Charitable Blog

Everything you need to know about Charitable and our team.

How to Add a Custom Text Field To A Donation Form

Adding A Custom Text Field To A Donation Form

Last updated on

  • By

Charitable donation forms can be customized in various ways thanks to Charitable’s internal API. One of the most requested features is to add one or more custom fields to the Charitable donation form. In this post we are going to show you how you can add a new field – a textbox – to your donation forms using Charitable.

Even if you’re aren’t a developer, adding code snippets are easy to do. You have the option of installing a code snippet plugin of your choice but since Charitable works great with WPCode… we will assume you are using that for this post.

Note: If you ARE a developer then you are aware code snippets can be added to the functions.php of a WordPress theme or within it’s own plugin… if you go down this route we recommend you follow our instructions on best practices for writing code with Charitable. You should also be reading our Charitable_Donation_Field documentation.

Using WPCode

The first step is to install WPCode itself. You can install and activate the free version just like you can with any other WordPress plugin. However, Charitable has an easier built-in process. Please read our documentation on installing and browsing code snippets with WPCode.

Code Snippet Library

All the code snippets we will share in this post exist in the Charitable’s code library at WPCode. You don’t have to use WPCode to take advantage of the code snippets and examples in this library… you can copy and paste various code samples of your choice from the plugin into your text editor or other application. So we recommend you bookmark: Charitable’s code library at WPCode.

Adding A Text Field

In our first example we are going to start off with with a simple textbox to our donation form. Search for “textbox” in Charitable’s code snippet page in the plugin or copy and paste the code below into your code editor.

This code exists here in Charitable’s code library at WPCode.

/**
 * Shows how to add a custom text box in a donation form.
 * In this example, we are adding a text box to collect a special referral code that the admin can read later.
 *
 * This snippet only works in Charitable 1.5 or above.
 *
 */
function wpchar_charitable_register_new_text_field() {
    /**
     * Define a new text field.
     */
	
	if ( ! class_exists("Charitable_Donation_Field" ) ) {
		return;
	};
		
    /* Create the Donation Field instance. */
    $field = new Charitable_Donation_Field(
        'my_custom_field',
        array(
            'label'          => __( 'Referral Code' ), // what text shows up in the donation form.
            'data_type'      => 'meta', 
            'value_callback' => false,
            'donation_form'  => array(
                'type'       => 'text',  // the type of field to show in the donation form (text, checkbox, etc.)
                'required'   => false,   // whether the field is required.
                'show_after' => 'phone', // the field to show this one after.
            ), 
            'admin_form'     => true,
            'show_in_meta'   => true,
            'show_in_export' => true,
            'email_tag'      => array( // the tag to use in email notifications (make false to not add this to tags.
                'description' => __( 'The custom field value' ),
            ),
        )
    );

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

}

add_action( 'init', 'wpchar_charitable_register_new_text_field' );

Here are the key fields to customize:

  • Label. Change the “My Custom Field” text within the quotes to what you want this to say to donors who see this field in the public donation form.
  • donation_form -> type. This is the type of donation field (text, select, checkbox, datepicker etc.). See our documentation for a full list of supported donation field types.
  • donation_form -> required. If you want this field to be required, set it to true.
  • email_tag. If you want to include the value entered into this field in your email with an email tag in Charitable, add a description here so you can see it appear in the email settings. By default, Charitable uses the key value as the tag (‘my_custom_field’ in this case).

Once this code (via the Charitable snippet screen or by copy and pasting the code) is in WPCode, make sure you give it a descriptive title, make sure the code type is “PHP snippet”, and that you’ve selected auto-insert/run everywhere. Make the snippet active/enabled.

One this is active, visit a donation form (either generated automatically by Charitable or via a shortcode).

You should see something like this:

Congrats! You’ve added your referral code textbox. 🎉

Viewing Custom Data In A Donation

As a reminder, if you have “admin_form” true in your snippet you can view this information in any donation edit screen. If “show_in_export” was left true in the snippet above, you should also see this value exported in the CSV donation data in Charitable as well.

Looking Ahead

If you are a developer or comfortable with adding the code above you should check out our Charitable_Donation_Field documentation and the Donation Fields API for additional and deeper customization… and don’t forget to browse Charitable’s code library at WPCode.

Please let us know if you want any posts or documentation upon a particular subject and feel free to reach out to support! We would love to hear feedback!

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. We only recommend products that we believe will add value to our readers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get free tips and resources right in your inbox, along with 60,000+ others

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!

Featured Video:

Watch more videos on our YouTube channel.

What's New In Charitable

🔔 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!

