Note: This quick start guide is for a Donation Form. Learn more about our different campaign types or view other Quick Start Guides.
Donation Forms allow you to create both a streamlined donation page and an embeddable donation widget that supports both one-time donations and recurring gifts. The donation page can be linked to your website's donate button; shared on social media; and included in newsletters, appeals, and more. The embeddable donation widget can be embedded directly on your website, ensuring donors can give in the moment without leaving the page.
This guide will walk through the steps of creating and customizing a Donation Form, ensuring you've updated the most important areas before launching your form.
Tip: Looking for best practices? Be sure to check out our blog for 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Donation Forms.
Create a Donation Form
Visit your Organization Dashboard and select Campaigns.
Select the +Campaign button in the top right corner. You’ll see options to duplicate a previous campaign, create a new campaign, or to fundraise on your website. Choose I Want To Fundraise On My Website.
Provide a Campaign Name. This will be used internally to help you identify the source of the donations; it will not be visible to donors.
Provide a Contact Email. This will be included in receipts to donors.
Click Next. You'll then be prompted to set some default donation options and indicate if you'd like to enable recurring giving. You can adjust these preferences later if needed.
Click Create and Go To Campaign. You'll be taken to your campaign's Dashboard where you can continue customizing your settings.
Customize Donor Experience
You can adjust what information you need to collect from donors and customize the receipts they receive from your campaign.
Visit your campaign's Dashboard and select Settings from the left side menu.
Select Donation Options.
Under the Setup tab, make any adjustments to the preset donation options or recurring giving levels (optional) you want to provide. Donors will see the option to donate a custom amount in addition to the presets you provide.
Under the Collect Info tab, determine what fields donors should fill out when making their donation. By default, you will always receive name and email address, but you can add additional contact fields or custom questions as desired.
From the Settings menu, select Email and customize the Donation Receipt that donors receive after making a gift.
Customize Donation Page Design
Your Donation Form comes with a customizable donation page, which you can curate to match your organization's brand and stylize with a photo and text that inspires donors to give.
Visit your campaign's Dashboard and select Settings from the left side menu.
Select Donation Page and visit the Form Style tab to customize the following fields:
Form Headline
Form Sub-Headline (optional)
Donate Button Text
Thank You Message (appears after making donation)
Hero Image
Campaign Story
Visit the Form Options tab and choose if you'd like to enable a Redirection button. This would allow you to add a button to the Thank You page that appears after donating, directing donors to a URL of your choosing.
Visit General Settings on the left side menu.
Under the Setup tab, choose a vanity URL for your donation page and confirm the contact information is correct.
Under the Design tab to change the custom colors on your campaign and the organization logo that appears at the top of your form.
From your campaign's Dashboard, click View to preview your form and make change as needed.
Example Donation Page
Create Embeddable Form Widget
Creating an embeddable widget for your donation form is optional. This is only required if you intended to embed your Donation Form on your website directly. After creating the widget, you will be able to copy the code we provide to embed your form.
Visit your campaign's Dashboard and select Widgets from the left side menu.
You'll see the Form widget option provided. Click the button with the form icon to begin creating a widget.
A design space will appear where you can curate the text and language on your embeddable form. This can be different from what exists on your donation page if you have already customized it, allowing you to use slightly different messaging if needed.
Fill in the desired fields and use the arrows on the preview window to see what each step of the donation process will look like to donors.
Click Save when complete.
Hover over the newly created widget in your dashboard and select the three dot menu. Select Embed to copy the code you need to host the widget on your website.
Note: The native size of the donation form widget is 400px wide by 695px tall. Be sure to allow enough space on your website page to accommodate the widget. If you don't have access to edit your organization's website, you may need the assistance of your web developer to embed your widget.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I launch my Donation Form? Do I have to indicate it is live?
Your Donation Form is not publicly accessible until you choose to circulate the link. When you're ready to launch, simply begin sharing your campaign's URL widely. Visit your donation page to copy the URL from the address bar or copy your campaign's link from your Dashboard home.
I have enabled recurring giving on my Donation Form. How can I tell who my recurring donors are?
Pledge It provides a Giving Plans dashboard to help you monitor recurring gifts. If any recurring donors need to make changes to their gifts, you can also send them a recurring gift management link so they can make updates, change their card information, or cancel their recurring giving plan.
I'm having difficulty embedding my Donation Form on my website.
While you can find instructions for the most common websites provided when you grab your embed code, every website is different and might involve different steps. Please contact your assigned Customer Success Manager and our team will be happy to assist.