Local ‘Deal of the Day’ Sites and Their Fees: a Sampling

Cauzoom (Boston)

No fee to participate, and groups do not need to be registered as charities with the Internal Revenue Service. Projects need to reach their fundraising goal within a set time limit (usually between three and four weeks) or they get nothing.

Community Change (Madison, Wis.)

No fee to participate. Subscribers purchase Community Change gift cards, which can be used as cash at participating local merchants, and receive significant discounts on goods and services. Twenty percent of the cost of each gift card goes either to the daily featured charity or to any other participating charity of the subscriber’s choice.

DealGooder (multiple West Coast cities)

No fee to participate. Charities are featured for one week and receive 50 percent of all sales on the daily deals during that week.

GiveCorps (Baltimore)

Charges a 3-percent fee to cover processing fees for donations made via credit card, plus a 7-percent administrative fee from donations. Participating groups must be registered as a charity with the IRS.

Goodtwo (in 14 cities nationwide)

No fee to participate. Charities create their own pitches and design their own pages within the Goodtwo platform, then choose from deals to offer from participating merchants. Half of profits from each sale are donated to the charity.

Recoup (Washington)

No fee to participate, but charities are required to hand over their mailing lists to Recoup, which will promote their project—and sign up their members for Recoup membership. Groups must be registered with the IRS as a charity to participate.

Sharing Spree (Nashville and Portland, Ore)

No fee to participate. Ten to 20 percent of each purchase is donated to participating charities, selected by the buyer from a roster.