Charitable Documentation

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Charitable Razorpay

Charitable Razorpay lets your nonprofit accept donations through Razorpay, the leading Indian payment gateway, with built-in support for UPI and campaign QR codes. It is purpose-built for organizations serving Indian donors while still supporting international currencies for global campaigns.

Available as a free addon. Requires Charitable Pro 1.8.13.5 or later. The 1.0.0-beta-1 release is currently in beta exclusively to those who have the Charitable Pro (plugin) and the Pro plan, and your feedback during this period helps shape the general release.

Key Features

  • Accept Razorpay donations in live and test modes from a single settings panel
  • Offer UPI as a first-class payment method on the donation form for INR campaigns
  • Generate per-campaign QR codes that donors scan to give from any UPI app
  • Process recurring donations through the Charitable Recurring addon
  • Handle refunds directly from the Charitable donation record
  • Verify payments through Razorpay webhooks with HMAC signature checking
  • Brand the Razorpay popup with your own image and theme color
  • Support eight currencies: INR, USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, AED, CAD, AUD

Why Use Charitable Razorpay?

Razorpay is the dominant gateway for charities and donors in India, and UPI now drives the majority of digital donations there. With Charitable Razorpay, you can capture UPI gifts, scan-to-give QR donations, and credit and debit card payments without bolting on a third-party plugin or sending donors to an external checkout. Webhook-driven status updates mean your dashboard reflects the truth at Razorpay, even when a donor closes the browser before the redirect.

Requirements

  • Charitable Pro 1.8.13.5 or later
  • WordPress 6.2 or later
  • PHP 7.4 or later
  • A Razorpay merchant account (live and/or test mode)
  • For recurring donations: the Charitable Recurring addon

Getting Started

Activation

Upload and activate the Charitable Razorpay plugin from Plugins » Add New.

Go to Charitable » Settings » Payment Gateways.

Click Enable Gateway next to Razorpay. We recommend turning on test mode while you set this up. This will ensure that live transactions don’t go through while you aren’t ready for them.

Charitable enable payment gateway

When you activate the gateway, you’ll see a new Gateway Settings button. This takes you to the settings page where you can enter your API credentials. You can either use your live keys or test keys.

Test keys in Razorpay

Configuration

  1. In your Razorpay dashboard, generate API keys for live mode (and test mode if you want to test first).
  2. Paste the Live Key ID and Live Secret Key into the Razorpay settings tab in Charitable.
  3. In Razorpay, create a webhook pointing to the URL shown in the Webhook Secret help text on the same settings tab. Copy the webhook secret back into Charitable.
  4. Save settings. Submit a small test donation in test mode to confirm the round trip is healthy.

How donors see Razorpay on the donation form

On your campaign page, when a donor clicks to donate, they should now see Razorpay as an option in your donation form.

Razorpay on donation form

They can either add in their UPI ID on this form whcih will then be prefilled in the Razorpay payment form.

When a donor clicks the Donate button, Charitable opens the Razorpay popup with the donation amount, donor name and email pre-filled, and your branded image and theme color.

Cards, netbanking, wallet, Pay Later, and UPI options appear in the popup based on what is enabled in your Razorpay merchant account.

Razorpay gateway sample

QR codes on campaign pages

If you enable QR Code Generation, every published campaign gets a scannable QR code rendered on the campaign page (and a smaller version in the campaign sidebar layout). The QR encodes a UPI deep link to your merchant ID, with the campaign goal amount pre-filled when QR Code Amount Pre-fill is enabled. Donors can scan with any UPI app to send a gift directly to your account.

You can enable this in the same Charitable » Settings » Payment Gateways » Gateway Settings page for Razorpay.

QR-code-in-razorpay

That’s it! You’re all set to accept donations with Razorpay.

Viewing Razorpay Transactions in Charitable

Once donations come in through the Razorpay gateway, you can view them under Charitable » Donations. Here, you’ll see a list of donations along with the amount donated, campaign, date, and payment status. In the Amount Donated column, you’ll see the payment gateway used.

Razorpay donation records

You can choose to view or edit any record here. Inside, you’ll also see details of the Razorpay payment record

Razorpay donation record view

Below, we’ll discuss more configuraiton options available to you when you enable Razorpay.

Configuration Options Available for Razorpay

The Razorpay settings live at Charitable » Settings » Payment Gateways » Razorpay.

API & Webhook Credentials

SettingTypeDefaultDescription
Live Key IDtext—Your Razorpay live merchant key ID.
Live Secret Keypassword—Your Razorpay live merchant secret key.
Test Key IDtext—Your Razorpay test merchant key ID.
Test Secret Keypassword—Your Razorpay test merchant secret key. Used when Charitable test mode is on.
Webhook Secretpassword—The shared secret you create in the Razorpay webhook configuration. Without it, payment confirmations and subscription updates are silently rejected.

Donor Experience

SettingTypeDefaultDescription
Popup Imageimage—Image displayed at the top of the Razorpay popup. 80x80px recommended.
Popup Theme Colorcolor picker#2bc253Accent color used inside the Razorpay popup interface.
Phone FieldradioEnabledShow a phone number field on the donation form.
Phone Country Codeselect+1Default country code prepended to the phone field. Includes +1, +91, +44, +61, +65, +971, +33, +49, +81, +86.
Collect Billing DetailsradioDisabledCollect donor billing address information alongside payment.

