Common Questions

When you support a member through Life Hope, three things happen with your payment:

• Life Hope's 3% service fee. See Q2 for what that covers.
• Card processing fee. Your card processor charges its standard fee per transaction (industry-standard around 2.9% plus $0.30). This goes to the payment network, not to Life Hope. If you toggled “Add the card processing fees” at checkout, this was added on top of your charge. If you didn't, it comes out of the gift before payout.
• The rest goes to the member you are supporting.

Life Hope charges a flat 3% service fee on each gift to operate the platform — hosting, payment infrastructure, member support, and building new features. That's the only fee Life Hope charges.

The 3% is a fee for service, not a charitable contribution. Life Hope is a for-profit company structured as a Private Membership Organization.

Your receipt itemizes the fees that came out of the transaction. You'll see two lines:

• Life Hope service fee (3%) — what we collect to operate the platform (see Q2)
• Card processing fee — what the payment network charges

Whether those fees were added to your charge or deducted from the gift depends on the toggle you chose at checkout:

“Both fees are included in the total you were charged.” You toggled “Add the card processing fees” ON. You covered the fees on top, so the full gift amount travels to the member.

“Both fees were deducted from the gift before payout.” You left that toggle OFF. The fees come out of the gift before it reaches the person.

Either way, both fees apply.

That's your choice — both options work, and Life Hope's 3% service fee (see Q2) applies either way.

What the toggle controls is who pays the fees. With it on, you pay the gift amount plus the 3% Life Hope service fee and the card processing fee (industry-standard 2.9% + $0.30 that goes to the payment network, not to Life Hope). With it off, you pay only the gift amount, and all of those fees come out of the gift before it reaches the member.

Most donors leave it on for a simple reason: intent matching. If you want the member to receive the full amount you chose, leave it on. If you turn it off, the fees come out first and the member receives less than the number you entered.

It doesn't change payout timing. The toggle only affects whether the gift the donor sent matches the gift the member sees.

No.

Life Hope is a for-profit platform, not a charity. When you support a member through Life Hope, you are making a personal gift to an individual. Personal gifts between individuals aren't charitable contributions under US tax law, regardless of why you're sending one.

Life Hope itself is a for-profit company, not a 501(c)(3). We don't issue tax-deductible receipts because the structure of the transaction doesn't qualify for one.

If tax deductibility is important to you, give through a registered 501(c)(3) charity instead.

Life Hope LLC — a Utah-based Private Membership Organization.

All transactions are handled by Stripe. Life Hope is the bridge - we connect you to the member you are supporting.

Life Hope is finalizing its payment setup. Once the platform is live, payments are processed by Stripe and Life Hope charges a flat 3% platform fee. We will post exact payout details here before launch.