Blackbaud Merchant Services vs Blackbaud Giving Fund: Fees, Features, and Which to Choose

If you use Blackbaud products, you've probably been asked to choose between Blackbaud Merchant Services and Blackbaud Giving Fund for processing donations. The difference isn't obvious — both handle money coming into your organization — but the fee structures, donor experience, and settlement timelines are meaningfully different. This guide breaks down what each product does, what it costs, and when neither is the right answer.

Pricing and feature information as of February 2026. Check vendor websites for current details.

What Is Blackbaud Merchant Services?

Blackbaud Merchant Services (BBMS) is Blackbaud's proprietary payment processing gateway. It handles credit card, debit card, and ACH transactions for nonprofits using Blackbaud software like Raiser's Edge NXT, Luminate Online, or Blackbaud Online Express.

Think of it as Blackbaud's version of Stripe or PayPal — a payment processor that sits between your donors' bank accounts and yours.

How BBMS Works

1. A donor makes a gift through your Blackbaud-powered donation form
2. BBMS processes the credit card or ACH transaction
3. Blackbaud deducts a processing fee
4. The remaining funds are deposited into your bank account (typically within 2-3 business days)

The transaction is recorded directly in your Blackbaud CRM. If you also use Financial Edge NXT for accounting, you'll still need to reconcile between the two systems — BBMS deposits show up as lump sums in your bank, not as individual donor transactions in your general ledger.

BBMS Fee Structure

Blackbaud does not publish BBMS rates publicly. Based on nonprofit reports, typical fees include:

Fee Type	Typical Range
Credit card processing	2.2% - 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
ACH / eCheck	0.75% - 1.5% + $0.30 per transaction
Monthly minimum	$25 - $50/month (waived if processing volume is sufficient)
PCI compliance fee	$0 - $100/year
Chargeback fee	$15 - $25 per incident
Setup fee	Varies (often bundled with Blackbaud product implementation)

Your actual rates depend on your annual processing volume, average transaction size, and contract negotiation. Larger organizations with higher volume generally get better rates.

What Is Blackbaud Giving Fund?

Blackbaud Giving Fund (formerly known as the Blackbaud Giving Fund National Philanthropic Trust) is a donor-advised fund (DAF) operated by Blackbaud. It's a charitable intermediary — not a payment processor.

This is an important distinction. When a donor gives through Blackbaud Giving Fund, they are technically making a tax-deductible donation to the Giving Fund itself. The Giving Fund then "recommends" a grant to your nonprofit.

How Giving Fund Works

1. A donor makes a gift to Blackbaud Giving Fund (the DAF)
2. The donor receives an immediate tax receipt from the Giving Fund
3. The Giving Fund deducts its fees from the donation
4. The Giving Fund disburses the remaining amount to your organization as a grant
5. You receive the funds — typically on a less predictable timeline than direct processing

Your organization does not receive the full donation amount. The Giving Fund takes a cut before the money reaches you.

Giving Fund Fee Structure

Fee Type	Typical Range
Fund fee (deducted from donation)	1% - 3.5% of the gift
Credit card processing (charged to donor)	2.2% - 2.9%
Minimum disbursement	Varies
Settlement timeline	15 - 45 days (longer than direct processing)

The critical difference: with Giving Fund, the donor may see a lower fee on their end, but your organization receives less than the full gift amount because the fund fee is deducted before disbursement. This cost is less visible to your finance team because the money arrives already reduced.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Factor	Blackbaud Merchant Services	Blackbaud Giving Fund
What it is	Payment processor (like Stripe)	Donor-advised fund (charitable intermediary)
Who receives the donation	Your nonprofit directly	The Giving Fund, then grants to you
Tax receipt issued by	Your nonprofit	Blackbaud Giving Fund
Processing fees	2.2-2.9% + $0.30/transaction	2.2-2.9% (donor side) + 1-3.5% fund fee
Fee visibility	Clear — you see the deduction	Partially hidden — arrives pre-deducted
Settlement time	2-3 business days	15-45 days
Donor relationship	Direct — you own it	Indirect — DAF is the intermediary
Recurring giving control	Full control	Limited — donor controls through DAF
Refund capability	Standard refund process	Complex — goes through the DAF
Monthly minimums	$25-50/month possible	None typically
Works with	Raiser's Edge, Luminate, Online Express	Blackbaud ecosystem + external

