This is potentially harming the nonprofits that work with Blackbaud, causing them to lose donors and have their reputation questioned. It appears you have had many votes and comments in favor of this change/correction - I am a bit shocked that you haven't done anything to remedy the situation in over two years!!

This is not ethical, it is a way to blindside those who do not notice this feature. Should be removed asap, before customers are lost.

We are getting complaints from donors, this is a sneaky bad option.

This is such a scam this feature is should not be auto checked.

I agree with this, especially since we have complete cover. I have also noticed that the fee is 9% when the highest fee listed is 3.5% plus 30 cents per transaction. I have had several donors complain about this. Very unethical and tricky! And even though we have complete cover if I mark my organization pays to have the box removed from the forms, then my organization is responsible for the fee.

We just turned this feature off on our first ever Blackbaud online form because it's opt-out.
You can build an AI in the KnowledgeBase that blurts out half-correct answers (or correct answers for the wrong context), but you can't fix this?

Yes! We would appreciate this too as we heard from an end-of-year donor disappointed with the additional fee. She believes it was deceptive and I can't disagree. Especially as more people are donating on their phones, etc. It is difficult to read this as people are used to simply clicking through. We are engendering bad feelings and losing trust with our donors!

Strongly agree. this is unethical.

We also need this for eTapestry. Allowing donors to opt in vs requiring them to opt out) makes for a better relationship with our donors.

We are getting pushback from donors about the box being checked for them. Some don't even understand that they can un-check it and it scares them away, so we lose that donation. I would prefer that the box not be there, but if it is going to be there, it should not default as checked.

We are in the age where things should be "opt-in" and not "opt-out". Blackbaud really missed the mark with this one. This would be an amazing function for our organization if it wasn't defaulted to a checked box. We were so excited to use this, but the way that is, we cannot use it. Not only does it come off as deceptive but a donor would feel better being able to check the box and feel like they were choosing to give more rather than it being decided for them. This should be an easy option for Blackbaud to add and I am not sure why it hasn't been added already.

We have been getting pushback from our CFO and our finance committee about giving donors the option to cover the credit card processing fees. We know that we can offer this on each giving form, but we are hesitant because it is an opt out, rather than an opt in (the box to cover fees is automatically checked when a donor goes to make the gift). Please work on this to make it an opt in function!

Has anyone found any solution to this?

Strongly agree. The "Submit Payment" screen design makes it difficult for people to spot the opt-out box. We've had to make several refunds because donors didn't see the box to UNCHECK it. It erodes trust in our organization.

Having the default to pay fees feels very tricky, particluarly when this is a new process for our donors and the less tech savvy and visually impaired donors will be the ones who are seemingly duped into paying extra. Not only is the default checkbox already selected it is the smallest thing on the payment page. Please update this option immediately.

Opt-Out are big NO in this age of GDPR and Junk Fees Prevention Act. RENXT and BlackBaud need to get ahead of the regulations. Lead by example, don't wait to be forced by law to do the right thing

Agree, opt-in is the way to go, not prechecked for all the reasons noted. Don't upset unwary donors for the de minimus donor cover, let the donor decide to cover, not have default checked for which they have to opt out

Agreed. I was quite surprised that it was set up this way. We will lose donors who are not paying attention and let their gift go through without unchecking the box and then be upset for all the same reasons others have commented on. This needs changed regardless of how many votes it gets. It is an ethical issue and puts the charity at risk.