Charitable Documentation

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

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Donor Management

Recurring Donations

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Integrations

Extensions

Setting Up Payment Gateways

Getting your payment gateways set up is one of the most important steps in launching your fundraising campaign with Charitable.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to enable, connect, and configure your payment gateways in Charitable, so you’re ready to start accepting donations right away.

Payment Gateways in Charitable

Charitable supports a wide range of popular gateways so you can offer donors the options they trust and prefer. 

Charitable provides four payment gateways out of the box:

In addition, you can purchase gateway extensions for the following payment gateways:

If you’d like a video walkthrough, watch our tutorial below that covers step-by-step details from setting up a campaign to accepting payments.

Below, we’ll show you how to enable and disable gateways as well as set up specific gateways for your site.

How to Enable Payment Gateways

You can enable or disable your payment gateway with just a click. Go to Charitable » Settings and open the Payment Gateways tab.

Charitable payment gateway settings

To enable a gateway, click on the Enable Gateway button in its block.

Once a gateway is activated, this button is replaced by a Disable Gateway button that can be clicked to turn off the payment gateway.

Configuring gateway settings

When you enable a gateway, a green Gateway Settings button will appear for that gateway. Click on this button to enter the settings for that specific gateway.

On the next page, you may either need to sign into your payment gateway account or add API keys to get connected.

Access gateway-specific documentation for details about setting up your chosen gateway(s). Choose your gateway from the list below:

Using Offline Donations

With Charitable, you can easily accept and manage offline donations, like checks, cash, or bank transfers, right alongside your online gifts.

Enable Offline Donations in your payment gateway settings.

Enable offline donations

Use the Gateway Settings button to go to the next page, where you can clearly explain how donors can give by check or bank transfer directly on the donation form.

You can add custom instructions (e.g., who to make checks payable to, where to send them, or bank details for wire transfers).

Add instructions for offline donations

Once you receive an offline donation, add it manually in your Charitable dashboard so it’s counted toward your goals and included in your reports.

When you record an offline donation, Charitable can send a personalized email receipt (just like with online donations), making every supporter feel appreciated.

All your donations—online and offline—will appear in your reports, so you always have a complete view of your fundraising progress.

Learn how to set up Offline Donations here »

Using Easy Digital Downloads gateways

With our EDD Connect extension, all donations are made through the EDD checkout. You can manage your payment gateways through the EDD Settings; Charitable’s gateways will not be used.

Find out more: EDD Connect Documentation

Get More Information

Here are some of the more popular “how to” guides and help articles for you:

Want more fundraising tips and nonprofit advice?

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No fluff, just actionable advice from people who understand the challenges you face every day.

FAQs on Payment Gateways in Charitable

Which payment gateways does Charitable support?

Charitable includes Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Offline Donations by default. For additional options, we offer premium extensions for Authorize.Net, Braintree, Mollie, GoCardless, Windcave, Payfast, Payrexx, Paystack, and PayUMoney to match your donors’ preferred payment methods.

What’s the difference between Charitable Lite and Pro?

Charitable offers a Lite version, which is free to use. You’ll only incur a 3% fee on your transactions from our end. We also offer a Charitable Pro plugin that comes with advanced features such as recurring donations, donor management, donor portal, and much more. With Pro, there are no Charitable fees on transactions. See the difference between Charitable Lite vs Pro »

How do I upgrade to Charitable Pro?

Follow our guide here: How to Upgrade to Charitable Pro.

How do I enable or disable a payment gateway?

Navigate to the Charitable » Settings » Payment Gateways tab. Click “Enable Gateway” to activate a payment method or “Disable Gateway” to turn it off. We recommend enabling multiple gateways to give donors more payment options and reduce cart abandonment.

What’s involved in configuring my payment gateway settings?

After enabling a gateway, click the green “Gateway Settings” button to connect your account. You’ll typically need to authenticate with your payment provider or enter API keys. Test your setup with a small donation before launching your campaign to ensure everything works smoothly.

How do offline donations work with Charitable?

Enable Offline Donations to accept checks, cash, or bank transfers. Add clear instructions on your donation form explaining payment methods, mailing addresses, and bank details. When you receive offline gifts, manually record them in your dashboard to maintain accurate fundraising totals and send proper receipts.

Will my fundraising reports include both online and offline donations?

Yes, all donations—regardless of payment method—appear in your reports and count toward campaign goals. This gives you a complete picture of your fundraising progress and helps with donor stewardship and tax reporting.

What if I’m already using Easy Digital Downloads for payments?

Our EDD Connect extension integrates seamlessly with your existing EDD setup. All donations process through EDD’s checkout system using your current payment gateways, while Charitable handles the fundraising campaign management and donor tracking.

Where can I get help setting up specific payment gateways?

In this guide, we’ve provided detailed setup guides for each supported gateway, including screenshots and troubleshooting tips. These step-by-step tutorials cover common issues like API key configuration, webhook setup, and testing procedures to get you accepting donations quickly.

What should I do if donors are having trouble completing their donations?

First, test your donation process yourself to identify any issues. Common problems include outdated API keys, incorrect webhook URLs, or gateway-specific settings. Check our troubleshooting guides for your specific payment gateway, and consider enabling multiple payment options to give donors alternatives.

