Charitable Documentation

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

Setting Up Square Webhooks

Would you like Charitable to receive real-time updates when a payment is completed or refunded through Square? With Square webhooks enabled, your forms can stay in sync with Square so payment statuses are always up to date.

This guide will show you how to easily connect Square webhooks with Charitable, ensuring your website stays in sync with your Square activities.

Before you get started, be sure to install Charitable on your WordPress site. After that, connect your site to your Square account.

Understanding Webhooks

Webhooks are a way for Square to notify Charitable when an event happens in your account, like a payment being updated or refunded. Once enabled, Charitable listens for these events so your site can reflect changes in payment status automatically.

With Square webhooks set up, you don’t need to manually check or update your form entries after a transaction is processed. Whether a payment goes through, is refunded, or partially returned, your Charitable dashboard will stay up to date based on the latest information from Square.

Enabling Webhooks in Charitable

Here are the steps we’ll follow in this guide:

Step 1: Enabling Square Payments

To get started, open your WordPress admin area and go to Charitable » Settings » Gateway Payments tab.

Here, you’ll see a list of available payment gateways that you can enable/disable with just a click. In case Square payments has not yet been enabled, click on the ‘Enable Gateway’ button here.

Once enabled, a green ‘Gateway Settings’ button will appear. Click on it to go to the next step.

Step 2: Connecting to Square

On the Square Gateway Settings page, you’ll see a Connection Status section with a button that reads “Connect to Square Account”. Select it and it will open up the Square login page.

Connect to Square

Enter your credentials and log in to your Square account. You’ll see a page that asks you to grant permission to Charitable.

Select “Allow” and Charitable will sync with Square.

Grant permission in Square

When connected, you’ll be directed back to the Square Gateway Settings page in Charitable.

Charitable will automatically fetch your business locations, and you can select them from a dropdown menu here. This gives you the ability to switch locations as and when you need.

Business location in Charitable Square

Step 3: Enabling Webhooks in Square

We’ve made it as easy as possible to enable webhooks with Square. It’s just a copy and paste. Simply follow the steps below.

First, in the same Square Gateway Settings page, you’ll see an Enable Webhooks section.

Here, there is a webhook URL available. You’ll need to add this inside your Square dashboard. Click on the clipboard icon to quickly copy it.

Grab the webhook url in Charitable

Go to your Square dashboard, and open the Webhooks » Subscriptions tab.

Here, you’ll see all the webhooks you’ve set up.

Webhook subscriptions in Square

Choose the ‘Add subscription’ button to create a new webhook.

Add subscription

Now, you can add a name for your webhook so you can easily recognize it in the future.

Below that, paste the URL you copied.

Add webhook in Square settings

Now there’s one more step here. You’ll see a list of Events below this.

You’ll need to select 5 specific events here:

  • invoice.payment_made
  • oauth.authorization.revoked
  • payment.created
  • payment.updated
  • refund.created
Choose webhook subscriptions in square

You can find the events required inside your Charitable dashboard. Below the webhook URL you copied, you’ll see the list of required webhook subscriptions.

Required webhooks

Once you’ve chosen these events in your Square dashboard, hit the ‘Save’ button at the top to save your new webhook.

Save button in Square webhooks

That’s it! You’ve connected your Charitable account to Square webhooks.

Now you can go to the Webhooks » Subscriptions tab., and you’ll see the webhook you’ve just set up.

Webhook appears in dashboard

Make sure you ‘Save Changes’ inside the Square Gateway Settings page in your WordPress admin panel as well.

We recommend making one or two test donations to make sure your connection is working fine.

Now, when a donor makes a contribution using Square payments, it will appear in the donation receipt like so:

Viewing Square Donations inside Charitable

When a donation is made, the transaction details will be recorded by Charitable.

You can access this under Charitable » Donations.

Here you can see all donations made through all payment gateways you’ve enabled on your site.

Charitable displays the donation details such as the name, email address, amount donated, payment gateway, campaign, and status.

This gives you a bird’s eye view of all donations received.

