Charitable Blog

Everything you need to know about Charitable and our team.

Charitable 1.8.2 Update

Introducing Charitable 1.8.2 – Checklist, Enhanced Tour, Donation Button and More!

Last updated on

  • By

We are proud to announce Charitable 1.8.2, the newest version of the go-to tool for non-profits and organizations to run campaigns and get donations!

We’ve been diligently enhancing the Charitable plugin to make it more user-friendly for new WordPress users while integrating powerful updates for experienced users and developers alike. Among our updates have been requests that our customers – many that are running very busy charities this time of year – have been asking for.

Let’s take a closer look at these new features.

Charitable Checklist

To assist new Charitable campaign creators, we’ve developed a comprehensive checklist to guide them through the plugin, enabling them to set up their first donation campaign swiftly. This checklist provides an overview of Charitable’s features, helping anyone configure general settings, activate email notifications for donors, and connect a payment gateway—such as Stripe—right from the checklist page.

For those managing a charity or involved in fundraising, understanding Charitable’s capabilities will help you launch your first campaign effortlessly. I urge you to give a try! Our aim for this feature – and other like it – is to improve your experience and reduce as much time as possible with tasks. Most those using Charitable – especially non-profits – already have their hands full with fundraising and tracking donations. So anything to get them up to speed faster is a plus.

Your feedback and questions on this feature are more than welcome!

(Improved) Guided Tour of Visual Campaign Builder

In a previous version of Charitable, we introduced a guided tour of the visual campaign builder. In our latest version we refined it a bit based on user feedback and testing, transforming it into a more interactive and informative experience. The tour, designed especially aid those running non-profit organizations and fundraising groups, highlights critical areas and now offers improved compatibility across various browsers and screen sizes.

Donation Button Shortcode

There are quite a few reasons why you might need a simple donation button: perhaps you are writing a blog post about your current campaign for your charity… or you want to include a way for people to donate anywhere on your WordPress site.

If you work with shortcodes then we are happy to bring you a direct and easy solution: the new[charitable_donate_button] shortcode allows you to display a button or link to a campaign. You can read up on the parameters you can pass into it.

We plan on turning this into a block (for the WordPress block editor) in the future, so stay tuned!

Other Updates

Outside of what was mentioned above, here’s a list of items that have been addressed and included in Charitable 1.8.2.

  • NEW: Warning messages for admin users – in the gateway settings page and viewing donation forms (as admins) – if Stripe is enabled, but no keys are detected.
  • NEW: Dashboard notifications for important messages and notices.
  • NEW: Added ‘charitable_email_fields_donation_field_value’ filter which can help with the output of custom field values in emails.
  • NEW: Campaigns shortcode now has a new “description_limit” parameter that limits words displayed from the campaign description.
  • NEW: Added both a filter and an option (in beta) in the general setting tab to disable showing a login form or registration reminder on donation forms. We have a new doc page that covers the details.
  • UPDATED: Improved tour guide for visual campaign builder with more interactivity and showing more elements.
  • UPDATED: Campaigns shortcode now displays a photo and campaign description from campaigns built with the visual builder.
  • UPDATED: Moved “Categories”, “Tags”, and “Customize” menus from the main menu. Now found in the Charitable -> “Tools” page.
  • FIX: Adjusted appearance of the donation button in Youth Sports campaign theme when modal button setting was on.
  • FIX: Resolved an issue with the donation summary field for the visual campaign builder involving showing/hiding items.
  • FIX: Resolved several instances where donation amounts were not being formatted currently in non-English languages in the reporting screens.
  • FIX: Improved loading for the WordPress dashboard widget.
  • FIX: Adjustments to CSS on the Dashboard page.
  • FIX: Minor translation, misc CSS, UI, and PHP coding updates.

And There You Have It!

Eager to leverage the newest Charitable features for your non-profit? Update Charitable to the latest version on your WordPress site today to maximize your fundraising and streamline donations.

If you haven’t started using Charitable yet, now is the perfect time to begin! Enhance your WordPress site with Charitable Pro and take your non-profit’s fundraising to the next level using the best plugin for donations and donor management in the market.

Of course, we can’t end this without thanking our awesome community – made up of so many varieties of charitable organizations -for making this update possible. We’re truly grateful for your continued support and feedback. Your dedication to fundraising inspires us.

Remember to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter/X for the latest news and updates.

(Hint: We’ve got more updates and surprises coming up for you, so stay tuned!)

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. We only recommend products that we believe will add value to our readers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get free tips and resources right in your inbox, along with 60,000+ others

Join our Newsletter

We won’t spam you. We only send an email when we think it will genuinely help you. Unsubscribe at any time!

Featured Video:

Watch more videos on our YouTube channel.

What's New In Charitable

View The Latest Updates
🔔 Subscribe to get our latest updates
📧 Subscribe to Emails

Email Subscription

Join our Newsletter

We won’t spam you. We only send an email when we think it will genuinely help you. Unsubscribe at any time!

automation Improvement

🔌 Charitable Meets Zapier: Connect to 7,000+ Apps and Automate Your Fundraising

Tired of manually copying donation data into accounting sheets or tracking down new donor signups? Put your administrative tasks on autopilot. Charitable is now officially on Zapier, giving you a powerful, no-code way to plug your fundraising directly into the rest of your favorite tools.