Are there video tutorials available? 

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

Have more questions? If you are a Lite/free user of Charitable, you can reach out to our team on the WordPress.org support forums. If you have an active license, feel free to reach out to us directly for priority support.

Still have questions? We’re here to help!

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Improvement Payments

💰 Accept Recurring Donations with Windcave and Charitable

A donor sets their gift up once on Windcave’s secure payment page, and Charitable bills every renewal after that on schedule. Why this is important:

🏦 Organizations banked in New Zealand or Australia: monthly giving on the gateway your bank already set you up with, with no second processor to onboard.
⛪ Churches taking regular tithes and offerings: congregants set their own schedule once, which is the simplest way to launch recurring church giving without a separate platform.
🌏 Groups with donors in several currencies: Windcave handles more than 20, so a supporter can give in the currency they actually hold.
📅 Operating funds rather than one-time campaigns: switch on Recurring Only mode and the one-off option disappears, so every gift to that campaign is a subscription.
🧾 Teams with no developer on staff: 3 sets of credentials pasted into a settings page, and no code anywhere.

Check out our announcement here.

automation update

⚡ Visual Automation Builder: Drag and Drop With No Code!

Charitable Automation Connect 2.3.0 introduces the Visual Automation Builder, a full-screen canvas that lays each automation out as a flow of connected cards: a trigger, optional conditions, and a list of actions that run in order.

🧩 Many actions, one trigger: Tag a donor, send an email, add a note, and fire a webhook from a single event, dragged into any order.

✉️ Act inside Charitable: New Send Email, Tag Donor, and Add Donor Note actions run with no external service required.

🔤 Merge tags: Personalize emails and notes with live fields like {first_name}, {total}, and {campaign_name}.

🔁 Apply to existing donors: Run Tag Donor and Add Donor Note against the donors you already have.

🖥️ Canvas or Simple: Switch views anytime, and automations built before 2.3.0 keep working unchanged.

Read more here.

Integration updated

📬 Introducing Brevo for Charitable: Turn Donors into Subscribers Automatically

The moment a supporter makes a gift is when they are most engaged. With the new Brevo integration for Charitable, you can automatically turn those one-time donors into long-term subscribers without touching a single spreadsheet.

Simply collect donor consent right on your donation form and start your welcome series immediately.

What’s New:

🔄 Automated Subscriber Sync: New donors who opt in are added straight to your Brevo contact list as soon as their payment clears—no manual exports or CSV imports required.

🎯 Granular Consent & Opt-In Control: Customize your checkbox label, choose whether it defaults to checked or unchecked, or turn on Brevo double opt-in to keep your list clean and compliant.

📋 Per-Campaign List Mapping: Route supporters to your global email list or map specific campaigns to targeted Brevo lists to tailor your follow-up messaging.

⚡ 5-Minute Setup: Connect instantly by pasting your Brevo API key into the Newsletter settings, map your contact fields, and start building your email list on autopilot.

Ready to grow your mailing list? Brevo is available now starting on the Charitable Plus plan—connect your account today!

recurring donations updated

💳 Introducing Card Updates: Fix Expired Cards Without Losing Subscriptions!

newExpired or updated credit cards are one of the biggest silent leaks in recurring fundraising. With Card Updates in the Recurring Donations extension, donors can now refresh their payment details directly—keeping their subscription, schedule, and giving history completely intact.

No canceled plans, no lost history, and zero administrative headache for your team.

What’s New:

⚡ 30-Second Self-Service: Donors get a dedicated “Update Card” button in their dashboard that opens Stripe’s secure, PCI-compliant Customer Portal to update card details instantly.

🔒 Scoped & Safe Access: Scoped exclusively to card updates by default, donors can’t accidentally cancel or alter their plans from inside the portal, keeping your webhooks and data in sync.

🤝 Admin-Assisted Support: Helping a donor on the phone? Open their secure Stripe portal in one click from your admin screen or generate a single-use update link to email them.

📋 Automatic Audit Trail: Every payment method update is recorded automatically with a timestamp in both system-wide logs and the individual donor’s profile.

Ready to protect your recurring revenue? Get the Plus or Pro plan and update Recurring Donations to 2.3.0+ and enable “Update Payment Method” under your Settings today!

Integration page builder

Divi Fans Rejoice! Native Divi 5 Campaign Progress Bar Module!

With our new native Divi 5 module, you can anchor your microsites with real-time fundraising stats directly on the visual canvas. Here’s how it works, and why it’s worth turning on today.

Create campaign updates that are VISUAL AND LIVE. You can also:

📊 Campaign Progress Bar: Drop a live progress bar into any Divi 5 layout and show goal progress in real time.

🎨 Deep styling controls: Easily customize the bar and track color, height, and radius to match your brand perfectly.

👁️ Visual Builder ready: Configure and preview everything directly on the Divi canvas as a first-class module.

🔁 Identical rendering: The same exact engine powers this module, meaning consistent design without legacy shims.

✅ Faster launches: Never leave the Divi 5 interface to configure shortcodes or guess how your goal labels will look.

Learn more here.

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