Why do the converted amounts differ between PayPal and Fundraise Up?

When your organization runs foreign currency fundraising using PayPal and Fundraise Up, you may notice that the converted amounts do not always match between the two platforms.

The difference usually comes from the currency exchange rates used by each provider.

Fundraise Up and PayPal use different currency exchange rates when converting between currencies. These rates are determined by each company’s financial partners and can change based on market conditions, geopolitical events, and global economic trends.

Because of this, the converted amounts in Fundraise Up and PayPal may differ, even for the same transaction. For example, if a supporter makes a donation in USD using Fundraise Up and the platform converts that amount to GBP using our rate, the converted amount shown in the Fundraise Up Dashboard may differ from the converted amount shown in your PayPal account, which uses PayPal’s own rate.

When you are doing foreign currency fundraising across multiple countries and currencies, it is expected to see small differences like this between systems, as each one applies its own exchange rate and timing for conversion.