Donorbox Events helps you create customizable event pages and event ticketing forms to be able to boost your event's online ticket sales. There are several conversion-optimized features such as the ability to add tax-deductibility, a limit and deadline to purchase tickets, the ability for donors to cover the processing fees, and more. Learn everything in this step-by-step guide to get started today!
Galas, auctions, trivia nights, or concerts — events are undoubtedly an essential part of your fundraising strategy. Fundraising events give you the opportunity to engage your audiences, bring attention to your cause, and collect donations from attendees.
These events are often incredibly effective in helping raise awareness and funds for your nonprofit’s cause, but they do require meticulous planning and execution. At Donorbox, we understand the immense effort that goes into running a successful fundraising event. Our innovative feature – Donorbox Events – is designed specifically to help share that load, and make your life a little easier!
Donorbox Events is a robust event ticketing solution for all types of nonprofit fundraising events. The quick set-up can be completed in just a few minutes, and you can offer buyers an unlimited number of ticket tiers as well as display tax-deductible values for your ticket prices.
You can also use Events to build a user-friendly event page and start selling tickets online within minutes. The Events feature allows you to create several different event pages, customizing every page to follow the details and brand of each event. You can also choose to embed your ticket form directly into your website!
To get started, you must sign up on Donorbox as an organization. If you already have an account, head straight to the Events section in the left-hand sidebar of your Donorbox Dashboard to get started! The Donorbox platform fee for event ticket sales is 2.95% per transaction on our free Standard Plan – sign up for Pro or Premium to access a flat 1.5% transaction fee for all features, including Events.
And more!
Let’s see how you can start selling event tickets on Donorbox in just a few simple steps!
It’s free to get started with Events – there are no contracts or sign-up costs with the Standard Plan. There is simply a platform fee of 2.95% applied to each ticket purchase, and you will need to connect to the Stripe payment processor to start allowing ticket purchases on Donorbox.
Looking to take your fundraising to the next level? Sign up for Donorbox Pro or Donorbox Premium! Both offer additional resources as well as a flat 1.5% transaction fee across all tools, including Donorbox Events. Learn more about our pricing here.
Building an event on Donorbox is very simple. All you have to do is:
Use your event page to sell tickets online and collect information from attendees such as names, addresses, emails, and telephone numbers. Plus, you can choose to offer the option to donate an additional amount directly to your cause! After the transaction is complete, our system will send out an automatic ticket receipt with the appropriate tax-deductible amount included.
With Events, you have the option to create an unlimited number of tickets – use your ticket pricing strategy to determine what’s right for your organization. You can also determine each ticket’s tax deductibility by inputting the tax rate and the fair market price for each ticket type. Plus, boost ticket sales and reward your supporters by offering discounts via unlimited promo codes.
Donorbox Events also lets you set ticket quantities and a deadline to sell tickets. You can allow your buyers to cover the processing fee, thus saving additional money on your ticket sales. This powerful tool also allows you to choose from a list of 43 currencies to sell your tickets and offer multiple payment options depending on your market. Use your free QR code for each event to help ticket buyers easily access the ticketing form with a single scan.
With Donorbox Events, managing your ticket sales is easy. Use this tool to oversee your ticket revenue and manage registrations, collect useful attendee information, and analyze data based on the ticket types, amount, donations, and number of tickets sold.
It takes four simple steps for you to set up an event and sell tickets with Donorbox Events, and just one extra step to embed your form into your own website!
Bonus Resource: Watch this comprehensive webinar to learn how you can leverage next-gen solutions to accelerate ticket sales and boost fundraising for your next event.
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If you haven’t already, sign up on Donorbox as an organization – this will only take a few minutes. Make sure you’re also signed up for Stripe and have connected it to your Donorbox account!
On your Donorbox dashboard, you will find the Events tab in the left-hand sidebar. Select this tab and the Events section will open up – now all you have to do is click on the ‘+ New Event’ button to set up your ticketing form.
Now, you can set up your event ticketing form. First, name your event. Then, select your preferred currency in the dropdown.
Donorbox Events lets you choose from a list of 43 currency options, making ticket sales even more powerful and effective for your organization. Here’s a list of all the currencies included in the dropdown (shown above) by continent –
After selecting your currency, you can turn on the switch to ask donors to cover the processing fees. You can also choose to have this option checked by default on the last step of the checkout process.
In this step, you can also select the option for purchasers to make a donation to your cause. This gives ticket buyers the opportunity to give an additional donation – separate from the cost of their tickets – when completing a purchase.
Don’t worry, you can edit these options later if you change your mind!
Next, you will be taken to your event’s editor. This editor is where you will return anytime you need to edit, update, or check in on your event (more on that later).
While editing your event – whether while creating a new form or editing an existing one – you can also check the top navigation of that event’s editor to view the status, preview your form, and click “Publish” when you’re ready. Once published, this navigation will also feature options to “Check-In Ticket” or “Unpublish.”
