Charitable Documentation

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

Add Your Donation Form to a Page

Do you want to embed a donation form in a page?

When you create a donation campaign, Charitable makes it easy to add a simple donation form for that campaign anywhere on your site. This lets you show a simple donation form instead of a full-fledged fundraiser campaign.

Step 1: Create a Fundraiser Campaign

Head over to your WordPress dashboard, and go to Charitable » Add New. Here, you can choose a template and customize your campaign using the drag and drop builder.

Add new campaign in Charitable

Make sure you publish and save your campaign.

If you need more detailed instructions, follow our guide on how to create your first campaign »

Step 2: Get Your Campaign ID

When you create a campaign, Charitable will assign a campaign ID to it. We’ve made this ID easily accessible in Charitable in 2 places.

1. Embed Wizard

Inside the campaign builder, make sure you Publish and Save your campaign in the top menu. Then there’s an Embed button which you can use to open the Embed Wizard.

Embed wizard with shortcode

Click on the ‘Use a shortcode” link and the campaign ID will appear.

2. Campaigns Tab

You can also find the campaign ID by going to Charitable » Campaigns. You will see the ID listed below the campaign name.

campaign ID

Now that you have your campaign ID, all that’s left to do is add it where you want it to appear.

Step 3: Add the Shortcode to the Post or Page

Edit the page or post in your WordPress site where you want to place the donation form.

Now you can add your donation form using this shortcode:

[charitable_donation_form campaign_id=123]

Replace ‘123’ with the ID of your campaign.

That’s it. You now have a simple donation form that you can share with your donors.

Not yet created your donation form? Watch how to create a donation form in Charitable here:

Want to change the donation form template on your site? Follow this guide: How to Switch Donation Form Templates »

Fundraising Tips and Advice

We regularly share practical guides, proven strategies, and insider tips to help you raise more funds and build stronger donor relationships. Join thousands of nonprofits who get our best content delivered straight to them:

FAQs for Charitable Donation Form Templates

What are the available donation form templates in Charitable?

In Charitable, you can choose between two premade donation form templates: the Standard template and the Minimal view template. To switch templates, navigate to the WordPress dashboard and go to Charitable » Settings. Under the General tab, open the Donation Form page, and use the Form Template dropdown menu to select your desired template.

Can I customize the appearance of my donation forms? 

Yes. You can customize colors, form templates (standard or minimal), and field display options. You can also use custom CSS and code snippets.

I made changes to settings but they’re not showing up. What should I do? 

Always click “Save Changes” after making any modifications. If changes still don’t appear, try clearing your website cache if you’re using a caching plugin.

What’s the difference between displaying donation forms “on the same page” vs “on a separate page”?

  • Same page: The donation form appears directly on your campaign page
  • Separate page: Donors are redirected to a dedicated donation page
  • Modal: The form appears in a popup overlay

Choose based on your preference for user experience and page design.

I’m completely new to Charitable. Where should I start? 

Follow this Getting Started guide here and start with the Setup Wizard that appears when you first install Charitable. It takes about 5 minutes and will guide you through the essential configuration steps including payment setup and creating your first campaign. If you missed the wizard, you can access all these settings manually through Charitable » Settings.

Where can I get support if I have issues?

  • Free users: Use the WordPress.org support forums
  • Pro users: Contact support directly for priority assistance
  • Documentation: Check the comprehensive documentation library
  • Community: Join the newsletter and follow social channels for tips and updates

Are there video tutorials available? 

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

We hope these FAQs help! 

Need support? Have a question? If you are a lite/free user of Charitable, you can reach out to our team on the WordPress.org support forums and our team will respond in a timely fashion. If you have an active license, feel free to reach out us directly for priority support.

You may also want to learn How to Use the Donor Management System »

Still have questions? We’re here to help!

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What's New In Charitable

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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.

ambassadors New

🖨️ 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.

Feature New

🎟️ Introducing Charitable Events: Sell Tickets Inside Your Campaigns!

Most nonprofits sell event tickets in one tool and collect donations in another, which leaves two sets of reports and a manual match at the end of the year. Charitable Events brings both together, selling tickets through the same donation forms and payment gateways you already run in Charitable. Why this is important:

  • 🎟️ Every ticket is a donation: Ticket sales run through the gateway you already use and count toward the campaign goal, with everything managed under Charitable » Events.
  • 📱 QR check-in from any phone: Each attendee gets their own QR code on the receipt, and volunteers scan at the door through a check-in link that needs no WordPress account.
  • 🧾 Receipts ready for tax time: Give each ticket type a fair market value, and Charitable puts the correct tax-deductible amount on every donor receipt.
  • 📋 Attendee details at checkout: Ask every guest for a meal choice, shirt size, or access needs, with a separate attendee record created for each ticket.
  • 🗓️ Blocks and calendars included: Three editor blocks plus Sugar Calendar and The Events Calendar support put your events where supporters already look.

Check out our announcement here.