Fundly vs Sowfund: What Christian Fundraisers Should Know

If you're searching "Fundly vs Sowfund," there's something you need to know before you get very far into that comparison: Fundly doesn't exist anymore.

That's not a knock on the platform. For over a decade, Fundly was a legitimate name in online crowdfunding, used by nonprofits, schools, churches, and individual fundraisers alike. But if you're a missionary trying to decide where to raise support in 2026, the real question isn't "Fundly or Sowfund." It's "what replaced Fundly, and does it work for missionary support-raising the way Sowfund does?" This post walks through both.

What Happened to Fundly?

Fundly was founded in 2009 by Erik Nilsson and James Nicol and grew into one of the more recognizable peer-to-peer crowdfunding sites, processing over $350 million in donations over its lifetime for causes ranging from charities and schools to churches and political campaigns. NonProfitEasy, a nonprofit data-management company, acquired Fundly in 2015.

That's changed. According to Fundly's own transition notice, new fundraising campaigns could no longer be created on Fundly as of July 1, 2025, existing campaigns stopped accepting donations on December 1, 2025, and all Fundly campaigns closed for good on December 10, 2025. Fundly's own site now redirects visitors to sign up for its replacement instead.

Fundly's parent company folded its functionality into a new platform called SignUpGenius Donations, built on the existing SignUpGenius suite of event and volunteer tools. If you were planning to use Fundly, or you're a former Fundly user looking for what's next, SignUpGenius Donations is the direct successor, so that's the fairest comparison to make against Sowfund today.

Fundly's Replacement vs. Sowfund

SignUpGenius Donations is a general-purpose fundraising tool. It's open to individuals, schools, sports teams, memorials, disaster relief, and nonprofits alike, with no application or vetting process required to start a campaign. That flexibility is genuinely useful for a one-time campaign, like a mission trip fundraiser, a school drive, or a benefit for a family in need.

Sowfund is built for something narrower and more specific: ongoing Christian missionary support-raising, with donations that are tax-deductible because they're given through Sowfund's registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. The two platforms aren't really solving the same problem, so a fair comparison has to start with what each one is actually for.

Fees at a Glance

(Fees verified as of July 2026.)

SignUpGenius Donations charges no platform fee and instead asks donors for an optional tip to support the service, the same "pay what you want" model used by several crowdfunding sites. Sowfund charges a flat 5% service fee, offset by a lower card-processing rate, and about 85% of Sowfund donors choose to cover the fees themselves at checkout, so the missionary receives the full donation amount.

Mailed checks are another point of difference. Sowfund accepts physical checks as a donation method and processes them for a flat $3 fee. SignUpGenius Donations doesn't have that same built-in check-processing flow; if a donor mails a check, the organizer has to manually log that gift in the platform themselves to keep their records accurate.

Neither fee structure is objectively "cheaper" in every scenario, it depends on donor behavior and campaign type. The bigger difference for missionaries is what each platform is built to do over time, not just what it costs per transaction.

The Tax-Deductibility Question

This is the detail that matters most for anyone raising long-term ministry support. Whether a donation is tax-deductible depends on who legally receives it, not which website processed it. A donation is only tax-deductible if it goes to a qualified 501(c)(3) organization; personal campaigns, for medical bills, a family need, or an individual's project, generally are not, regardless of platform.

SignUpGenius Donations supports both individual and verified-nonprofit campaigns. A verified 501(c)(3) organization running a campaign there can offer donors a tax deduction and an automated receipt; an individual missionary without their own registered nonprofit cannot. In other words, the deduction is available only if the missionary, or their sending organization, already holds separate 501(c)(3) status and sets that up correctly on the platform.

On Sowfund, every donation is automatically tax-deductible because it's given through Sowfund's own 501(c)(3), not the missionary's. The donor gets an automatic receipt by email immediately after giving and an annual giving statement at year-end, with no extra setup required on the missionary's end. That also extends to missionaries serving outside the US. Because Sowfund itself is the US-registered charity, a missionary based abroad can still offer US-based donors a valid deduction, something a platform without its own umbrella nonprofit generally can't provide.

This is really the fork in the road. If you already run your own 501(c)(3) or raise support entirely through an established sending agency's nonprofit status, tax-deductibility is likely already handled for you, and the platform question becomes mostly about tools and fees. If you don't have your own nonprofit, or you have a small one and would rather spend your time on the mission field than on annual filings, board minutes, and compliance paperwork, Sowfund's built-in 501(c)(3) status removes that burden entirely.

What Ongoing Missionary Support-Raising Actually Needs

General crowdfunding tools, Fundly included when it was active, were built around the idea of a campaign: a page, a goal, an end date. That model works well for a one-time need. It maps less naturally onto how missionaries actually raise support, not a single campaign, but an ongoing relationship with a donor base that continues for years.

A few things that matter for that kind of support-raising:

A permanent home, not just a campaign page. Every approved Sowfund missionary gets a public profile with their own short link (sow.fund/yourname) that exists independent of any single fundraiser and stays live as long as their account does, a place donors can find again next year to increase their gift.

Recurring giving without added donor friction. Monthly donors are the backbone of sustainable missionary support. Sowfund's donation flow supports one-time and recurring gifts side by side, with no added surcharge for choosing monthly giving.

Fundraisers and ongoing support together. Sowfund missionaries can run a specific-project fundraiser alongside their standing profile at the same time, with each linking back to the other. This is useful for a mission trip or project on top of regular support, without juggling two separate tools.

A wallet built for regular use, not a single payout. Sowfund's wallet tracks every donation with fee breakdowns and donor notes, and lets missionaries withdraw whenever needed. It's designed for money moving in and out regularly, not a single lump-sum payout at the end of a campaign.

QR codes for in-person giving. Every Sowfund profile and fundraiser includes a built-in QR code, useful for sharing support links from the front of a church rather than reading out a long web address.

Year-end tax statements, generated automatically. Every January, Sowfund sends donors an annual giving summary for the previous giving year, so missionaries aren't compiling records or fielding emails asking for receipts.

The Approval Process

Sowfund reviews every missionary application before granting access, typically responding within 72 hours, and also requires identity verification through its payment partner, Stripe, before a missionary can receive funds. SignUpGenius Donations, by contrast, lets anyone start a personal campaign without a vetting step, and reserves its nonprofit-specific features, verification badge and automated deductible receipts, for organizations that separately prove their 501(c)(3) status.

That extra step on Sowfund's side is friction, but it's friction with a purpose. Donors giving month after month to a missionary they've never met in person benefit from knowing the person on the other end has actually been reviewed, a meaningful signal for long-term support-raising in a way it isn't for a single, urgent campaign.

So Which One Fits Your Situation?

If you already have your own registered nonprofit, or your sending agency handles tax-deductible giving on your behalf, SignUpGenius Donations is a genuinely solid option for a specific project or one-time need. It's quick to set up, flexible for all kinds of causes, and costs nothing to start.

If you're a missionary raising ongoing support and you don't have your own 501(c)(3), or you do, but you'd rather spend your time on the field than on the paperwork that comes with running one, Sowfund was built specifically for that gap. It gives your donors an automatic tax deduction, gives you a permanent home for support-raising instead of a campaign that ends, and hands off the nonprofit administration so you can focus on the mission itself.

Fundly served that first kind of need well for a long time, and its replacement carries that same strength forward for one-time and project-based fundraising. For the specific job of raising long-term, tax-deductible missionary support, Sowfund is the platform built around that exact audience, giving missionaries without their own nonprofit a purpose-built home to raise support for years to come.