BlogGuide
Flat vs. Percentage: How to Run a Merch Fundraiser That Scales
A merch fundraiser can raise a set dollar amount per item — or a percentage of the price that scales with every sale. Here's when to use each, and how to run a drive that funds itself on demand on Brikl.
Merch is one of the easiest ways for a school, team, club, or nonprofit to raise money — people are happy to buy something they'll actually wear when a portion supports the cause. The question is how you set the amount raised on each sale. On an on-demand store, you have two options, and picking the right one matters more than most people expect.
The two modes
When you build a fundraising campaign, each affected item, product, or variant gets a set-aside — the portion of the sale that goes to the cause. That set-aside can be:
- A flat dollar amount — for example, $5 added to each item, whatever the item costs.
- A percentage of the price — for example, 15% of each item, so a $60 hoodie contributes more than a $25 tee.
Same tool, two very different outcomes.
When to use flat
A flat amount is simple and predictable. Everyone contributes the same, and it's easy to communicate: "$5 from every item goes to the team." It works well when your catalog is priced in a tight range, or when you want a clean, round number that's easy for buyers to understand.
The tradeoff: flat treats a premium jacket and a basic tee identically. If your store spans a wide price range, a flat set-aside can feel too small on the high-value items and too heavy on the cheap ones.
When to use percentage
A percentage scales with the order. Higher-value items and bigger carts raise proportionally more, automatically — no need to hand-tune each product. It keeps the contribution fair across a mixed catalog, and it means your best sales days are also your best fundraising days.
Percentage is the better default when you're selling a real range of products, or when you want the drive to grow naturally as buyers add more to the cart.
A quick example
Say you sell a $25 tee and a $60 hoodie in the same store.
- Flat $5: the tee raises $5 (20%), the hoodie raises $5 (about 8%). Buyers of the pricier item contribute a smaller share.
- Percentage 15%: the tee raises $3.75, the hoodie raises $9. The contribution tracks the price, and a full cart raises more.
Neither is "right" — but they behave differently, and now you can choose on purpose.
Everything else a fundraiser can do
The flat-vs-percentage choice sits inside a fuller toolset:
- Set a target and track progress in real time as orders come in.
- Run multiple campaigns at once in the same store, each on its own items and goal.
- Time-limited drives with a start and end date for events, seasons, or galas — switch on or off anytime.
And the same mechanism powers more than charity: spiritwear kickbacks, booster clubs, nonprofit drives, creator earnings, and sales-rep commissions all run on it.
Because it's all on-demand, there's no upfront cost and no inventory — the store produces exactly what's ordered, and the set-aside is calculated automatically on every sale.
Ready to set one up? See how fundraising works, or explore stores for nonprofits and associations.
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