Charitable Documentation

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

Charitable_Donation_Field

The Charitable_Donation_Field class allows you to create new donation fields or edit existing ones.

Table of Contents

Usage

Create a new donation field

If you want to add a new donation field, you will first need to create a new Charitable_Donation_Field instance, and then register it in the Donation Fields Registry.

add_action( 'init', function() {

    /* Create the Donation Field instance. */
    $field = new Charitable_Donation_Field(
        'my_custom_field',
        array(
            'label'          => __( 'My Custom Field' ),
            'data_type'      => 'meta', 
            'value_callback' => false,
            'donation_form'  => array(
                'type'       => 'text',
                'required'   => false,
                'show_after' => 'phone',
            ), 
            'admin_form'     => true,
            'show_in_meta'   => true,
            'show_in_export' => true,
            'email_tag'      => array(
                'description' => __( 'The custom field value' ),
            ),
        )
    );

    /* Register it. */
    charitable()->donation_fields()->register_field( $field );
} );

Get an existing donation field

If you want to edit or change an existing donation field, the best way to do this is by getting the registered donation field object.

You can then use set() or the magic setter to update the field definition, or use the magic getter to get information about the field.

/* Get the Donation Fields Registry. */
$fields = charitable()->donation_fields();

/* Get the Phone field. */
$field = $fields->get_field( 'phone' );

/* Change the label (magic setter). */
$field->label = 'Mobile No.';

/* Change the field to be required. */
$field->set( 'donation_form', 'required', true );

/* Print out the field's label (magic getter). */
echo $field->label;

Properties

field (string)

The field’s key, or identifier. Every field must have a unique key.

label (string)

The field’s label. This is a description of the field. This is what will be used in the donation form (unless you specifically override it in the donation_form argument), in the admin donation details area and in the donations export as the column header.

data_type (string)

The type of data that this field represents. There are two main options, with a third used mostly for internal Charitable purposes:

  • user: This is information that is specific to the donor, and will generally remain true for the donor in subsequent donations. Examples of this would include their name, phone number, etc.
  • meta: This is information that is specific to the donation. An example of this would be the payment gateway used for the donation, or whether the donor would like this donation to be made anonymously.
  • core: This is used primarily for internal purposes and should not be used in most cases. If you do use it, you will need to make sure you write additional code for storing the field value, as well as for getting it back from the database.

value_callback (false|callable)

How the field’s value will be retrieved. If you leave this out or set it to false, the default callback will be used based the field’s data type:

  • For a meta field, the default value callback is charitable_get_donor_meta_value.
  • For a user field, the default value callback is charitable_get_donation_meta_value.

You can specify your own value callback by passing your own function’s name, an array representing an object method [$class_name, $method_name], or an anonymous function.

donation_form (false|array)

How/whether the field will be included in the donation form. If this is left out or set to false, the field will not be included in the donation form at all. When passing an array, the following arguments are available:

  • label (string)
    The label shown in the donation form. If this is left out, the field’s label property will be used.
  • type (string)
    The type of field. Options include:
    • text
    • email
    • password
    • date
    • datepicker
    • checkbox
    • multi-checkbox
    • select
    • radio
    • file
    • fieldset
    • editor (uses the classic WordPress Editor)
    • textarea
    • number
    • picture
    • url
    • hidden
  • required (boolean)
    Whether this is a required field.
  • options (array)
    Provide a set of options. This is required when type is one of select, radio or multi-checkbox. These should be provided in a simple value => label array, where the label is what people see when they select an option, and value is what gets stored in the database.
  • default (mixed)
    The default value for this field.
  • placeholder (string)
    A placeholder shown in the field when it’s empty.
  • min (int)
    Set the minimum allowed number. Only applicable if type is number.
  • max (int)
    Set the maximum allowed number. Only applicable if type is number.
  • attrs (array)
    An array of arbitrary attributes to be added to the input field.
  • section (string)
    The section of the donation form this should appear in. There are two sections by default: user and meta. If this is not set, the section will be based on the field’s data type.
  • show_before (string)
    Sets where the field should be added in the donation form by specifying the field it should appear before.
  • show_after (string)
    Sets where the field should be added in the donation form by specifying the field it should appear after.
  • priority (int)
    Set the position of the field within the form. This is used unless show_after or show_before are set for the field. If priority, show_after and show_before are not set, the field will be shown after the most recently registered form field.
  • value_callback (false|callable)
    A callback function to retrieve the value of the field for a donation. This will override the value_callback setting for the field.

admin_form (boolean|array)

Sets whether the field should be shown in the admin donation form.

  • If this is set to false, the field will not be shown in the admin donation form (not even as a hidden input).
  • If this is set to true, the form field will inherit arguments from the donation_form (if provided), or use default arguments.
  • Alternatively, you can pass an array of values to fine-tune how this field is shown in the admin form (all the same arguments are accepted as for donation_form above).

show_in_meta (boolean)

Whether to include this in the “Donation Details” section of a single donation details admin page.

show_in_export (boolean)

Whether to include this in the Donations export available from Charitable > Donations.

email_tag (boolean|array)

Whether to create an email tag for this field.

