Blog
June 2026 · 5 min read
Saturday evening, Sophie is celebrating her 30th. Twelve of you are gathered around the table and the idea springs up: “What if we gave her a weekend in Barcelona?” At once, someone starts a Leetchi link. Two days later, you discover the platform has taken 2.9% — more than €17 gone before you have even bought a single ticket.
This scenario plays out every year in thousands of groups of friends and families. The birthday group fund has become a reflex — practical, bringing everyone together — but platform fees quietly turn a lovely intention into a small disappointment. Filomy was built to remove exactly this problem: 0% commission, from the first euro to the last.
On Leetchi, the standard rate is 2.9%. For a fund of €300, that is €8.70 gone. For €600 (ten people at €60 each), it is €17.40 — almost the price of a bottle of champagne lost. And this calculation does not even account for any extra fees when withdrawing the money.
Most organisers do not read the terms and conditions when they create the fund: they discover the deduction at the moment of the final transfer, when it is too late. With Filomy, there is nothing to read between the lines: the amount collected is the amount available. Full stop.
A birthday group fund often brings together very different profiles. The 25-year-old friends use Lydia or Wero from their phones. The uncles and aunts prefer a classic bank transfer. Grandma slips a banknote into an envelope. The colleague from the office offers a cheque. On Filomy, all of these payment methods are accepted within the same fund — Wero, bank transfer, Lydia, cash, cheque.
The organiser receives the funds through the channel each participant chooses, then manually confirms receipt in the interface. This confirmation updates the counter in real time, visible to all. No more chasing each person individually by message: everyone sees how the collection is progressing and knows whether their contribution has been recorded.
What sets Filomy apart from simple collection tools is its integration with a digital memory space. When you create the fund for Sophie's birthday, you also create a guest book where each participant can leave a message, a photo or a video to accompany their contribution.
On the day — or afterwards — Sophie receives far more than a sum of money: she discovers a group album, a collection of heartfelt thoughts. The gift becomes memorable. And the organiser has nothing extra to coordinate: the collection and the guest book share the same page, the same link to share in the WhatsApp group.
Creating the space takes less than two minutes. You choose a name, a date, a cover photo — and the link is ready to share. No mandatory account for participants: they contribute and leave their message in a few taps, from their phone.
Does Filomy take any fees on a birthday group fund?
No. Filomy takes no commission, neither on creation nor on withdrawal. €100 collected = €100 available for the gift.
Which payment methods can participants use?
Wero, bank transfer, Lydia, cash or cheque. The organiser manually confirms each contribution received. Everyone pays however they prefer.
Can you create a guest book at the same time as the group fund?
Yes. On Filomy, the group fund is linked to a memory space (a digital guest book). Participants can leave a message or a photo alongside their contribution.