UPI & QR Codes

SettingTypeDefaultDescription
Enable UPI IntegrationradioEnabledAdds the UPI payment method to the donation form for INR campaigns.
Enable QR Code GenerationradioEnabledRenders a scannable QR code on each campaign’s public page.
QR Code Amount Pre-fillradioEnabledIncludes the campaign’s goal amount in the QR code so the donor’s UPI app opens with that value.
UPI Merchant IDtext—Your registered UPI merchant ID (VPA). Required for QR code generation.

Customization

Template Overrides

The two front-end templates can be overridden by copying them into your theme:

  • templates/donation-form/upi-fields.php → your-theme/charitable/donation-form/upi-fields.php
  • templates/qr-code/qr-code-display.php → your-theme/charitable/qr-code/qr-code-display.php

Currency Handling

Razorpay supports INR, USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, AED, CAD, AUD. If your Charitable currency is set to anything outside that list, the integration falls back to INR. UPI and QR-code features are restricted to INR campaigns by Razorpay policy.

Troubleshooting Guide for Razorpay + Charitable

The Razorpay tab is missing from Payment Gateways

Confirm the addon is activated under Plugins. If it is, deactivate and reactivate it. The tab is registered on the Charitable bootstrap, so a fresh activation forces it to appear.

Donations complete in the popup but stay “Pending” in Charitable

The webhook is not reaching your site, or the webhook secret is missing. Check that the webhook URL in your Razorpay dashboard matches the one shown in the Razorpay settings help text, and that the Webhook Secret field is filled in. Make a 1 INR test donation and watch the Charitable → Tools → Logs tab to confirm the webhook arrived.

UPI fields don’t appear on the donation form

UPI is restricted to INR campaigns. Check that Charitable → Settings → General → Currency is set to Indian Rupee, and that Enable UPI Integration is on.

QR code is missing from the campaign page

Check that Enable QR Code Generation is on, that UPI Merchant ID has a valid VPA, and that the campaign currency is INR.

Refunds don’t sync back to Razorpay

Refunds initiated inside Charitable are sent to Razorpay through the API. Refunds issued in the Razorpay dashboard come back through the webhook. If a dashboard-initiated refund is not reflected, the webhook is the issue (see the second troubleshooting entry above).

Developer Resources

Hooks & Filters

  • charitable_razorpay_start (action) — Fires once after the Razorpay addon has finished loading. Useful for hooking in additional integrations.
  • charitable_razorpay_languages_directory (filter) — Filters the directory used to load translation files.
  • charitable_payment_gateway_supports (filter) — Charitable core filter; the addon hooks into this to declare recurring-donation support.

AJAX Endpoints

The addon registers several internal AJAX actions for the donation flow. They are not public API and are documented here for transparency:

  • charitable_razorpay_create_order — Creates a Razorpay order before payment.
  • charitable_razorpay_verify_payment — Verifies the signature returned by the popup.
  • charitable_razorpay_process_upi — Processes a direct UPI submission from the form.
  • charitable_razorpay_generate_qr — Generates a campaign QR code on demand.
  • charitable_razorpay_download_qr — Returns a downloadable PNG of the campaign QR code.

Webhook URL

The webhook URL Charitable expects Razorpay to call is shown inline in the Webhook Secret help text. It uses Charitable’s standard listener pattern: https://your-site.com/?charitable_listener=razorpay.

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ambassadors New

🔑 Introducing Passwordless Fundraisers: Sign Up With Just an Email!

Supporters arrive wanting to help, and then the form asks them to invent a password for a website they may only visit twice. A lot of them stop right there. Passwordless Fundraiser Accounts, new in Charitable Ambassadors 3.5.0, let a supporter start a peer to peer fundraiser with nothing but an email address. Why this is important:

  • 🔑 No password step to lose them at: Switch it on in Charitable » Ambassadors » Templates » Submit Form and the create-fundraiser form asks only for a name, an email address and a page title.
  • 👤 Still a real WordPress account: One click in one email confirms the address, signs them in and creates the account, so they can come back later to edit their story, change their photo and see who has donated.
  • 🎚️ Your call on every campaign: Each peer to peer campaign can follow the site default or override it, which matters when a campaign pays fundraisers through Stripe Connect and those people do need a password.
  • 📋 See who has not clicked yet: The Charitable » Ambassadors » Directory » Awaiting Sign-In tab lists everyone still waiting, with the campaign they joined and a Resend button, so a typo or a spam folder is something you can spot and fix.
  • 🛡️ Links a scanner cannot use up: Opening the link only shows a page, and your fundraiser is signed in when they press the button on it, so corporate email scanners never burn the link. Each one works once, expires on its own and is stored only as a hash.

Check out our announcement here.

ambassadors New

🏃 Introducing Activity: Show Progress on More Than Money!

Most peer-to-peer fundraisers are about more than the money. A read-a-thon is about minutes read, a walkathon is about miles walked, and a food drive is about meals packed. Activity for Charitable Ambassadors lets your fundraisers show that effort right beside the dollars they raise. Why this is important:

  • 🎯 Progress on what you actually count: A progress bar shows each thing you count against its own target, sitting right beside the money raised.
  • 🏅 Milestones for the yes or no things: A milestone badge marks the efforts that are simply done or not done, with no number to chase.
  • ✍️ Fundraisers log their own numbers: Your supporters enter their totals from their own pages, so the effort stops living in a spreadsheet, a comment, or nowhere at all.
  • 🤖 Some numbers count themselves: An AUTOMATIC tag appears wherever the site worked the figure out from completed donations, so you can see at a glance what nobody typed in.
  • 🧩 Set it up once, use it anywhere: You decide what gets counted one time, then choose which campaigns count it. Available now in Charitable Ambassadors 3.4.7, with no new plugin and no developer.

Check out our announcement here.

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🖨️ 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.