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Charitable 1.5: Ready for Testing

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After months of development, Charitable 1.5 is nearly ready for release. This is the first major release of 2017, and includes tons of new features and a myriad of improvements and bug fixes.

But we need your help! We need as many people as possible to test it now, before release.

Click here to download the beta.

Note: Since this is a beta version, there are likely to be bugs and some rough edges, so we recommend using it on a staging or development site for now. Any bugs or issues can be reported on GitHub.

Highlights

Donation Form shortcode

Need a simple way to add your campaign’s donation form to a different page? Now you can:

[charitable_donation_form campaign_id=123]

Just replace “123” with the ID of your campaign. Wondering how to find that? Go to Charitable > Campaigns and you’ll see the campaign ID listed in the left-most column.

Create and edit donations in the WordPress dashboard

It’s super simple to add donations manually via the WordPress dashboard now.

You can also edit donations, and emails like donation receipts and admin notifications can be resent.

New emails for offline donations

One gotcha with offline donations in Charitable has always been that the donation receipt and notification for administrators are only sent for Paid donations. Since offline donations enter the system as Pending donations, this has always been a problem, one that many people have worked around with some small code snippets we have provided.

In Charitable 1.5, you won’t need any extra code to send receipts and notifications for offline donations when they are received. Two new emails have been created for offline donations, allowing you to send a donation receipt and notification immediately, while the donation is still Pending. You can also include the offline payment instructions in the offline donation receipt:

[charitable_email show=offline_instructions]

That’s just a minimal overview of what’s new in this release. For a full overview, click here to view the changelog.

author avatar
Eric Daams

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🧡 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.

author avatar
Eric Daams
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💵 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.

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Eric Daams
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👉🏻 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.

author avatar
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Display your causes with style and make it easier than ever for donors to find the right campaign. We are excited to announce the brand-new Campaign Showcase, a powerful, no-code tool designed to help you create beautiful, high-converting campaign grids and carousels.

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Your mission deserves to be seen. With the Campaign Showcase, you can move beyond simple lists and create dynamic displays that highlight your most urgent needs, helping donors connect with the causes they care about most.

⚡ No-Code Customization: Effortlessly change layouts, columns, and styles with a single click. Whether you want a clean grid or an interactive carousel, you can match your organization’s look without any CSS or JavaScript.

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💰 Quick Donate Integration: Boost your conversions with instant giving. The Showcase allows donors to contribute via a modal popup directly from the display, featuring pre-selected amounts for a faster, friction-free experience.

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The Ultimate Engagement Tool

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📣 Easy Storytelling: Quickly post text updates, milestones, or field reports to show exactly how donations are being put to work, keeping the momentum alive throughout your fundraiser.

🏗️ Visual Builder Integration: Seamlessly add the Updates block anywhere on your page using our drag-and-drop builder, or use a simple shortcode to display news in widgets and sidebars.

📩 Build Donor Trust: By consistently sharing progress and success stories, you create a transparent giving experience that encourages recurring support and deeper community involvement.

author avatar
Eric Daams