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What it really costs an NPO to raise R1

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The cost to raise R1 is what you spend on fundraising divided by what that fundraising brings in. If you spend R15 000 to raise R100 000, it costs you 15c to raise each rand. There is no published South African benchmark for this that I could find, so most people borrow an American yardstick: the BBB Wise Giving Alliance says a charity should spend “no more than 35% of related contributions on fund raising”, or 35c per rand.

Your own figure matters more than any benchmark, though. And for most small NPOs the biggest cost isn’t on the invoice at all. It’s time.

What is the cost to raise R1?

It goes by several names: cost per rand raised, fundraising cost ratio, or its mirror image, fundraising efficiency. The sum is the same:

Cost to raise R1 = total fundraising costs ÷ total funds raised

A lower number means each rand costs less to bring in. It is worth working out for the organisation as a whole and, where you can, for each way you raise money: individual donors, events, corporate funders, trusts. The channels usually tell very different stories.

Is there a South African benchmark?

Not one I could find. The closest local data is Trialogue’s survey of 149 NPOs for its Business in Society Handbook 2024. It doesn’t measure cost per rand, but it shows how South African organisations budget for fundraising:

  • “Less than half of the NPOs (60 organisations, 40%) had a budget for fundraising in 2024.”
  • Of the 50 that gave budget detail, 36% put less than 5% of their budget into fundraising, 20% put in between 6% and 10%, and 30% put in more than 20%.
  • “The median allocation to fundraising was 14% of the organisation’s budget.”
  • Half had “no staff to manage the function”, up from 39% in 2023.

That last point is the one I keep coming back to. If nobody is employed to fundraise, the work is still being done. It’s being done by the director, the treasurer or a volunteer, in time that doesn’t show up as a fundraising cost anywhere.

What do international benchmarks say?

These figures are American, so treat them as reference points, not targets.

  • An upper limit. The BBB Wise Giving Alliance’s standards ask charities to “spend no more than 35% of related contributions on fund raising” and to “spend at least 65% of its total expenses on program”.
  • Digital advertising. M+R Benchmarks 2026 found that in 2025 US nonprofits were “reinvesting $0.10 in digital ads for every dollar of online revenue”.
  • Email. “For every 1,000 fundraising messages sent, nonprofits raised $54.” The response rate to fundraising email was 0.05%.
  • Websites. “Nonprofits received donations from 1.6% of all website visitors, generating $1.33 per visitor.” On mobile, small nonprofits’ donation pages converted at “just 4%”.

The email and website figures are a useful reminder of how much effort sits behind each gift. Most people who hear your ask won’t give that day, and that’s normal.

What goes into the cost of fundraising?

Most organisations count the obvious costs and miss the rest. A fuller list looks like this.

Staff and volunteer time

Writing appeals and proposals, meeting funders, running events, thanking donors. Count the hours of everyone involved, including the director’s evenings, and put a fair hourly value on them. Time given free still has a cost: it’s time not spent on the programme.

Payment and platform fees

Card and online payment fees come off every gift. PayFast’s published standard fee for credit and cheque cards is 3.2% plus R2.00 per transaction, excluding VAT. On a R200 gift that is R8.40, about 4.2%. On a R50 gift it is R3.60, about 7.2%, because the fixed R2.00 weighs more on small gifts. PayFast also offers registered NPOs a Cause account “with reduced fees”, so check the rate on your own agreement. Add your bank’s charges on deposits and any software you pay for.

Marketing

Printing, design, advertising, event venues and catering, photography, website costs. Include what you spend promoting a campaign, not only the campaign itself.

Administration

This is the hidden one. Capturing each donation, matching EFTs to donors, issuing 18A certificates, sending thank-yous, updating donor details, and reporting back to funders. Wits researcher Wayne van Zijl reported in 2026 that “One NPO spends two weeks each month just reporting to donors”. Not every organisation carries that load, but reporting and admin time belong in the sum.

Accounting and audit

Part of your accountant’s work, and of an audit or independent review, exists because you raise money: reconciling donations, checking 18A certificates, preparing the IT3(d) submission. A fair share of those fees is a fundraising cost.

How do you work out your own cost to raise R1?

  1. Pick a period. Your last financial year is best, because the numbers are already closed.
  2. List what you raised, by source. Individual donations, events, corporate funding, trusts, and so on.
  3. List the costs for each source. Direct spending first, then fees, then a fair share of shared costs like software and accounting.
  4. Add time. Estimate the hours each person spent on each source and multiply by a fair hourly rate. An honest estimate is better than leaving it out.
  5. Divide. Costs for each source divided by what that source raised. Then do the same for the whole organisation.
  6. Repeat next year. The trend tells you more than a single number.

