-thon, obstacle course, cross-country or swimming lap-a-thons.
The site can also be used for a direct fundraising call – such as ‘please donate to our school, we need to raise $10,000 to put air conditioning in the music room’.
Once the school is a member of Everyday Hero, there is no reason individual students couldn’t use their own page to raise funds in a standalone, individual fundraiser (‘Help Chelsea raise $1,000 to build a new kitchen garden at Mornington Primary’), as all money raised goes directly to the school.
The platform can be used to support established events such as School Fun Run and City to Surf events, but this article specifically looks at DIY school events.
Are there costs involved for schools?
The $600 joining fee for Everyday Hero is waived for schools, sporting clubs and community organisations, so it is free to join and establish a campaign.
There are two other fees you need to be aware of:
Service Fees in Australia are 6.5% (5.5% in New Zealand). This money is retained by Everyday Hero to maintain the platform and ensure security and service. This is 6.5% of all collected donations.
Example: a $100 donation will have a $6.50 fee kept by the platform, and the remaining $93.50 sent to the school.
Note: This does not include GST, which must be paid in addition to the service fee, but generally schools will be able to claim this back through their normal channels.
Credit card processing fees: are charged separately by the banks/organisations who perform the transactions. This fee is typically paid by the donor.
The fees in Australia are – Mastercard and Visa 1% plus 23 cents, Amex 1.8% plus 23 cents and Paypal 1.1% plus 53 cents.
However
Donor Cover is a free option available which reduces these fees for schools and community groups, by asking donors if they want to cover the total transaction fees.
This means that a donor making a $20 donation, would agree to pay the credit card processing fees and the service fee, making their total donation approximately $20 + $1.30 (service fee) + $0.43 (credit card fee) = $21.73.
The school then receives the full $20 donation.
Everyday Hero reports that approximately 78% of donors choose to cover the total transaction fees when offered Donor Cover.
What is included in the standard Everyday Hero membership?
- Convenience of students not having to handle cash/money
- No limit to the number of individual student pages
- Students can personalise their own page with their own picture and information/story
- Standard, non-customisable template for school landing page (you can upload the school/club logo)
- No limit to the amount of money collected, and if you do not meet your target, you still keep all the money
- Automatically deposits money into approved school bank account every fortnight
- Receipts automatically issued to donors
- Pages can be designated for a single, short-term campaign, or kept open indefinitely
- Access to a password-protected management account that shows all the donations received (including names and addresses where provided), fees deducted and transfers made.
What is required to join Everyday Hero
The online sign-up form is available here and requires basic information such as address and type of organisation (Private Schools with no religious affiliation may be required to upload an ‘Authority to Fundraise’ document). You are required to enter the details of two ‘Responsible Persons’ such as the Principal or President – who are legally responsible for the school/group as well as a primary contact person (ie P&C President or Treasurer).
Be prepared to upload a PDF or jpeg image of their ID (such as drivers licence) so that their identity can be confirmed, as well as an official document that verifies the position of those responsible persons in writing, such as an Annual Report or AGM minutes.
You will need to enter your organisation’s ABN and if you have DGR status (Deductable Gift Recipient status). If you do not have DGR status (and most P&Cs do not, but a School Building Fund does) Everyday Hero cannot issue tax receipts for donors.
You will be asked for basic contact information for the school, as well as up to 50 words describing the organisation. Be prepared to provide bank details as well as uploading some proof of that account in the form of a bank statement.
Visit the Everyday Hero website here.
Related Article: Fundraise Yourself: Fundraising platform for disadvantaged schools
How do Everyday Hero and GoFundMe differ?
See my article on GoFundMe here.
Best suited for:
GoFundMe – Individuals/Personal campaigns
Everyday Hero – Schools, sporting clubs and community groups with multiple members each raising funds for same cause
Fees and charges:
GoFundMe – free to join, 0% platform fees, credit card processing fees 2.2% plus 30c (paid by donor)
Donors are asked to support the running costs of the platform with optional ‘tip jar’. Suggested amount is 15% of donation but this can be altered to any amount included 0%.
Everyday Hero – free to join (for schools/clubs), 6.5% service fee + GST, credit card processing fees 1% plus 23c (paid by donor).
Can elect to have Donor Cover, and ask donors to cover the cost of the service fee and the credit card processing fee (ie 7.5% plus 23c) leaving full donation for school/group.