Square donation record

Any transactions made through the Square payment gateway will also appear in your Square dashboard under the Payments & invoices » Transactions tab, like this:

Square transaction complete

Next, we’ll show you how to issue Square refunds.

Refunding Donations Made With Square

Charitable makes it easy for you to issue refunds on any donation made through Square. Go to Charitable » Donations and edit the donation record you need to refund.

On the right taskbar, under the Donations Actions section, choose the ‘Refunded’ status from the drop down menu.

Donation record

You’ll see a checkbox appear to ‘Refund in Square automatically’. Check this box and click on the ‘Update Status’ button.

Refund Square transaction

That’s it. You’ll see the refund activity appear in the activity log on the same page.

Square donation records

The refund will be issued by Square. You can visit your Square dashboard and see that the refund payment has been made.

Refund inside Square

Now you know how to set up Square webhooks with Charitable.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are answers to some of the top questions we see about setting up Square webhooks in Charitable.

How do I enable Square payments in Charitable?

In your Charitable dashboard, go to Settings » Payment Gateways and enable the Square payment gateway. Then follow our Square Setup guide to complete the connection.

Do I need to set up webhooks for both Test Mode and Live Mode?

Yes, Square provides separate credentials for Sandbox (Test) and Production (Live) environments. Be sure to use the correct access token based on whether Test Mode is enabled in your Charitable settings.

Can I enable multiple payment gateways along with Square?

Yes, Charitable makes it possible enable multiple payment gateways. You can also enable specific gateways for different campaigns.

Next, would you like to learn more about creating campaigns in Charitable? Check out our tutorial on creating your first campaign with Charitable.

Still have questions? We’re here to help!

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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

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.

Campaigns New

🖼️ Campaign Featured Images: Pro-Level Visuals Made Simple

With the new Campaign Featured Image setting in our visual builder, you now have a single, dedicated place to manage how your fundraisers look across your entire site and beyond.

🖼️ One Image, Everywhere: Set a primary thumbnail that automatically syncs to campaign grids, lists, and shortcodes—no more relying on layout order.

📱 Social Sharing Optimized: Easily upload images at the perfect size to ensure your campaigns look stunning and professional when shared on social media.

🔍 SEO & Accessibility Ready: Add custom alt text directly within the builder to improve search rankings and ensure your mission is accessible to every supporter.

Improvement receipts

🗓️ Annual Receipts 2.0: Send Year-End Receipts to Every Donor in Minutes

You can now send annual receipts in minutes with a few clicks to all your donors.

📧 One-Click Bulk Send Wizard that guides you to sending to hundreds of donors simultaneously directly from your WordPress dashboard.

🔍 Smart “Dry Run” Mode: See exactly who will receive a receipt and who will be skipped (and why) before a single email leaves your server.

🛡️ SMTP-Aware & Limit Protection: Charitable now detects your email setup and automatically adjusts batch sizes and pauses for daily limits to ensure your emails land in inboxes.

✅ Complete Audit Trail: Dedicated system log and on the individual donor’s profile, giving you a clear history for every fiscal year.

Stop dreading tax season and start spending that time on your mission. Update to Annual Receipts 2.0 and automate your year-end reporting today.

Addon Donations Improvement

🎈Recurring Donations 2.0: Smarter Automation, Better Recovery, and More Control

We’ve completely rebuilt our Recurring Donations system to help you grow your reliable income stream while giving you (and your donors) more powerful tools than ever before.

What’s New:

🔒 Recurring-Only Campaigns: You can toggle “Recurring Only” mode in the campaign builder to hide the one-time option entirely, ensuring your supporters stay focused on long-term commitment.

📧 Automatic Payment Recovery: Our new Payment Failed Email fires automatically the moment a subscription fails.

🛠️ Self-Service Donor Control:The new Cancel Subscription Button appears directly in the donor dashboard, allowing supporters to pause or end their recurring gifts on their own terms—reducing your admin burden and payment disputes.

📊 Real-Time Revenue Insights: Track your growth, monitor active subscriptions, and see exactly how much predictable support is coming in each month at a glance.

Our new Recurring Donations addon gives you the professional-grade tools you need to grow your mission.