Every donation, donor signup, and campaign milestone can now trigger an automated workflow seamlessly.

What’s New:

♾️ Connect to 7,000+ Apps: Bridge your Charitable campaigns with everyday software like Google Sheets, QuickBooks, Slack, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Notion, Airtable, and thousands more.

⚡ 12 Powerful Triggers: Build deep workflows using smart automation triggers covering the entire donation lifecycle—including New Donation, New Donor, Subscription Cancelled, and Campaign Goal Reached.

📋 Pre-Built Action Templates: Get started in three minutes or less with our pre-made template combinations, like automatically logging new donations straight into a Google Sheet or firing custom donor welcome emails through Gmail.

🚫 Zero Code Needed: No complex webhooks or custom PHP scripts required. Just pick your trigger, choose your app, map your fields, and let Zapier handle the heavy lifting.

Ready to save hours of admin time? Grab Charitable Pro with the Automation Connect addon today and launch your first Zap!

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.
Improvement Payments

🚀 Introducing PayPal Commerce: One Connection, Six Ways to Donate

Donors expect modern, flexible payment options when they support a cause. If they don’t see their preferred method on your donation form, they often disappear without a word. With PayPal Commerce, we are bringing a completely modernized checkout experience right to your campaigns.

Enjoy a single integration that upgrades your forms, makes giving seamless, and helps you capture every single donation.

What’s New:

🔌 One-Click Connection: Skip messy API keys and developer docs. Simply click “Connect with PayPal,” sign in to your business account, and your modern form is live in under five minutes.

💳 Six Ways to Give: Give your supporters instant access to PayPal balance, Venmo (US), Pay Later financing, major credit/debit cards, Apple Pay (Safari), and Google Pay (Chrome) all from the exact same form.

🔄 Flexible Recurring Giving: Fully supports monthly giving. Choose between the PayPal Subscriptions API (handled automatically on PayPal’s end) or Vault + Cron (handled securely right on your site).

💬 Friendly Error Recovery: No more confusing browser alerts. If a payment is declined, donors see plain-language, inline messages that guide them on how to fix the issue and complete their gift.

Ready for PayPal, modernized? Update to Charitable Pro 1.8.15+ (or Charitable Lite 1.8.11+) and connect your account today!

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.
Campaigns New

⏳ Campaign Countdown: Drive Urgency and Lift Donations

Urgency is one of the most powerful tools in fundraising! Meet Campaign Countdown—a live, real-time timer built to turn procrastination into immediate generosity.

campaign_countdown_animation

What’s New:

⏱️ Live, Real-Time Urgency: Beautifully track days, hours, minutes, and seconds down to your campaign’s deadline w/ live-updating visual countdowns.

🎨 Tailored to Your Look: Choose between Boxed bordered tiles or a clean, single-line Inline display. Match your theme instantly with font and deep color controls.

🛠️ Place it Anywhere: Drop the countdown anywhere you like using the Campaign Builder field, a dedicated Gutenberg block, or a simple shortcode.

🚨 Smart Expiry Actions: Total control over the end state—choose to automatically replace the timer with a custom message, freeze it at zero, and more.

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.
Improvement Migrations

↔️ Importing From GiveWP, Donorbox, GiveButter… even CSV!

Whether you’re migrating from another platform or consolidating your records, moving your data to Charitable is now faster and more flexible than ever. We’ve streamlined the process so you can bring over your entire fundraising history in just a few clicks.

🔄 Native GiveWP, Donorbox, & GiveButter Support: Switching from a major platform? Our dedicated migration tools handle the heavy lifting, automatically mapping your donors and donations directly into Charitable—no technical skills required.

📂 Universal CSV Import: Moving from a custom system or a specialized CRM? If you can export it to a CSV, you can import it here. Our smart mapping tool lets you align your columns to Charitable fields like names, emails, phone numbers, and addresses in seconds.

Instant Donor Profiles & Custom Tags: Automatically create rich donor profiles and bring in custom tags to keep your data organized. Segment and engage your supporters from day one with a clean, professional database structure.


Ready to make the switch?

Check out our GiveWP Migration Guide

Learn more about our Import Tools

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.
Improvement Payments

💳 New Braintree Features For Your European Donors

With the release of Braintree addon version 1.3.0, you can now empower your European donors with the payment methods they trust and prefer, making giving seamless for international supporters.

🌍 Six New European Payment Methods: Support popular local options like iDEAL (Netherlands), Bancontact (Belgium), BLIK (Poland), and more to meet donors where they are.

⚡ Frictionless Donor Experience: These bank-based methods allow donors to authenticate directly with their own bank in a secure popup… no credit card numbers required.

⚙️ Automatic Currency Sync: No complex setup needed. The builder automatically displays the correct payment buttons based on your site’s currency (EUR or PLN), ensuring a relevant experience for every visitor.

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.