Integration New

Add Image Galleries to Fundraising Campaigns With Envira Gallery

Showcase the impact of your mission like never before. We are excited to announce our brand-new integration with Envira Gallery, the best WordPress gallery plugin, designed to help you tell your story through powerful, high-performance visuals.

The Ultimate Storytelling Experience

A picture is worth a thousand words – and now, it’s worth even more for your fundraising. Connect your visual impact directly to your cause by creating stunning, responsive galleries that engage donors and drive contributions.

🖼️ Visual Impact: Easily create beautiful, fast-loading galleries to show your nonprofit’s work in action, from field reports to event highlights.

🔗 Seamless Connection: Link gallery images directly to your fundraising campaigns, making it effortless for inspired visitors to go from viewing a photo to making a donation.

📱 Perfectly Responsive: Whether your donors are on a phone, tablet, or desktop, your galleries will look professional and load lightning-fast, ensuring a smooth experience on every device.

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.
Integration New

👉🏻 New Divi Integration In Charitable Pro

Bring the power of Charitable directly into your favorite page builder and maintain total creative control with our brand-new Divi integration.

The Ultimate Design Experience

No more switching back and forth or relying on complex shortcodes. Use dedicated Divi modules to build, style, and launch high-converting donation pages without ever leaving the Divi Builder.

⚡ Native Divi Modules: Effortlessly drag and drop your donation forms, progress bars, and campaign details exactly where you want them.

⚙️ Visual Customization: Tweak colors, fonts, and spacing using Divi’s familiar design settings to ensure your fundraiser matches your brand perfectly.

🚀 Live Visual Editing: See your changes in real-time. What you see in the builder is exactly what your donors will see, ensuring a seamless giving experience every time.

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.
donation form New

👉🏻 New Campaign Selector For Donation Forms

Take your campaign management to the next level. Find the perfect fundraiser for any page and stay in your creative flow with our new Campaign Selector integration.

The Ultimate Selection Tool

No more hunting for IDs or creating one page for every donation form. Use the new Campaign Selector to allow users to switch to a campaign with no code.

⚡ Instant Search: Quickly find any campaign leaving your page or post.

⚙️ Editor Agnostic: Whether you’re using the Block Editor, Elementor, or WPBakery, selecting your campaigns is now a unified experience.

🚀 Real-Time Previews: See exactly which campaign you’ve selected instantly, ensuring your donors always see the right cause.

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.
Integration New

WordPress Command Palette Integration

Take your fundraising workflow to the next level. Speed up your site management and stay in your creative flow with our new WordPress Command Palette integration.

Supercharge Your Workflow
Navigate your fundraising dashboard faster than ever.

The Ultimate Keyboard Shortcut Hit Cmd + K (or Ctrl + K) to launch the Command Palette and manage your campaigns instantly.

⚡ Instant Navigation: Jump directly to your Campaigns, Donations, or Settings from anywhere in the editor.

➕ Quick Create: Start a new fundraising campaign or add a manual donation with a single command.

Efficiency Redefined
The tools you need, exactly when you need them.

⚙️ Contextual Actions: See relevant Charitable commands based on whether you’re editing a page or viewing your reports.

🚀 Seamless Integration: Built directly into the WordPress core experience for a lightweight, native feel.

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.
Improvement New Security

📣 New Security Features

We’ve introduced a suite of new security tools to give you total control over who accesses your forms, plus a new way to tidy up your database.

Advanced Security Suite

Layered protection: Cloudflare, ReCAPTCHA, IP Controls, and Rate Limiting.

We have overhauled our security settings to stop bots without blocking real donors.

  • 🤖 Flexible Protection: Choose between Google reCAPTCHA v3 or the privacy-first Cloudflare Turnstile to block bots invisible.

  • 🚦 Rate limiting: Stop spam floods by limiting how many submissions an IP address can make in a set timeframe.

  • 🛑 Total control: Use the new IP Blacklist to block bad actors instantly, or the IP Whitelist to let your team bypass checks during testing.

The Clean Donation Tool

Go from “Testing” to “Live” in seconds.

Finished setting up your site and need to get rid of all those test transactions?

  • 🧹 Sweep it clean: Bulk delete test donations and donor records with a single click.

  • 📉 Accurate reporting: Ensure your revenue stats are 100% accurate for launch day.

  • ⚙️ Reset sequences: Automatically resets sequential invoice numbering.

author avatar
David Bisset Project Manager
David is the project manager of Charitable since 2022. David works with several non-profits (one operated by his wife) along with managing and developing features, support, and marketing for Charitable. Has been with WordPress since 2006 and has been lead organizer of multiple conferences, events, and meetups.