Charitable Documentation

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

Donors Shortcode

The [charitable_donors] shortcode allows you to display a list of donors to one or all of your campaigns on a page. It uses the same frontend template as the Donors widget, so its output is similar — it just provides you with flexibility to show the Donors in different spots.

Parameters

  • number Number of donors to show. Default is 10.
  • orderby May be date, donations or amount. Default is date.
  • order May be ASC (ascending order) or DESC (descending order). Default is DESC.
  • campaign May be set to the ID of a campaign, current to display the donors to the campaign currently being viewed, or all or 0 to display donors to any campaign. Default is 0 (donors to any campaigns).
  • distinct_donors Only show unique donors. May be set to 0 (don’t show distinct) or 1 (show distinct). If a donor has donated more than once, they will only appear in the list once, with their donation amount calculated based on all their donations. Default is 0.
  • orientation May be vertical or horizontal. Default is horizontal.
  • show_name Whether the name should be shown. May be 1 (show) or 0 (don’t show). Default is 1.
  • show_location Whether the donor’s location should be shown. May be 1 (show) or 0 (don’t show). Default is 0.
  • show_amount Whether the donor’s donated amount should be shown. May be 1 (show) or 0(don’t show). Default is 1.
  • show_avatar Whether the donor’s avatar should be shown. May be 1 (show) or 0 (don’t show). Default is 1.
  • hide_if_no_donors Whether the shortcode should display anything if no one has donated yet. May be 1 (hide) or 0 (don’t hide). Default is 0.

Plus, if Gift Aid is activated and on version 1.1 or above, the following setting is available:

  • show_gift_aid Whether to display the Gift Aid amount for the donation. May be 1 (show) or 0(don’t show). Default is 0.

Usage

Default usage:

[charitable_donors]

Show donors to the current campaign (to be used on a campaign page):

[charitable_donors campaign=current]

Show donors to a specific campaign (replace 123 with the ID of the campaign):

[charitable_donors campaign=123]

Show a donor leaderboard, ordered by amount donated:

[charitable_donors orderby=amount]

Show donors in a vertical list:

[charitable_donors orientation=vertical]

Only show donor’s names (hide amount, location and avatar):

[charitable_donors show_name=1 show_location=0 show_amount=0 show_avatar=0]

Show the Gift Aid amount for a donor’s donation (requires Charitable Gift Aid 1.1+):

[charitable_donors show_gift_aid=1]

Still have questions? We’re here to help!

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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.

ai New

🚀 Unleash AI Power in Charitable!

Your AI assistant can now build, edit, and manage your Charitable fundraising campaigns directly — just by asking. With Charitable Pro adding write support for the WordPress Abilities API, tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor can handle full administrative actions safely through MCP. Why this is important:

  • 🤖 Campaign creation in plain language: Prompt your assistant with a goal like “Set up a fundraiser for the shelter with a $5,000 goal”, and it builds a real draft campaign complete with suggested donation tiers.
  • 🎨 Instant donation form tweaks: Add custom fields, change button colors, or reorder elements without diving into form settings.
  • 📝 Offline gift logging: Tell your assistant about cash or check gifts, and it will match donor emails and record transactions into your history.
  • 🛡️ Safety and control by default: Write access stays strictly off until turned on in Charitable » Tools » AI MCP, keeping read-only reporting safe by default.
  • 📜 Full audit logging: Every change made by an AI assistant is tracked under Charitable » Tools » Logs, so you always know who (or what) updated your site.

Check out our announcement here.