Here’s a made-up example, just to show the arithmetic. A small organisation raises R400 000 from individual donors in a year. Its costs are:

  • staff time on appeals and events: 200 hours at R150 an hour, R30 000;
  • admin time on capturing, receipts, reconciliation and thank-yous: 100 hours at R150, R15 000;
  • printing, design and an event: R12 000;
  • card and bank fees: R9 000;
  • a share of accounting fees: R4 000.

That’s R70 000 to raise R400 000, or 17.5c per rand. Notice that time, R45 000 of it, is the biggest line. Most organisations wouldn’t have counted it at all.

Is a low cost to raise R1 always good?

Not always, and this is where I’d be gentle with any board looking at the number.

Finding new donors costs more than keeping the ones you have, because most first gifts aren’t repeated. In M+R’s 2026 study, only 24% of first-time online donors in 2024 gave again in 2025. So a year spent building a donor base can look expensive, and pay off over the years that follow. A monthly donor recruited this year may give for years for very little further cost. We look at that in why monthly giving makes an NPO more sustainable.

A very low ratio can also mean an organisation isn’t investing enough in its future income, or isn’t counting its time. The goal isn’t the smallest number. It’s knowing your number, and making sure each rand of cost is doing honest work. Our post on restricted and unrestricted funds covers why admin costs need funding too.

How do systems cut the cost of raising funds?

Once you count time, the place to save becomes clear. It’s rarely the appeal itself. It’s the repetitive work around each gift. A good system can take on:

  • Fewer manual entries. When donors enter their own details on a form, nobody retypes them from an email or a WhatsApp message.
  • Receipts and thank-yous that follow from the record. Once a gift is recorded, the thank-you and the receipt come from the system, not from someone’s memory.
  • Reminders. Deadlines and follow-ups come to the right person, rather than living in one person’s head.
  • Reconciliation from the bank statement. Importing the statement and matching references is quicker than ticking off deposits line by line.
  • Self-service links. Donors check their own giving; suppliers send their own quotes and invoices. Every “please could you send me…” email avoided is time returned.
  • Reports from the same records. If the donation data is already clean, the treasurer’s month-end and the funder’s report start from it instead of from scratch.

I can’t tell you how many hours this will save your organisation. It depends on how you work today. But every task on that list is one a person currently does by hand in most small NPOs, and every one of them is part of your cost to raise R1.

How Kaycie helps

Kaycie takes the repetitive work around each gift off your team’s desks. The treasurer, the board and your accountant stay accountable; they just stop retyping.

  • Card donations through PayFast, once-off or monthly, recorded as they arrive, with an optional “cover the fee” choice for donors.
  • EFT donations recorded with a reference. You can import your bank statement and Kaycie suggests matches.
  • Numbered 18A certificates, requested online by donors and emailed as PDFs, and an IT3(d) export for your accountant.
  • A donor portal, a supplier portal and public quote link, and contact changes that people make themselves, logged old to new.
  • Reminders and your own deadlines, and Transactions exports ready for your accountant.

Kaycie isn’t a marketing tool, and it doesn’t send marketing email. It is priced as a flat monthly subscription. You can compare the packages on our pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate the cost to raise R1?

Divide your total fundraising costs by the total funds raised in the same period. If you spent R20 000 and raised R100 000, it cost 20c to raise each rand. Include staff and volunteer time at a fair hourly value, not only cash spending.

What is a good fundraising cost ratio?

There is no South African benchmark that we could find. The American BBB Wise Giving Alliance standard is no more than 35% of related contributions spent on fundraising, which is 35c per rand. Your own trend over several years is more useful than any single benchmark.

How much do South African NPOs spend on fundraising?

In Trialogue’s 2024 survey of 149 NPOs, only 40% had a fundraising budget. Among those that gave detail, the median allocation to fundraising was 14% of the organisation’s budget, and half of all the NPOs surveyed had no staff to manage fundraising.

Should we include volunteer time in fundraising costs?

For your own planning, yes. Volunteer and staff hours are often the largest cost of fundraising in a small organisation. Counting them at a fair hourly value shows where time goes and where a system might help.

What does PayFast charge on card donations?

PayFast’s published standard fee for credit and cheque cards is 3.2% plus R2.00 per transaction, excluding VAT. It offers registered NPOs a Cause account with reduced fees, so check the rate on your own agreement.

Does Kaycie replace our treasurer or accountant?

No. Kaycie records donations, certificates and payments, and produces the exports your treasurer and accountant work from. The people accountable for the money stay accountable; Kaycie takes the repetitive capture and matching off their desks.

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