Charitable Documentation

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

How to Switch Donation Form Templates

In Charitable, you can choose between two premade donation form templates. These templates are designed to have all the required fields you need in your donation form.

You can choose to display a standard template or a minimal view. This guide will show you how to find and switch your donation form templates.

Prerequisites

You need to have Charitable 1.8.3.6 version (or above) installed and activated on your WordPress site.

Switching Donation Form Templates

In your WordPress dashboard, open Charitable » Settings tab. Under the General tab, open the Donation Form page.

Find donation form settings page

Here, you’ll see the Form Template field where you can switch templates using the drop down menu.

By default, Charitable displays the Standard form template.

The Minimal view attempts to reduce the space taken up by the donation form. It is designed to give you a donation form that is more compact.

Donation form templates

The minimal look is best suited for when the donation form is on a separate page.

Once you’ve made your selection, scroll down and click on the Save Changes button.

How to Make The Donation Form Shorter

If you find the donation form longer than you’d like on your website, in the same settings page, right below the Donation Form template options, there is a field “Only show required fields”.

Set this to “Yes”.

This will make Charitable’s donation form a “short form”.

Not sure how to create a donation form?

Watch our tutorial here:

Fundraising Tips and Advice

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FAQs for Charitable Donation Form Templates

What are the available donation form templates in Charitable?

In Charitable, you can choose between two premade donation form templates: the Standard template and the Minimal view template.

How can I switch between donation form templates in Charitable?

To switch templates, navigate to the WordPress dashboard and go to Charitable » Settings. Under the General tab, open the Donation Form page, and use the Form Template dropdown menu to select your desired template.

What is the difference between the Standard and Minimal templates?

The Standard template includes all the required fields in a more expansive layout. The Minimal view is a more compact design, reducing space and is ideal for donation forms placed on separate pages.

What version of Charitable do I need to use these templates?

You need to have Charitable version 1.8.3.6 or above installed and activated on your WordPress site.

How can I make the donation form shorter?

In the same settings page where you choose the template, there is a “Only show required fields” option below the Donation Form template options. Set this option to “Yes” to convert Charitable’s donation form into a shorter version.

Can I customize the appearance of my donation forms? 

Yes. You can customize colors, form templates (standard or minimal), and field display options. You can also use custom CSS and code snippets.

I made changes to settings but they’re not showing up. What should I do? 

Always click “Save Changes” after making any modifications. If changes still don’t appear, try clearing your website cache if you’re using a caching plugin.

What’s the difference between displaying donation forms “on the same page” vs “on a separate page”?

  • Same page: The donation form appears directly on your campaign page
  • Separate page: Donors are redirected to a dedicated donation page
  • Modal: The form appears in a popup overlay

Choose based on your preference for user experience and page design.

I’m completely new to Charitable. Where should I start? 

Follow this Getting Started guide here and start with the Setup Wizard that appears when you first install Charitable. It takes about 5 minutes and will guide you through the essential configuration steps including payment setup and creating your first campaign. If you missed the wizard, you can access all these settings manually through Charitable » Settings.

Where can I get support if I have issues?

  • Free users: Use the WordPress.org support forums
  • Pro users: Contact support directly for priority assistance
  • Documentation: Check the comprehensive documentation library
  • Community: Join the newsletter and follow social channels for tips and updates

Are there video tutorials available? 

Yes! Subscribe to the Charitable YouTube channel for step-by-step tutorials and success stories.

We hope these FAQs help! 

Need support? Have a question? If you are a lite/free user of Charitable, you can reach out to our team on the WordPress.org support forums and our team will respond in a timely fashion. If you have an active license, feel free to reach out us directly for priority support.

Still have questions? We’re here to help!

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ambassadors New

🖨️ Introducing Fliers and Posters: Raise Money Away From the Screen!

A lot of peer-to-peer fundraising happens away from a screen: at the finish line of a 5K, on a school noticeboard, in an office kitchen. Charitable Ambassadors 3.4.7 adds 2 printables, a fundraiser flier carrying each fundraiser’s own story and QR code, and a recruitment poster that signs new fundraisers up. Both open as a normal web page and print straight from the browser. Why this is important:

  • 🏁 A flier for every fundraiser: Each one carries that fundraiser’s own photo, story and goal, with a QR code that opens their page rather than your main campaign.
  • 📌 A poster that recruits: It shows “Now Recruiting” above your campaign name with a large QR code that opens your sign-up form, so someone can start fundraising without waiting on a link from you.
  • 🪄 No design tool needed: Both printables render as a normal web page and print from the browser, with no PDF plugin and no designer.
  • 📄 2 flier layouts: Hand out carries the full story for giving to friends and family, and Post up carries a short hook with 5 tear-off tabs for a noticeboard.
  • 🛡️ Off until you switch it on: Fliers stay off after the update until you enable them under Charitable » Ambassadors » Other » Fliers, and only the owner or an administrator can open one.