When creating a new event, you will first be taken to the “Event Details” tab. Here, you may edit your event’s name as well as customize the look and feel of your form with a background image.
Also, use our rich text editor here to add a detailed event description as well as additional photos and videos to your event page – simply click “Add description.”
On this same page, you can choose to set a deadline for your ticket sales. Simply click “Set Deadline” and select a date in the calendar – by doing so, your ticket sales will automatically close at 11:59 p.m. on that day. This is a great way to create a sense of urgency for your audience, as well as make it a little easier for you to plan for your headcount in advance.
You can also add a date, time, and location to your event.
Select “Set Date and Time.” Here, you can set the start date and time, and optionally add an end date and time. You can also change the time zone and format to account for different locations.
To ensure your guests can find your event, add a location using Google Maps. Simply type in the address or name of your location and choose the correct address that pops up. This way, you know your guests have all the information they need!
Next, move to the “Settings” in your event’s left-hand navigation. We suggest starting with “Ticket Types”.
Click “Add Ticket Type” and walk through the steps provided to add either a paid or free ticket to your form.
For a paid ticket, simply start by adding the ticket name and its full price. If applicable, next toggle the option to make this ticket tax-deductible. Manually enter the fair market value, and the tax-deductible amount will be automatically updated. It will also be displayed on your form, encouraging buyers to purchase tickets for the tax benefits.
For both paid and free tickets, you may choose to set a ticket quantity. To do so, toggle the switch and enter the number of tickets you wish to sell for that tier. When this is set up, the form will automatically close ticket sales for just that tier when the limit is reached.
Your ticket buyers will be able to see the ticket quantity remaining for each tier in the form as well as when a tier is sold out, creating a sense of scarcity and urgency.
Simply return to this page and click “Edit” on the appropriate ticket type should you choose to change any of these details at a later date. You can also click “Add Ticket Type” to add more tiers – you have an unlimited amount.
You also have the option of adding unlimited promo codes to allow certain buyers to purchase tickets at a discounted price – or for free! To add promo codes, simply go to the “Promo Codes” tab in your editor’s left-hand navigation. You can also find a shortcut to this on the Events list (see above).
Click “Add Promo Code.” Enter your desired code, a description (optional), and the discount as a dollar or percentage. Then click “Create” and share it with your audience!
After they are created, you will be able to view all of your promo codes for each event in a detailed list. Unused promo codes may be edited, and you can quickly deactivate, re-activate, or delete your codes, making it possible to offer discounted or free tickets for a limited time.
Next up, set your checkout options in your “Checkout” tab! This is where you can edit the currency as well as your additional donation and fee cover options you first set at the beginning of the process. On this page, you can also set sales taxes, add attendee questions, and choose to offer various payment options.
To add tax info, click “Edit Fees and Taxes” and toggle the option to add appropriate tax amounts to your tickets. Manually enter the tax rate to determine the tax-deductible amounts of your tickets. You can also check the tax-inclusive option if sales tax is already included in the price of the ticket.
On this screen, you can also edit the options for asking donors to cover transaction fees.
To add a custom question or collect attendee info and preferences, click “Set Question.” This will be a text input from purchasers where you can ask for specific information from them, such as meal preferences or t-shirt sizes – simply add your instructions into the box provided.
The last option on this page is to set up additional payment features. Click on the appropriate “Learn more” and follow the steps to enable Apple Pay and/or Link by Stripe on your ticketing form, giving your ticket buyers flexibility in their payment choices.
Once you’ve added all the details, it’s time to share your event!
This can be easily done by adding a QR code – created free with every Donorbox Event form – to your marketing pieces.
Access this QR code in the “Share & Embed” tab or through the shortcut on your Events list. Here, you can also find your event’s link for easy sharing.
Scroll down to find the QR code section, where you may easily follow the steps to customize and download your custom code.
Here’s how your Donorbox-hosted Events page will look:
If you’d like, you can also choose to embed your event form directly into your organization’s website. It’s easy to do – simply view your event on the dashboard, select “Embed Form Code,” and follow the directions to copy the code and place it on your website. You can also find it in the “Share & Embed” tab of your event’s editor.
In addition to 43 currencies, Donorbox Events also features several additional payment methods for various countries. This allows ticket buyers in select markets to choose how they pay for their event tickets using your online ticketing form.
The following payment methods are now available for Donorbox Events:
All you have to do to add these to your own event ticketing forms is enable these payment method options in your Stripe dashboard – remember to make sure your Stripe account is connected to your Donorbox account!
Have an existing event? Your Events will automatically show any new payment methods you add to your Stripe account!
You do not need to take any steps within Donorbox to add these payment methods to your Events forms.
The Events section on your Donorbox dashboard will allow you to see a list of all your events. Simply click the pencil icon in the appropriate event to view or edit one.
Here, you can also see which event ticketing forms are in the draft stage or if they have been published, as well as find several other shortcuts.
The “Preview Event Page” link takes you to the preview of your event page. You can also click on the event title, which leads you to your event’s dedicated dashboard.
