CommunityCAD
Donations
Supporting creators, receiving donations, the exact fees, and payouts.
Donations let you thank the people whose models you use, and let creators earn something for their work. Creators receive the full amount the donor chooses. CommunityCAD's fee and the card processing charge are added on top, and the donor sees all three before paying.
Donating to a creator#
- Open the creator's profile or one of their models and choose Donate. You need to be signed in.
- Pick an amount: $3, $5, $10, or any whole-dollar amount of $3 or more.
- Choose Monthly (the default) or One-time.
- Optionally tick Donate anonymously (see Anonymous donations).
- Check the itemised total, then pay through Stripe's secure checkout on the page. CommunityCAD never sees or stores your card details.
You get an email receipt. Donations are in US dollars.
If a creator hasn't set up payouts yet, you can't pay them; we let them know someone wanted to support them instead.
Fees#
| Donation to the creator | Platform fee | Card processing | You pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| $3.00 | $0.50 | $0.42 | $3.92 |
| $5.00 | $0.50 | $0.48 | $5.98 |
| $10.00 | $0.50 | $0.63 | $11.13 |
| $20.00 | $1.00 | $0.94 | $21.94 |
| $50.00 | $2.50 | $1.88 | $54.38 |
| $100.00 | $5.00 | $3.45 | $108.45 |
- Platform fee: $0.50 or 5% of the donation, whichever is more. This is how CommunityCAD earns from donations.
- Card processing: Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 on the whole payment. We add exactly enough to cover it, so the creator isn't charged for it.
- Monthly donations charge the same total every month. If our fees ever change, existing monthly donations keep the total you agreed to.
Monthly donations#
A monthly donation renews on the same day each month until you cancel it.
- Cancel any time from your donation history (your profile → Payments). Cancelling stops it straight away: there are no further charges, and nothing is refunded for the current month.
- If a renewal payment fails, we email you and Stripe retries for a while. If it keeps failing, the donation is cancelled.
Anonymous donations#
Ticking Donate anonymously hides your name and avatar from the creator: their supporter list, notification and email say "Someone". The amount is still shown to the creator. CommunityCAD still records who donated, because we have to for payments, receipts and fraud checks.
Donations are never shown publicly. Only you see the "Thank you for your support" heart on a creator you support. See What supporting earns you.
What supporting earns you#
- A thank-you heart on that creator's profile and models, visible only to you, while a monthly donation is running or for 30 days after a one-time donation.
- The Supporter tier, free. Support three or more different creators at the same time (each with a running monthly donation, or a one-time donation in the last 30 days) and you get the Supporter tier at no charge: higher download limits and no ads.
Receiving donations (creators)#
Anyone with a CommunityCAD account can receive donations; there's no minimum number of models.
- Go to your profile → Payments and choose Set up payouts.
- Complete Stripe's onboarding form, shown on the page. Stripe asks for your identity and bank details and decides whether it can serve your country. CommunityCAD never sees your bank details.
- Once Stripe reports your account can accept charges and send payouts, the Donate button goes live on your profile and models.
Your account is a Stripe Standard account in your own name, so:
- payouts go straight from Stripe to your bank on your Stripe account's schedule; CommunityCAD doesn't hold your money;
- taxes on what you receive are yours to handle; Stripe may send you tax forms;
- you can open your full Stripe dashboard from the Payments tab, and you can disconnect at any time. Disconnecting turns the Donate button off.
Your profile's Payments tab, under Creator earnings, shows your Stripe balance, this month's earnings, your last payout, and your recent supporters (anonymous donors appear without a name).
Refunds#
Donations are final. We don't offer refunds, except in rare cases such as fraud or a processing fault, at our discretion. If something like that has happened, email contact@communitycad.dev.
CommunityCAD never holds or moves money: payments, payouts, refunds and disputes are all handled by Stripe. Card disputes go through Stripe and your bank.
The exact rules are in the Terms of Service and the Creator Terms.