A donation form can help educate and convince your donors to give more than they initially planned. In this post, we’ll give you some tips to build a form that works and provide you with examples and templates to get you started on the right track.
Join the fundraising movement! Join the fundraising movement!Your charitable donation form is the first thing donors see after clicking your donate button. It’s the perfect opportunity to inspire generosity and educate donors about your mission.
In this article, we’ll give you expert tips to build a donation form that works. We’ll also share examples and a free template to get you started on the right track.
Your charitable donation form should align with your website and organization’s unique branding.
Customize the basic features of your Donorbox donation form, including your form’s primary color, as well as the button color and shape.
Pro and Premium users have access to next-level customization features available on OmniGive™ Donation Forms! These include creating custom themes that allow you to edit the font style and color, add a background color to make your form pop, and so much more. Custom themes can also be saved for future use. Plus, prebuilt themes are coming soon!
Here’s an example of an OmniGive donation form with a custom theme applied:
Create a Brand-Aligned Donation Form on Donorbox
Providing donors with various convenient, fast, and flexible ways to support your mission is crucial to boosting your fundraising potential.
OmniGive Donation Forms are powered by Stripe and allow you to offer donors more than 22 payment methods. Payment options display dynamically based on your donor’s device and location.
Please note: The availability of payment methods is subject to Stripe’s terms and conditions. If you have any questions about certain payment options and their availability in your country/region, please contact Stripe for more information.
OmniGive donation forms also allow you to offer donors an “Express Checkout” option on the first page of your form when you enable UltraSwift™ checkout. This means donors can complete their gift in one click using digital wallets like Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and Google Pay. This speeds up the giving process and helps reduce donor drop-off.
Here’s an example of an OmniGive donation form featuring Express Checkout on the first page of the donation form. If donors proceed with the Standard Checkout option, they’ll be able to donate using credit/debit cards and additional payment options, as shown in the second image:
Set Up a Donation Form with Expanded Payment Methods
Statistics show that recurring giving is on the rise. More donors prefer to give monthly, and recurring donations are crucial for your nonprofit’s long-term financial health.
Add up to four recurring donation intervals to your Donorbox charitable donation form to appeal to different donors’ preferences. You can also highlight one as your recommended interval to let donors how they can have the biggest impact. Donors can make changes to their recurring giving plan at any time via the Donor Portal.
See how Protect the Wild offers recurring donation intervals on their Donorbox-hosted donation form:
Create a Recurring Donation Form
Choosing the right donation amounts shows your donors how they can best support your mission. These should align with your donors’ unique giving preferences.
Segment your donor data based on your donors’ past giving amounts. Research their most frequent donation amounts and include them in your donation form, or start your donation tiers with an average of the donors’ gifts and increase from there.
Pro tip: Include descriptions for each donation amount so donors understand the impact of giving at each level. See how The Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta uses donation tiers with descriptions on their embedded Donorbox donation form:
Adding donation designations to your form empowers donors to give towards a program or initiative they truly care about. It also helps your organization categorize gifts during your financial reporting and understand how specific programs are performing.
Check out The Kelleman Foundation‘s Donorbox-hosted donation form to see donation designations in action:
Donation forms help you collect mission-critical funds and information about your donors. However, keep the information you request to a minimum to avoid driving donors away from your donation form.
Some unavoidable questions may include:
Remember that your donation form should be donor-friendly, making the giving process fast and convenient.
Ask your team of volunteers and staff members to test your donation form and give their feedback. Make a list of improvements based on their feedback, if any, and work on them before you share your form with donors.
It’s also important to be open-minded about receiving feedback from your supporters. If they suggest an improvement or face an issue, note them down and connect with your fundraising solution team. To make this process more efficient, add a “comment” field to your donation form and allow donors to leave comments.
Place short summaries and/or links to your policy documentation within or alongside your charitable donation form and use simple language.
Several countries allow donors to write their donations off as a tax-deductible expense if they are made to a registered nonprofit. If this applies to your organization, inform donors of possible tax implications. You’ll get more online donations, and your donors get a tax break.
Leverage secure payment processors to help protect your organizational and donor data. This will reassure donors that you take online security seriously, which gives them the confidence to donate towards your mission.
Donorbox partners with Stripe and PayPal – two industry-leading payment processors – to secure your data and help you fundraise more safely.
We’ve created a free donation form template to help you get started.
This template is meant to help you build an online charitable donation form with the must-have fields, questions, and payment options.
The East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) is a highly impactful charity operating in the U.K. Take a look at their Donorbox donation form for accepting online donations.
Their donation form includes a compelling statistic and information about their charity. It offers one-time and recurring donation options, as well as multiple donation tiers with descriptions.
Live Thrive is an Atlanta-based charitable organization using the Donorbox donation form to crowdfund money for their new facility.
This simple and compact charitable donation form belongs to a crowdfunding campaign created on Donorbox and embedded in the charity website. We love how it has already helped them get more than 200 donations for their capital campaign.
Wildlands League is a 50-year-old charitable organization based in Toronto, Canada. On their mission to help the climate and wild spaces, they’ve created a Donorbox-hosted donation page and form to accept donations online.
They’re redirecting their donors from the website to this donation form and hence, this is a crucial part of their online fundraising.
Tune in to episode 173 of The Nonprofit Podcast as Fundraising Coach, Britt Stockert, shares three hacks to get the most out of your donation form.
Amplify Your Fundraising With Donorbox
Ensuring your charitable donation form is impactful and focused on your donors’ needs will increase the likelihood of more gifts to your cause.
At Donorbox, we’re passionate about creating the most powerful features to help you fundraise smarter and raise even more.
Want more insights into online fundraising and nonprofit management? Visit our Nonprofit Blog. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive a curated list of our resources in your inbox!
Kristine Ensor is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience working with local and international nonprofits. As a nonprofit professional she has specialized in fundraising, marketing, event planning, volunteer management, and board development.
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