  • If this is false, no email tag will be created.
  • If this is true, an email tag will be created, using the field label as the description. No preview value will be set.
  • Alternatively, pass an array for finer control over the email tag details:
    • description (string)
      The description shown for the email tag. If no description is set, the field’s label will be used.
    • tag (string)
      The email tag. If this is not provided, the field key will be used.
    • preview (mixed)
      A value to use in email previews for this field.

Methods

require()

Added in version 1.5.0

Create a new Donation Field instance.

Arguments

  • $field (string)

    The field’s unique key.

  • $args (array)

    An array containing any of the properties shown above, except for $field.

Usage

$field = new Charitable_Donation_Field(
    'my_custom_field',
    array(
        'label'          => __( 'My Custom Field' ),
        'data_type'      => 'meta', 
        'value_callback' => false,
        'donation_form'  => array(
            'type'       => 'text',
            'required'   => false,
            'show_after' => 'phone',
        ), 
        'admin_form'     => true,
        'show_in_meta'   => true,
        'show_in_export' => true,
        'email_tag'      => array(
            'description' => __( 'The custom field value' ),
        ),
    )
);

require()

Added in version 1.6.0

Change a field argument.

Arguments

  • key (string)

    The field argument to change. This can be any of the properties outlined above, except for $field: label, data_type, value_callback, donation_form, admin_form, show_in_meta, show_in_export, email_tag.

  • setting (string)

    This identifies a specific array element within one of the array-compatible arguments: donation_formadmin_formemail_tag. Note: If $key is not one of those three, leave this as an empty string.

  • $value (mixed)

    The new value for this field argument.

Usage

/* Get the State field. */
$field = charitable()->donation_fields()->get_field( 'state' );

/* Change the label to Province. */
$field->set( 'label', '', 'Province' );

/* Change the field to be required. */
$field->set( 'donation_form', 'required', true );

require()

Added in version 1.5.0

Change the field’s parameters. Unlike the set() method described above, this does not allow you to update a single element within an array-like argument (you can’t use it to easily change whether a field is required in the donation form, for example).

It’s the equivalent of calling set() with the $setting argument left as an empty string.

Note: __set() is a magic method in PHP. It is called implicitly when you try to set one of the class properties, other than $field.

Arguments

  • $key (string)

    The field argument to change. This can be any of the properties outlined above, except for $fieldlabeldata_typevalue_callbackdonation_formadmin_formshow_in_metashow_in_exportemail_tag.

  • $value (mixed)

    The new value for this field argument.

Usage

/* Get the State field. */
$field = charitable()->donation_fields()->get_field( 'state' );

/* Change the label to Province. */
$field->label = 'Province';

require()

Added in version 1.5.0

Get the field’s value for a particular argument.

Note: __get() is a magic method in PHP. It is called implicitly when you try to access a class property.

Arguments

  • $key (string)

    The field argument to retrieve.

Usage

/* Get the State field. */
$field = charitable()->donation_fields()->get_field( 'state' );

/* Print/echo the current label. */
echo $field->label;

Still have questions? We’re here to help!

Last Modified:

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!

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.

Campaigns New

🧡 Modal Donate Button: Turn Any Click into a Contribution

Instead of redirecting users to a new URL, the lightweight Modal Donation Button allows donors to complete their gift in a sleek, focused popup, keeping them engaged with your content while they support your cause.

What’s New:

  • Zero-Friction Giving: Open your donation form in a responsive modal overlay. Donors stay on the same page, reducing drop-off.

  • 🖱️ Place it Anywhere: Use the dedicated WordPress block or a simple shortcode to drop a donate button into sidebars, footers, or even mid-sentence in your storytelling.

  • 🎨 Full Design Control: Match your brand perfectly with customizable background colors, hover effects, border radius, and font sizes—all without touching a single line of CSS.

Whether you need a simple “Donate Now” link or a high-converting popup button, the Modal Donate Button gives you the flexibility to raise more with less effort.

donation form Donations New

💵 Mini Donation Widget: Show The Impact Of Every Dollar!

Not every donor who wants to give will navigate to your campaign page. Meet them exactly where they are by placing a fully functional giving experience directly on any page or post.

💬 Show the impact of every dollar: Attach custom messages to each preset amount so donors understand exactly what their gift provides.
🔄 Monthly and one-time giving: Supports a tabbed interface with independent amounts and impact statements for recurring giving programs.
🎨 Match your brand: Easily set accent colors and control size or alignment to fit the widget naturally into your layout without CSS.
⚡ Reduce donor friction: Open the donation form in a modal overlay to keep donors on the page and reduce drop-off.

Donations Live New

👉🏻 Showcase Real Momentum with the Donations Feed

Give your donors a reason to trust. Our new feed lets you display a living, breathing record of people showing up for your cause.

🤝 Build instant trust: Overcome donor hesitation by showing a proven track record of community support.
💬 Highlight donor stories: Display real donor comments and locations to show the human side of your fundraising.
🛠️ Drop it anywhere: Easily add the block to your homepage, campaign pages, or confirmation screens in seconds.
📈 Curate your feed: Group multiple donations from the same person or sort by highest amounts to encourage larger gifts.