Charitable Documentation

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

Migrating from Ambassadors 2.x to 3.0

Requires: Charitable Pro 1.8.16+

Ambassadors 3.0 is a significant rework. The previous version organized settings as one sub-page under Charitable Settings; 3.0 promotes Ambassadors to a top-level admin tab with its own sub-tabs (Overview, Moderation, Directory, Invitations, General, Templates, My Campaigns, Fundraiser Page, Sharing, Misc).

Most settings kept their option keys and saved values, so your data carries forward. But the menu paths changed – and a few features have new homes.

This page is the cheat sheet for finding what moved where.

Settings Have Moved

The 2.x admin lived at:

Charitable » Settings » Ambassadors

The 3.0 admin lives at:

» Charitable » Ambassadors

That single change is what most users notice on first launch after upgrading. The “Settings” menu under Charitable still exists for other settings (Payments, Emails, Advanced, etc.), but Ambassadors is no longer one of its sub-pages.

Where Common 2.x Settings Now Live in 3.0

2.x location3.0 location
Settings > Ambassadors > GeneralCharitable > Ambassadors > General
Settings > Ambassadors > DisplayCharitable > Ambassadors > Templates (renamed)
Settings > Ambassadors > OtherSplit into Charitable > Ambassadors > Sharing and Charitable > Ambassadors > Misc
Frontend Template StyleCharitable > Ambassadors > Templates (top of the tab)
Auto-Approve CampaignsCharitable > Ambassadors > General (unchanged location, same option key)
Campaign Length Min/MaxCharitable > Ambassadors > General (unchanged)
Require Account Before SubmissionCharitable > Ambassadors > General (unchanged)
Campaign Recipients (types)Charitable > Ambassadors > General (now visual chip picker)
Share network selectionCharitable > Ambassadors > Sharing (new dedicated sub-tab, was Other > Sharing in 2.x)
My Campaigns display togglesCharitable > Ambassadors > My Campaigns (new dedicated sub-tab)
Fundraiser page togglesCharitable > Ambassadors > Fundraiser Page (new dedicated sub-tab)
Campaign Creator Donations ReportCharitable > Ambassadors > My Campaigns (moved from General sub-tab in 3.0)
QR Codes master switchCharitable > Ambassadors > Misc > QR Codes (new sub-section)

What’s New in 3.0

Six entirely new top-level tabs:

TabWhat it does
OverviewProgram-level dashboard with KPI tiles, hero chart, top performers. New in 3.0.
ModerationThe Pending / Action Required / Rejected / Approved queue. Replaces the old “Pending Submissions” admin list.
DirectoryThe full ambassador roster with profiles, verify, filters, CSV export. Replaces the implicit “Users with at least one campaign” path.
InvitationsThe personal-invite-link recruitment feature. Brand new.
My Campaigns sub-tabThe visitor-facing My Campaigns page now has its own settings sub-tab with a live preview.
Fundraiser Page sub-tabThe Enhanced layout-variant chooser, breadcrumbs, share, donor wall position, chrome cleanup. New sub-tab.

Big New Features Inside Existing Tabs

A few features that didn’t exist in 2.x at all:

FeatureLives atNotes
Setup WizardThe orange Setup prompt on Overview – or Charitable > Ambassadors > General > Setup actions > Open SetupThree completion paths (Wizard / Templates / Quick Start).
Visual Template ModeCharitable > Ambassadors > Templates > Frontend Template Style > VisualPick a template campaign whose builder layout clones to every fundraiser.
8 layout variantsCharitable > Ambassadors > Templates > Frontend Template (Enhanced)Classic, Story-Forward, Stats-Forward, Donate-First, Magazine, Showcase, Showcase Poster, Rally.
Local NotificationsPro’s bell icon4 events fire from Ambassadors.
Embed WidgetCharitable > Ambassadors > Misc > Embed WidgetOff by default; turn it on to add an Embed Widget tile to fundraiser share popovers.
CSV exportsPer-section Download buttons on Overview, Moderation, Directory, InvitationsFormula-injection-safe, capped at 10K rows.