When to Choose Merchant Services

BBMS makes more sense when:

• You want direct donor relationships. Your organization issues the tax receipt. You own the donor data. You control the recurring giving schedule.
• Cash flow timing matters. 2-3 day settlement is significantly faster than 15-45 days through the Giving Fund.
• You need refund flexibility. Refunding a Giving Fund transaction requires coordination with a third party. BBMS refunds are straightforward.
• Your average gift is small. The per-transaction flat fee ($0.30) is more cost-effective on small gifts than a percentage-based fund fee.

When to Choose Giving Fund

Giving Fund may make sense when:

• Donors want to give through a DAF. Some donors prefer using donor-advised funds for tax planning purposes. If your donors are already using DAFs, accepting Giving Fund grants is standard practice.
• You're running a campaign with a Blackbaud partner. Some Blackbaud-powered giving days and campaigns route through the Giving Fund by default.

The Hidden Cost: Two Blackbaud Products, Neither Includes Accounting

Here's what both options share: neither one connects directly to your fund accounting.

If you use Blackbaud Merchant Services with Raiser's Edge NXT for CRM and Financial Edge NXT for accounting, you're paying for three separate Blackbaud products — and still manually reconciling between them. Deposits land in your bank as lump sums. Someone on your team has to match those deposits to individual donor transactions, then create journal entries in Financial Edge.

If you use Blackbaud Giving Fund, it's even more complex. Disbursements arrive on unpredictable schedules, and the amount doesn't match what the donor gave because fees were deducted. Your bookkeeper has to figure out the original gift amount, the fee, and which fund to record it against.

This reconciliation work adds up. For many small-to-mid-sized nonprofits, the hours spent reconciling between Blackbaud's own products cost more than the processing fees themselves.

For a detailed breakdown of what Blackbaud actually costs across all their products, see our guide to Blackbaud's hidden costs.

A Simpler Alternative: Integrated Payment Processing

Modern nonprofit platforms solve this problem by building payment processing directly into the accounting system. When a donor gives online, the transaction is:

1. Processed through integrated Stripe (2.9% + $0.30 — transparent, published rate)
2. Recorded as a donation in the donor CRM with automatic tax receipt
3. Booked to the correct fund in your general ledger — restricted, unrestricted, or designated
4. Deposited in your bank account within 2 business days

No reconciliation. No lump-sum deposits to untangle. No separate accounting product to purchase.

Alignmint includes integrated Stripe payment processing on all plans. There are no additional platform fees, no monthly minimums, and no hidden fund fees deducted before disbursement. Every dollar your donor gives (minus the standard Stripe processing fee) goes directly to your organization and is automatically recorded in your fund accounting system.

For organizations evaluating their options beyond Blackbaud's ecosystem, see our Blackbaud alternative guide.

The Bottom Line

Blackbaud Merchant Services and Blackbaud Giving Fund serve different purposes. BBMS is a payment processor — it moves money from donor to nonprofit. Giving Fund is a charitable intermediary — it moves money from donor to DAF to nonprofit, taking a cut along the way.

For most small-to-mid-sized nonprofits:

• BBMS is the better choice if you're staying in the Blackbaud ecosystem, because you keep direct donor relationships and faster settlement.
• Giving Fund makes sense primarily when donors specifically want to give through a DAF.
• Neither is necessary if you're open to a platform that includes payment processing, CRM, and accounting in one place — eliminating the reconciliation problem entirely.

The real cost isn't just the processing fee. It's the hours your team spends reconciling between Blackbaud's separate products every month.

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Ready to see what transparent pricing and integrated payment processing look like? Schedule your free setup or explore Alignmint's features.