On this dedicated event management page, you’ll find an overview of all the tickets you have sold. You can view the data based on the transaction, the number of tickets sold, and if the purchasers also made an additional contribution to your cause while purchasing tickets. Find additional details for each of the above by using the left-hand navigation.
You can also click on the purchaser ID to see each purchaser’s information. This includes their event and ticket details, time of purchase, name, contact information, and any separate donation amount. You also have access to their receipt here as well.
You can issue full refunds (no partial refunds available) to your ticket purchasers on this event management page. Simply select the transaction ID to see the details, and click ‘Refund’ to issue the refund for the purchase.
If you have any offline ticket transactions, you can easily add them to keep track of all your ticket sales in one place. Simply click “Add Offline Transaction'” and you will be taken to a screen where you can search for existing supporters or add new supporters. Then select the payment method – either check, cash, credit card, cryptocurrency, or external bank transfer.
You can also add any additional donations made with each offline transaction. If your event has promo codes or additional questions to collect attendee notes, you can add that information to offline transactions as well.
Finally, you can now edit email notifications sent to your admins and team members. Email notifications available include “Deadline Passed,” “Ticket Purchased”, and “Tickets Sold Out.” Click on “Notifications” in your event’s left-hand navigation to edit all of the above.
Donorbox Events makes ticket check-in a breeze. Each ticket has a unique check-in numerical code and QR code that you can use to verify tickets, track attendance, and streamline the check-in process.
Simply click “Check-in Ticket” in your event’s top navigation and type in the check-in numerical code. Alternatively, use your smart device’s camera to scan the QR code. Both actions will take you to the screen to confirm the ticket and mark it as checked in.
No more dealing with long, printed lists! This feature allows you to have fewer people manning your check-in process. Plus, it’s easy to split up group tickets that are purchased together, since each ticket has a unique code.
Fundraising events are an effective way to get your donors more engaged with your nonprofit and its mission. With Donorbox Events, you can set up an easy-to-use events form and page. Events offers you the ability to input the price, fair-market, and tax-deductible values for each level of ticket, as well as the capability to embed your form on your own website, set a ticket sales deadline and ticket quantity limit, and issue refunds as needed. All of this, in just a couple of minutes!
Sign up for your Donorbox account today to get started. If you already have an active account, click here to head straight to the Events section.
Donorbox is also a powerful fundraising tool that helps nonprofits with advanced features such as Crowdfunding, Peer-to-Peer fundraising, Text-to-Give, recurring donation forms, campaign pages, and more. Learn more about us on our website.
You can also find useful tips and insights on fundraising and nonprofit management on our Nonprofit Blog and subscribe to our newsletter to fuel your fundraising efforts.
Here, we answer questions nonprofits and users may have about Donorbox Events.
Donorbox Events is free to use. We charge no cost for signing up on Donorbox and setting up your event page. The platform fee for ticket transactions is 2.95%, plus the processing fee of Stripe (2.2% +30c). However, if you upgrade to Donorbox Premium or Donorbox Pro, the fee for Donorbox Events gets cut down to 1.5%.
You can create an unlimited number of ticket levels based on your pricing structure. Each ticket level (listed as “ticket type” in the editor) can be customized with a unique title, ticket description, and price. You can assign the fair market value and the tax-deductible amount to each ticket tier.
Purchasers will receive the tickets immediately after their purchase. After a buyer has purchased the tickets, they’ll be emailed a receipt, which will include a line stating the tax-deductible amount (if any), as well as PDFs and links to individual tickets that they can print or download.
For all kinds of nonprofit events and fundraisers – the options are endless! For example:
Yes – the donations collected from ticket sales as well as information for each ticket buyer are also stored in the Donations and Supporters section of your Donorbox app. So, you can manage all of the data from the same place!
Yes! Simply select “Free Ticket” when building your ticket types. You can also create promo codes to give only certain buyers the ability to check out with free tickets.
Yes, you can! Visit the Events page on your dashboard, select “Embed Code” on the appropriate event, and follow the instructions to copy the code and add it to your website.
On Donorbox-hosted event forms and forms embedded into your website, you can enable your audience to purchase their tickets via credit card or Apple Pay. Select markets may also choose to offer various direct debit, “buy now, pay later”, and other tools, to ticket buyers in specific countries, including –
You can offer full refunds to your ticket buyers via the Events feature – partial refunds, however, are not possible. Visit the page for the applicable event, click on the transaction, and select “Refund” to issue the refund.
Yes, this is possible with Events. When creating or editing your event, simply click “Set Deadline” in the “Event Details” tab and pick a date in the calendar. On this date, your ticket form will automatically close to the public at 11:59 p.m. in the time zone selected in your organization settings.
Yes, you can! When you are building your event form, simply add the appropriate ticket quantity you have available to each ticketing type you create. Once this ticket quantity limit is reached, your form will automatically close sales for just that type. Your ticket buyers will be able to see the number of tickets remaining as well as if that ticket type is sold out.
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