Settings That Were Renamed

2.x name3.0 name
Frontend Template Style (under Display)Frontend Template Style (under Templates – sub-tab renamed)
“Show Donor Wall”“Donor Wall Position” (now Top / Bottom / Hide instead of On / Off)
“Show QR Code” (single setting)Split into Show QR On Fundraiser Page, Show QR Tile In Share Popover, Show QR Code (My Campaigns) – per-surface controls

Settings That Were Removed

A handful of settings were removed because they were never effective or were better expressed elsewhere:

Removed setting2.x locationWhy
Public-page elements sectionUnder the Templates / Display sub-tabCustomer-side per-variant control is now via _render_<atom>_args filters; the settings UI was clutter.
Standalone “moderation” template overridesTemplatesReplaced by the unified Moderation tab.

If your existing site relied on one of these, the corresponding filter is still in place – the UI just no longer surfaces it as a setting.

Filter and Action Renames

Most filter and action names from 2.x are unchanged in 3.0. A few exceptions:

2.x name3.0 name
charitable_ambassadors_settings_display_fieldscharitable_ambassadors_settings_display_fields (kept for backward compatibility – the tab was renamed Templates but the filter name stays for sites that hooked it).

If you had filters hooked in 2.x, they should still fire in 3.0 unless explicitly noted. Run a grep across your customizations:

grep -rn "charitable_ambassadors_" your-customizations/ | sort -u

…and cross-reference against the Hooks reference to see what’s still active and what’s been renamed.

What Stays the Same

Reassurance: most of your existing setup carries forward without changes.

  • All option keys are preserved. The wp_options.charitable_settings.ambassadors.* keys are the same. Existing customizations to those options still apply.
  • All user roles are preserved. campaign_creator still exists, still has the same caps.
  • All custom post types are preserved. Campaign post types didn’t change.
  • All shortcodes are preserved. [charitable_submit_campaign], [charitable_my_campaigns], etc. work identically.
  • All fundraiser URLs are preserved. Your existing fundraisers’ permalinks don’t change.
  • Donations data is preserved. All historical donations roll up to fundraisers and parents the same way they did in 2.x.

What To Check After Upgrading

A short list to walk through right after you upgrade:

  1. Visit Charitable > Ambassadors – confirm you land on the Overview and KPIs render.
  2. Check the Moderation tab – any pending fundraisers from 2.x should be in Pending; previously-rejected ones should be in Rejected.
  3. Check the Directory – your existing ambassadors should appear in the All view.
  4. Open the Setup Wizard once – it’ll show the path picker; you can skip past it (your existing settings are preserved) or run Quick Start to apply 3.0 defaults to any unset preferences.
  5. Sanity-check Templates > Frontend Template Style – confirm the right style is selected (Legacy / Enhanced / Visual).
  6. Run a test submission – submit a new fundraiser via /submit-campaign/ and confirm the 3-step card-grid flow works end-to-end.
  7. Run a test approval – approve the test submission from Moderation; confirm the email goes out and the audit log records the action.

If anything’s off, check Charitable Tools > Log for related entries.

Common Surprises

A few things that catch upgraders:

SurpriseWhy
“Where did Ambassadors go in Settings?”It moved to its own top-level Charitable menu item. Charitable > Ambassadors.
“My old test campaign is in ‘Rejected’ but I never rejected it.”Ambassadors 3.0 introduces the charitable-rejected post status. Old fundraisers in a never-shipped “rejected” state are reclassified to it on first save.
“There are 6 new admin sub-tabs.”Moderation, Directory, Invitations, My Campaigns, Fundraiser Page, Sharing are all new. Click through them to find each new feature.
“My QR code setting is gone.”It was split into per-surface controls. Find them under Misc (master) + the My Campaigns / Fundraiser Page sub-tabs (per-surface).
“My Campaigns looks different on the front-end.”The Enhanced template is now active by default. Settings > Templates > Legacy restores the old look.

Tips

  • Upgrade in a staging environment first. Always a good idea to use a copy of your production site to walk through the changes before customers see them.
  • Take screenshots before and after. Especially of My Campaigns and a real fundraiser page – so if anything looks off after the upgrade, you have a baseline.
  • Run the Setup Wizard at least once. Even if you skip every step, it stamps the onboarding-complete flag and hides the orange Overview prompt panel.
  • Read the 3.0 release notes. The release-notes page is the canonical changelog with linked details on every new feature.

