For a school, the stronger platform is SuccessFund: money paid to the organization for any goal, district approvals and oversight, Venmo at checkout, and campaigns, stores, tickets, and registrations in one place. DonorsChoose is a trusted, well-run nonprofit for an individual public-school teacher getting classroom materials funded and shipped, and for that job it's a strong tool. The school never receives cash on DonorsChoose, and only eligible teachers can use it.
DonorsChoose and SuccessFund solve different problems. DonorsChoose turns donations into classroom materials for an individual eligible teacher, buys the goods, and ships them. SuccessFund puts cash in the organization's account to spend on any goal, with district oversight. So this isn't a fee-for-fee fight. The right choice depends on whether you need supplies for one classroom or money your school controls.
DonorsChoose is a well-run nonprofit that lets public-school teachers post a request for classroom materials, books, art supplies, a class set of headphones, and have donors fund it. When a project is fully funded, DonorsChoose buys the items, ships them to the school, and handles the student thank-you letters. It has earned a 4-star Charity Navigator rating and real donor trust, it brings established corporate and foundation matching, and for an individual teacher who needs supplies, it is a strong, trusted tool. Those are genuine advantages a school platform does not replicate.
SuccessFund is free for schools and districts, and the money goes to the organization. It was built to serve the whole school, not just one classroom: the school office approves and sees every fundraiser, organizers launch school-run fundraising of any kind in an afternoon, trips, gear, events, projects, plus stores, tickets, auctions, sponsorships, concessions, and registrations, and parents pay in seconds with Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, or a card. When a question comes up, help is within reach and answers come quickly. The tradeoff is real. SuccessFund does not source, buy, or ship classroom materials for you, and it does not run a national matching marketplace. It gives you cash and control instead of done-for-you purchasing.
DonorsChoose is free for teachers to sign up and post a project. A few costs get added to each project so it counts as fully funded: the vendor's shipping charges, sales tax in some states, a third-party payment processing fee of 1.5% of the project cost, and a flat $30 fulfillment fee that covers ordering the materials and processing the thank-you letters. Donors are also shown an optional suggested donation to DonorsChoose (the nonprofit encourages 15%) that helps fund more classroom projects. That donation is optional, disclosed, and goes to the nonprofit, so it is not skimmed from the teacher. It works much like the optional fee SuccessFund uses, so it is not a mark against DonorsChoose. All figures per DonorsChoose's help center.
SuccessFund is free to set up, with a per-transaction fee of 5% plus a fixed fee (30 cents to $1.00 online), processing included, and the campaign chooses who covers it.
These produce different outcomes, so compare by what you receive, not a single percentage.
DonorsChoose, a $500 project example. Donors fund the materials plus a 1.5% processing fee (about $7.50), a flat $30 fulfillment fee, and vendor shipping and sales tax where it applies. The flat $30 weighs more heavily on a small project than a large one. The teacher receives the materials; the school receives no cash.
SuccessFund, cash to the organization, $10,000 example, $50 to $100 donations. If the campaign absorbs the fee, about $9,300 to $9,400 reaches the organization. If donors cover it (historically more than 90% do when it's optional), the organization has typically kept about 99%, roughly $9,900. This is a historical pattern, not a guarantee, and results vary by donation size and donor behavior.
On DonorsChoose, your school never receives the money. Donations become materials that DonorsChoose purchases and ships to the classroom. That is the point of the model, and it is great when a teacher needs supplies. But it means you can't use it to fund a trip, cover an event, bank the proceeds, or run anything where the organization needs the cash. Eligibility is limited too: DonorsChoose is for individual US public and public-charter school teachers who work with students at least 75% of the time. A booster club, a PTA, an athletics department, or a district can't run its own fundraising through it.
SuccessFund publicly documents how the school stays in control: who approves a fundraiser, where each dollar is assigned, and how every transaction is reported and paid out weekly to the organization's verified account. DonorsChoose is built around funding and shipping classroom materials to an individual teacher, and the pages reviewed for this comparison did not describe those school accounting workflows, because that is not what the model is for.
SuccessFund supports Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and cards, and credits every dollar to a participant on a live leaderboard with per-student goals. On DonorsChoose, donors give by card and standard donor methods, and Venmo was not listed in the sources reviewed. DonorsChoose's real donor-side strength is elsewhere: established corporate and foundation match funding, which can multiply a classroom donation.
DonorsChoose funds approved classroom materials from listed vendors. SuccessFund runs any goal a school sets, plus stores, tickets, auctions, sponsorships, concessions, and registrations, in one platform with one report.
For a school, the recommendation is SuccessFund. It backs the whole school, not one classroom: cash pays to the organization's verified account, any fundraising goal from trips to gear to events, stores, tickets, auctions, and registrations in one place, Venmo and wallets at checkout, and per-student crediting. And when something needs sorting out, help is easy to get and the answer comes fast. The concession goes to DonorsChoose's own segment: it is a nonprofit built for individual teacher projects, with a trusted charity brand, corporate and foundation matching, and done-for-you purchasing and shipping, and for a single classroom's supplies it is a strong choice. For everything a school raises, collects, sells, or tracks, this is what SuccessFund was built for.
No. Donations fund materials that DonorsChoose buys and ships to the teacher's classroom, so the school doesn't receive cash. If you need funds paid to the organization, that's a different model, and it's how SuccessFund works.
It's free for teachers to post a project. Each project adds vendor shipping, sales tax in some states, a 1.5% payment processing fee, and a flat $30 fulfillment fee, per DonorsChoose's help center. Donors may also add an optional suggested donation to DonorsChoose that funds more projects.
Not for their own fundraising. DonorsChoose is for individual US public and public-charter school teachers who work directly with students at least 75% of the time. School-wide, team, and district fundraising is what SuccessFund is built for.
They aren't directly comparable. DonorsChoose converts donations into classroom materials for an eligible teacher (adding a 1.5% processing fee, a flat $30 fulfillment fee, shipping, and sales tax), and the school receives no cash. SuccessFund charges 5% plus a fixed fee and pays cash to the organization. Compare by what you need, supplies for one classroom or money your school controls, not by a single percentage.
Venmo was not listed among DonorsChoose's donor payment methods in the sources reviewed, so we have marked it as not publicly documented in reviewed official sources. SuccessFund supports Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and cards.
Free to set up, no subscriptions. The per-transaction fee is 5% plus 30 cents to $1.00 online, donors can cover it (more than 90% do when optional), and cash or check logged in SuccessFund is free. SuccessFund never asks donors for tips.
For a school or district, pick SuccessFund: money the organization controls for any goal, district approvals and audit trails, Venmo at checkout, and per-student tracking. DonorsChoose fits one job well, an individual eligible teacher getting classroom supplies funded and shipped through its charity ecosystem.
DonorsChoose funds and ships classroom materials to an individual eligible teacher; the school never receives cash. SuccessFund pays cash to the organization for any goal, with Venmo, district oversight, and formats beyond a donation drive.
Free to set up, no subscriptions, and donors cover the small transaction fee more than 90% of the time. Built for schools from the approval chain down.
See SuccessFund for your fundraiserCompetitor claims on this page come from DonorsChoose's own published pages, checked on the date shown.
Last verified July 7, 2026. Owner: Julia (Web and SEO). Reviewer: Mark, on approval. Review schedule: quarterly (major competitor). Spot something out of date? Email support@successfund.com and we'll re-verify it.