Check out our announcement here.

Improvement Payments

💸 Introducing Tiered Rates for Fee Relief: Match the Ask to the Gift!

Fee Relief asks your donors one short question at checkout: would you like to cover the processing fee on this gift? Until now that question used a single rate for every donation on a gateway, so a $10 gift and a $500 gift were asked for the same percentage. Fee Relief 1.3.0 lets you set as many donation bands as you like, each carrying its own rate. Why this is important:

  • 🪙 Gentler on small gifts: A fixed transaction cost is a far bigger share of a $10 donation than a $500 one, so bands let you ask for less at the bottom.
  • 🎚️ As many bands as you need: Each band carries its own percentage and its own fixed amount, and the top band runs on with no upper limit.
  • 🛑 An optional ceiling: A Maximum fee field stops any donor being asked for more than a number you choose, however large the gift.
  • 🔌 Set per payment gateway: Stripe can run on four bands while Windcave and Payfast stay on a single rate, because bands belong to a gateway and not to your whole site.
  • 🛡️ Nothing changes until you say so: Your current rates stay exactly as they are until you switch Use Tiered Rates on under Charitable » Settings » Advanced » Fee Relief.

Check out our announcement here.

Donations Improvement

📊 Your Pro Dashboard Can Now Compare, Export, and Score!

Most fundraising dashboards only tell you how much you have raised. Charitable Pro 1.8.19 rebuilds the dashboard and the Reports Overview around the harder questions: whether anything is broken, whether this period beat the last one, and which single change would make the most difference today. Why this is important:

  • 📈 Every figure has a trend: Pick a period and the tiles and the chart move together, with each total shown against the previous period.
  • 🗓️ Charts that stay readable: Short ranges group donations day by day, while longer ranges group by week or month, so a full year reads as a curve instead of a flat line.
  • 🔀 Compare any 2 periods: Not just consecutive ones, so you can ask how this December did against last December. That matters because fundraising is seasonal.
  • 📤 Export the whole summary: Send the full overview out as CSV or PDF, ready for a board pack or a funder report.
  • 🎯 Score your setup for free: Have your fundraising setup scored, so the one change worth making next is the one you can see.

Check out our announcement here.

Feature New

🎟️ Introducing Charitable Events: Sell Tickets Inside Your Campaigns!

Most nonprofits sell event tickets in one tool and collect donations in another, which leaves two sets of reports and a manual match at the end of the year. Charitable Events brings both together, selling tickets through the same donation forms and payment gateways you already run in Charitable. Why this is important:

  • 🎟️ Every ticket is a donation: Ticket sales run through the gateway you already use and count toward the campaign goal, with everything managed under Charitable » Events.
  • 📱 QR check-in from any phone: Each attendee gets their own QR code on the receipt, and volunteers scan at the door through a check-in link that needs no WordPress account.
  • 🧾 Receipts ready for tax time: Give each ticket type a fair market value, and Charitable puts the correct tax-deductible amount on every donor receipt.
  • 📋 Attendee details at checkout: Ask every guest for a meal choice, shirt size, or access needs, with a separate attendee record created for each ticket.
  • 🗓️ Blocks and calendars included: Three editor blocks plus Sugar Calendar and The Events Calendar support put your events where supporters already look.

Check out our announcement here.

ai New

🚀 Unleash AI Power in Charitable!

Your AI assistant can now build, edit, and manage your Charitable fundraising campaigns directly — just by asking. With Charitable Pro adding write support for the WordPress Abilities API, tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor can handle full administrative actions safely through MCP. Why this is important:

  • 🤖 Campaign creation in plain language: Prompt your assistant with a goal like “Set up a fundraiser for the shelter with a $5,000 goal”, and it builds a real draft campaign complete with suggested donation tiers.
  • 🎨 Instant donation form tweaks: Add custom fields, change button colors, or reorder elements without diving into form settings.
  • 📝 Offline gift logging: Tell your assistant about cash or check gifts, and it will match donor emails and record transactions into your history.
  • 🛡️ Safety and control by default: Write access stays strictly off until turned on in Charitable » Tools » AI MCP, keeping read-only reporting safe by default.
  • 📜 Full audit logging: Every change made by an AI assistant is tracked under Charitable » Tools » Logs, so you always know who (or what) updated your site.

Check out our announcement here.