Related

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ambassadors New

👤 Creator Profiles: Put a Face to Every Peer-to-Peer Campaign

Ambassadors 3.3.0 now provies Creator Profiles — giving your supporters a permanent, shareable public home that turns one-time fundraisers into ongoing relationships.

👤 Public Creator Pages: Give every fundraiser an instant, clean landing page at /creator/their-name/ to showcase their custom avatar, bio, and a browsable grid of their campaigns.

📊 Proof of Impact: Boost donor trust by displaying site-wide milestones on the profile—like total funds raised and total donor counts.

💳 Interactive Hover Cards: When donors hover over a creator’s name on a campaign page, a compact card expands with their bio and social handles right at the moment of decision.

📍 Responsible Location Sharing: Allow creators to safely show local supporters where they are based using only city, state, and country details.

🛠️ Self-Serve Customization: Fundraisers can update their own profiles and link up to six social networks directly from the My Campaigns hub, saving you admin time.

Ready to empower your advocates? Update to Ambassadors 3.3.0 and turn on “Enable Public Creator Page” today!

Improvement Payments

📱 Turn Mobile Scrollers Into Donors: Meet Charitable’s Mollie Upgrade

Losing mobile supporters because they hate typing out long card numbers on their phones? Charitable’s updated Mollie integration features:

⚡ One-Tap Wallet Checkout: Enable donors to complete their gifts instantly using Apple Pay or Google Pay with a simple face scan, fingerprint, or tap.

💰 No Extra PCI Burden: Skip complex domain verification and security compliance since all wallet transactions run safely through Mollie’s hosted checkout.

🛠️ Custom Cancel Routing: Keep the experience predictable by automatically sending donors who back out to your cancellation page, or use developer filters to route them to a custom page.

Visit this page to learn more.

ambassadors improved New

Moderation and Directory Screens In Ambassadors 3.0

Ambassadors 3.0 has new features: moderation and directory screens… now easily see those who are earning donations on your peer to peer network – including campaign creators that might need to be verified – all in one place. Generate reports, email ambassadors and campaign creators directly and more.

🚀 See when campaign creators and ambassadors have updated their campaigns, what donors/donation they have brought in and more.

🎉 Manually add ambassadors and campaign creators, and approve them in one-click!

Visit this page to learn more.

New Payments

⚡ Unlock India-Based Donations: Meet Charitable’s Native Razorpay Integration

Trying to collect donations in India? Charitable’s native Razorpay integration features:

⚡ Instant UPI Integration: Accept fast, local donations directly inside your form via apps like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, and BHIM without sending donors away from your site.

📲 Auto-Generated Campaign QRs: Instantly render scannable QR codes encoding a UPI deep link directly on your public campaign pages and sidebars for an effortless “scan-to-give” experience.

💰 Dual Local & Global Reach: Headline your campaigns in INR while seamlessly accepting major international currencies like USD, EUR, GBP, and CAD to maximize global support.

🔁 Seamless Recurring Giving: Fully integrates with the Charitable Recurring addon to manage automatic monthly subscriptions directly through Razorpay without extra code.

↩️ Automatic Two-Way Sync: Keep your books perfectly clean with two-way refund syncing—issue a refund inside WordPress or your Razorpay dashboard and both sides update automatically.

🔒 Webhook-Verified Security: Automatically protect your donation records using HMAC-signed webhook verification to ensure every status update represents real money cleared on the rails.

Visit this page to learn more.

Integration New

🎉 New Built-in PushEngage Integration

Struggling with falling email open rates and rising ad costs just to keep your supporters engaged? Charitable’s built-in PushEngage integration features:

🔔 Zero-Fee Direct Messaging: Deliver crisp, instant pop-up notifications straight to your donors’ desktops and mobile devices.

⏱️ Four Smart Automated Triggers: Automatically send updates for immediate donation thank yous, full-list campaign launches, urgent “ending soon” alerts, and goal milestone celebrations.

📈 Group Momentum Broadcasts: Turn private milestones into public wins by automatically broadcasting alerts to your entire subscriber list the moment a campaign hits 50%, 75%, or 100% of its goal.

📊 Automatic Analytics Tracking: Monitor exactly where your incoming notification traffic is coming from with built-in attribution that requires zero complex configuration.

Visit this page to learn more.