A memorial fundraiser, started in their name.
Set up free in minutes. Friends and family give toward the funeral, the family, or a cause they loved.
An example fundraiser, as donors see it.
Start a fundraiser
Free to start. A couple of minutes.
Who is it for? (Who it is for)
Step 1 of 3: Who it is for
Photos of them (optional)
Add up to 10. The first one leads the page and the share picture.
What is the fundraiser for?
What you need to start
It is free to start and takes a couple of minutes. This is all it asks for:
- Their name, and a photo if you have one
- What the money is for, and a goal if you want one
- A few words about why you are asking
- An email and password, so the page is yours to manage
Bank details and the identity check come after, from the fundraiser's own page. Gifts can arrive before then and wait safely until you finish.
How a memorial fundraiser works
Four steps. The first two take a couple of minutes, and nothing costs anything unless someone gives.
Say who it honors
Their name, a photo if you have one, and what the money is for. It takes a couple of minutes and costs nothing to start.
Set a goal and add your words
Choose a goal or leave it open, and write a few lines about why you are asking. You can change both later.
Confirm who you are
Connect a US bank account through Stripe and pass a short identity check. Every payout waits on this step, which is exactly what keeps donors safe.
Share one link
The fundraiser gets a page of its own. Send the link anywhere, and gifts and notes appear on it as they arrive while the money moves to your bank account.
A page of its own, with room for a memorial
Most families need help with the funeral before they have the energy to build anything. So the fundraiser stands on its own: their name, their photo, what the money is for, and a way to give, ready to share in a couple of minutes.
When you are ready, add a full memorial page with the photo albums, the life story, the service details, and the guestbook. A fundraiser started on a memorial gets its own page too, so there is always one simple link to send.
Every gift and note stays on the page for the family to read later.
Gifts and messages gather on the page as they arrive.
What a memorial fundraiser costs
Written out in full, because this is the part families are right to be suspicious about.
- Platform fee on one-time gifts
- 0%
- The smallest gift anyone can give
- $10
- Of every $100 reaches the family after card processing
- $97
- To set up, and free to turn off again
- Free
Platform fee on one-time gifts
The smallest gift anyone can give
Of every $100 reaches the family after card processing
To set up, and free to turn off again
On a $100 gift, about $3 goes to card processing and about $97 reaches the family. If the donor chooses to add a tip on top, that tip carries its own processing cost, so it never comes out of the family's share.
What families raise money for
Funeral and burial costs
The service, the casket or urn, the plot, the headstone, the repast, and the flights that get everyone into town.
Direct help for the family
Rent, groceries, childcare, and the weeks of missed work that follow a death nobody had planned for.
A cause that meant something
Collect in their name for something that mattered to them. Every gift reaches the organizer, who decides how it is used, so gifts are not tax-deductible.
How the money is kept safe.
Nobody is paid before they are verified
Every payout is held until the organizer passes an identity check with Stripe. It is a slower promise to make, and it is the reason donors can give without wondering who is on the other end.
The money lands in a real bank account
Funds go to the organizer's own US bank account through Stripe, not into a balance held by us and not to a third party who decides when to release it.
A memorial can outlast the campaign
Add a memorial page whenever you are ready. It stays online for good at no cost, with no subscription and nothing to renew, and the fundraiser can close while the memorial keeps going.
Questions families ask before they start
How much does it cost to run a memorial fundraiser?
Nothing to start and nothing monthly. Lovekept takes no platform fee on one-time gifts, so the only thing taken out of a donation is what the card networks charge to process it, roughly three dollars on a hundred dollar gift. Donors are offered an optional tip that keeps Lovekept running, and they are free to set it to zero. If nobody gives, you owe nothing.
When does the money actually reach my bank?
Gifts are collected as they arrive and held briefly while the payment clears, usually two or three business days. Once your identity check is finished the money is released to the bank account you connected, and most banks post it about two business days after that. Stripe sometimes holds a brand new account's first payout a little longer.
Do I have to create a memorial page first?
No. A fundraiser is a page of its own, and you can start one in a couple of minutes with their name and what the money is for. You can add a full memorial page with their photos, their life story, and the service details any time, and a fundraiser started on a memorial gets its own page too.
What happens if we do not reach the goal?
You keep every gift, even if the goal isn't met. A goal is only a marker so supporters can see how far along the family is, and you can run a fundraiser without setting one at all.
Are memorial fundraiser donations tax-deductible?
No. Money raised here reaches the organizer as a personal gift, which is not a charitable contribution, and that holds true even when a family is collecting in memory of someone for a cause they loved. Donors do not get a tax receipt. If the deduction matters to someone, ask them to give to a registered charity directly instead.
Can I raise money for someone who is not my relative?
Yes. Neighbors, church members, coworkers, and old friends start these all the time. Whoever sets it up becomes the organizer, passes the identity check, and receives the payouts, so settle with the family first on who is holding the money and what it is meant for.
Can I run more than one fundraiser?
One at a time. Each organizer can have one open fundraiser, which keeps it clear to donors where their gift is going. Close it from your dashboard once it has done its job, and you can start another.
What is the smallest gift someone can send?
Ten dollars. Anything smaller gets largely eaten by card processing, so the minimum keeps more of each gift with the family. There is a ceiling as well, at ten thousand dollars for any single donation.
Can supporters give every month?
Yes. A donor can choose Monthly instead of a one-time gift, and the same amount repeats each month until they stop it, which they can do themselves from the link in any receipt email. Canceling stops future charges and keeps everything already given. Monthly gifts add a five percent fee on top of the donation, paid by the donor rather than taken out of the family's share, and that is what pays for running recurring giving. One-time gifts stay free of any platform fee.
How do I ask for money without it feeling wrong?
Say plainly what the money is for and let people decide from there. A funeral runs into thousands of dollars, and the people who loved them usually want a way to help but have no idea how to offer. Naming the cost, the service, the headstone, the flights, is not begging. Most families find the asking is the hard part and the giving turns out to be the easy part.
Start it in their name today. Add the memorial when you are ready.
The fundraiser is free to start and takes a couple of minutes. Share it the same day, add a full memorial page whenever you like, and close the fundraiser the moment it has done its job.
- No platform fee on one-time gifts
- Straight to the organizer's bank