Charitable Documentation

Learn how to make the most of Charitable with clear, step-by-step instructions.

Setting Up PayPal

PayPal is available out of the box as a payment gateway option. You can enable it via your WordPress dashboard:

  1. Go to Charitable > Settings > Payment Gateways.
  2. In the PayPal box, click on Enable Gateway.

Next, you will need to configure some settings by clicking on Gateway Settings.

Settings

General Settings

Gateway Label

The label that will be displayed in the WordPress dashboard for donations made through PayPal. This label will also be shown in the donation form to donors when you have multiple payment gateways enabled.

PayPal Email Address

This is the email address of the PayPal account that should receive all donations.

To avoid problems with having donations remain stuck as pending, ensure that this account is fully set up and approved by PayPal, and also that it is in the same currency as you have set in your Charitable settings.

Sandbox PayPal Email Address

If you would like to test out the donation process without making real transactions, you can use PayPal’s sandbox environment. This is automatically used when you have Charitable’s Test Mode setting enabled (on the Payment Gateways settings page).

If you are not sure how to create a sandbox account, read this guide about how to set up a PayPal sandbox account.

PayPal Transaction Type

PayPal offers discounted fees to registered non-profit organisations. If you have registered as a non-profit organisation, you can select “Donations” for the transaction type; otherwise select “Standard Transaction”.

Click here for more information about registering as a non-profit with PayPal.

Disable IPN Verification

If you are having problems with donations not getting marked as Paid, disabling IPN verification can sometimes fix the issue. However, it is important to be aware that this is a less secure method for verifying donations.

Find out more about how to diagnose problems with donations not getting marked as Paid: PayPal IPN Troubleshooting.

API Settings

As of Charitable 1.6, you are able to automatically refund donations in PayPal via your Charitable donation management page. This feature requires API keys.

If you use our Recurring Donations extension, API keys are also required for automatically cancelling subscriptions.

Live API Username, Password and Signature

You can find your live API details at https://www.paypal.com/businessprofile/mytools/apiaccess/firstparty/signature. You will need to log in to your PayPal account before being able to access this page.

For each setting, click on Show to reveal the setting value.

Sandbox API Username, Password and Signature

To find your sandbox API details, go to https://developer.paypal.com and click on Log into Dashboard. On the following screen, log in with your regular PayPal account details.

Next, click on Account under the Sandbox menu in the sidebar.

On the following page you will see your list of sandbox accounts. Find the Seller account (the one you are using for the Sandbox PayPal Address setting), click on Profile and then click on the API keys tab.

Still have questions? We’re here to help!

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Integration New

Add Image Galleries to Fundraising Campaigns With Envira Gallery

Showcase the impact of your mission like never before. We are excited to announce our brand-new integration with Envira Gallery, the best WordPress gallery plugin, designed to help you tell your story through powerful, high-performance visuals.

The Ultimate Storytelling Experience

A picture is worth a thousand words – and now, it’s worth even more for your fundraising. Connect your visual impact directly to your cause by creating stunning, responsive galleries that engage donors and drive contributions.

🖼️ Visual Impact: Easily create beautiful, fast-loading galleries to show your nonprofit’s work in action, from field reports to event highlights.

🔗 Seamless Connection: Link gallery images directly to your fundraising campaigns, making it effortless for inspired visitors to go from viewing a photo to making a donation.

📱 Perfectly Responsive: Whether your donors are on a phone, tablet, or desktop, your galleries will look professional and load lightning-fast, ensuring a smooth experience on every device.

Integration New

👉🏻 New Divi Integration In Charitable Pro

Bring the power of Charitable directly into your favorite page builder and maintain total creative control with our brand-new Divi integration.

The Ultimate Design Experience

No more switching back and forth or relying on complex shortcodes. Use dedicated Divi modules to build, style, and launch high-converting donation pages without ever leaving the Divi Builder.

⚡ Native Divi Modules: Effortlessly drag and drop your donation forms, progress bars, and campaign details exactly where you want them.

⚙️ Visual Customization: Tweak colors, fonts, and spacing using Divi’s familiar design settings to ensure your fundraiser matches your brand perfectly.

🚀 Live Visual Editing: See your changes in real-time. What you see in the builder is exactly what your donors will see, ensuring a seamless giving experience every time.

donation form New

👉🏻 New Campaign Selector For Donation Forms

Take your campaign management to the next level. Find the perfect fundraiser for any page and stay in your creative flow with our new Campaign Selector integration.

The Ultimate Selection Tool

No more hunting for IDs or creating one page for every donation form. Use the new Campaign Selector to allow users to switch to a campaign with no code.

⚡ Instant Search: Quickly find any campaign leaving your page or post.

⚙️ Editor Agnostic: Whether you’re using the Block Editor, Elementor, or WPBakery, selecting your campaigns is now a unified experience.

🚀 Real-Time Previews: See exactly which campaign you’ve selected instantly, ensuring your donors always see the right cause.

Integration New

WordPress Command Palette Integration

Take your fundraising workflow to the next level. Speed up your site management and stay in your creative flow with our new WordPress Command Palette integration.

Supercharge Your Workflow
Navigate your fundraising dashboard faster than ever.

The Ultimate Keyboard Shortcut Hit Cmd + K (or Ctrl + K) to launch the Command Palette and manage your campaigns instantly.

⚡ Instant Navigation: Jump directly to your Campaigns, Donations, or Settings from anywhere in the editor.

➕ Quick Create: Start a new fundraising campaign or add a manual donation with a single command.

Efficiency Redefined
The tools you need, exactly when you need them.

⚙️ Contextual Actions: See relevant Charitable commands based on whether you’re editing a page or viewing your reports.

🚀 Seamless Integration: Built directly into the WordPress core experience for a lightweight, native feel.

Improvement New Security

📣 New Security Features

We’ve introduced a suite of new security tools to give you total control over who accesses your forms, plus a new way to tidy up your database.

Advanced Security Suite

Layered protection: Cloudflare, ReCAPTCHA, IP Controls, and Rate Limiting.

We have overhauled our security settings to stop bots without blocking real donors.

  • 🤖 Flexible Protection: Choose between Google reCAPTCHA v3 or the privacy-first Cloudflare Turnstile to block bots invisible.

  • 🚦 Rate limiting: Stop spam floods by limiting how many submissions an IP address can make in a set timeframe.

  • 🛑 Total control: Use the new IP Blacklist to block bad actors instantly, or the IP Whitelist to let your team bypass checks during testing.

The Clean Donation Tool

Go from “Testing” to “Live” in seconds.

Finished setting up your site and need to get rid of all those test transactions?

  • 🧹 Sweep it clean: Bulk delete test donations and donor records with a single click.

  • 📉 Accurate reporting: Ensure your revenue stats are 100% accurate for launch day.

  • ⚙️ Reset sequences: Automatically resets sequential invoice numbering.