Get Started with Donorbox

Welcome to Donorbox!

We realize you might have a few questions as you get started, so we created this guide to help you work through them.

If you are a visual learner, start by taking a look at our video tutorial. If not, please read past the video.

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Payment Processing

First things first – after you create your Donorbox account, you will need to set up your payment processing.

In order to maximize your donations, we strongly recommend that you sign up for both Stripe and PayPal so that donors can choose their preferred method of payment. With Stripe, you’ll also be able to accept donations with Google Pay and Apple Pay (due to Apple’s strict domain matching security measure, Apple Pay will only work on the secure donation page.)

Both Stripe and Paypal charge 2.2% – 2.9% + $0.30 per donation. If you are a registered 501c3 nonprofit, contact moc.e1534326097pirts1534326097@tifo1534326097rpnon1534326097+sela1534326097s1534326097 to get discounted Stripe fees and apply at PayPal’s Nonprofit Centre.

Please read our pricing guide for details of what your payment processing and Donorbox fees may look like.

Stripe

In order for your donors to check out on your donation forms themselves, you will need to open a Stripe merchant account. Stripe is our main payment processor, and we can’t recommend it enough – it’s safe, efficient, and cost-effective.

To create an account, simply go to your Donorbox dashboard and click the “Connect with Stripe” button.

This will redirect you to an account creation form. Once you fill out and submit the form, you will be redirected back to your Donorbox dashboard, and you’ll be ready to go!

Stripe will automatically transfer your funds from your Stripe account to your bank account based on the transfer schedule listed on your dashboard.

In the US and Australia, transfers will be automatically completed every two business days. However, your first transfer may take a little longer (around 7 days). In most other countries, transfers are set to be completed every 7 business days.

For more information about the exact transfer time in your country, click here. You can also access a summary of your past and upcoming transfers on your Stripe dashboard (see image below).

Paypal

You can also give your donors the option of paying by PayPal. In order to connect your PayPal account to Donorbox, simply go to your account settings by clicking the “Account” tab at the very top of your Donorbox dashboard page and select Payment Methods. Enter your email address in the PayPal field, click “Connect” and you’re all set!

Unlike Stripe, PayPal requires you to initiate the transfer of your funds from your PayPal account to your bank account. After you’ve initiated the transfer, the funds will arrive in your bank account within two to three business days.

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Create your Donation Form

To begin taking in donations, you will need to create a donation form. To do so, click the “New Campaign” button on your Donorbox dashboard.

You will be redirected to the campaign form. Start by naming your campaign and entering your campaign description to let your donors know exactly what they are contributing to. If necessary, you can also change the language or currency of your form.

Then, you will be guided through the rest of the campaign form creator. Donorbox forms are highly customizable – add pre-filled donation amounts to your form, edit your email receipt and Twitter share messages, and choose from advanced options like adding additional questions to your form and enabling or disabling recurring donations.

You can even change the color of your donation form, inject custom CSS, and add logo’s and a hero image to match your website’s aesthetic.

Once you have gone through the editor and your donation form is to your liking, click “Save & Preview,” and your new donation form will be ready to go!

 

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Install your Donation Form

You may also be wondering how to install your donation form into your website. We offer you three methods to choose from, all of which can be accessed from your Donorbox dashboard in the “Campaigns” tab.

If you use specialized web builders such as WordPress, WIX, Squarespace, Weebly, and others, our platform-specific installation guides may be useful.

1. Secure Donation Page

The first option you can choose from is to link your secure donation page from your website. The advantage of this option is that Donorbox automatically creates this secure donation page for you, hosted on our SSL-secure servers. This saves you from having to install SSL yourself. Another advantage to using the secure donation page is that you’ll be able to accept donations via Apple Pay.

To link the secure donation page from your website, copy your secure link and paste the URL into your donate button or link.

<a href=’https://donorbox.org/campaign-url’>Donate Now</a>

You can also use our premade donate button. For this, simply click the “Donate Button” link, located to the right of the “Embed Form” button.

Here again, you have many options that enable you to customize the donate button so that it meets your preferences. For example, choosing the size and color of the button. Simply copy the code for the URL and paste it into your website editor, and you’re good to go!

2. Embed Form

The second option is to embed the donation form directly to your website using the embed code.

To embed, click the “Embed Form” link in your campaign dashboard, and you will be redirected to a page with your code. This page also allows you to choose different options for your form. You can even preview your form so that you know exactly how it will look once it’s on your website. When you are happy with your form, simply copy the code and paste it into your website editor – it’s that easy!

If you are embedding the donation form, you should install SSL on your main site.

3. Popup Modal Form

Our third option for integration in the popup modal form. Instead of redirecting your donors to a separate donation page, you can now make it so that your form pops up on the same screen when someone presses your donate button. Try it out here:

Donate

 

For details on how to install this, please check out our modal installation guide. As with embedding the donation form, if you want to use the popup modal you will need to install SSL on your website.

That’s it for our Getting Started Guide! We hope you enjoy using Donorbox, feel free to check out our other manuals (linked below) for more help.

• Weebly Embedding
• WordPress Embedding, WordPress Donation Plugin
• Mailchimp Integration
• Salesforce Nonprofit Starter Pack Integration
• Squarespace Embedding
• Wix Embedding
• Joomla Embedding