Charitable Documentation

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Donor Management

Recurring Donations

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Integrations

Extensions

How to Use the Donor Dashboard

The Donor Dashboard provides a personalized and secure space for your donors to manage their information, view donation history, and access important documents, making it easy for them to stay connected with your organization.

To access the Donor Dashboard settings, navigate to Charitable » Settings » Donors » Donor Dashboard in your WordPress admin. Here, you can enable the dashboard and customize the fields you want to appear.

First, let’s explore what your donors see when they login to the Donor Dashboard.

Viewing the Donor Dashboard as a Donor

This section shows you the front end of the dashboard that donors will see. You can customize this dashboard and we’ll show you how to do that in the next section.

Overview

Donor dashboard overview

First, they will see an overview of their donation metrics that include:

  • Lifetime donations
  • Average donations
  • Number of campaigns they’ve contributed to
  • The last donation they made

Personal & Donation Information

There are several tabs to keep things organized, each providing access to different features and information. By default, Charitable will show the Profile, Donations, and Settings tabs. Optional tabs include Comments and Settings.

Let’s explore each tab.

Edit profile in donor dashboard

Profile

Donors can update their profile information, including:

  • Prefix, name and suffix
  • Company and title
  • Phone
  • Birthday
  • Primary language
  • Address
  • Email
  • Social profiles
  • Avatar

Donations

Donations tab in donor dashboard

There are 2 tabs that will show donors their one-time donations and recurring contributions. They’ll see a list of their donations, including details such as amount, campaign, date, payment method, and status. They can also download a PDF receipt for each donation.

Campaigns

This will show donors a list of campaigns they’ve contributed to along with the donation amount, status, and end date.

Comments

This will show donors a list of the comments they have posted on their donations. They can also see if their comment has been approved or is pending approval.

Settings

Donor-dashboard-settings-password

They can consent to being contacted by email. They can also update their password for added security.

Now let’s learn how to customize this dashboard.

Customizing the Donor Dashboard as Admin

This section shows you how to customize the donor dashboard and control what will appear to the donor on the front-end.

To enable and customize the donor dashboard, go to the Charitable » Settings » Donor Dashboard page in your WordPress admin.

On this page, you’ll see a toggle switch to enable/disable the dashboard with one click. Click on it to enable the dashboard.

Enable donor dashboard

Below this, you can decide what information you want to appear in the dashboard.

Customize the Overview

Overview in donor dashboard customization

You can choose to show/hide these fields that appear in the Overview section:

  • Lifetime Donations: Shows the total amount the donor has given across all campaigns which shows their overall impact.
  • Average Donation: Displays how much the donor gives on average
  • Campaigns: Shows how many campaigns they’ve participated in and helped
  • Last Donation: Shows most recent contribution date and amount

Customize Communication & Social Preferences

Next, you can choose to allow donors to add and manage their postal or shipping addresses as well as email addresses.

You can also allow them to add and edit their social media links.

Contact in donor dashboard customization

Customize Profile Information

Remember, Charitable can show these tabs:

Tabs in donor dashboard
  • Profile: Appears by default and can be customized
  • Donations: Appears by default and is automatically configured, no customizations needed
  • Campaigns: Can be shown or hidden
  • Comments: Can be shown or hidden
  • Settings: Appears by default and can be customized

Profile Tab

By default, Charitable will show first and last names. You can customize other fields that appears in the Profile tab:

  • Prefix (Mr., Mrs., etc)
  • Suffix (Jr., Sr., etc)
  • Middle Name
  • Company
  • Title/Position
  • Phone Number
  • Birthday
  • Primary Language
  • Avatar Upload

By default, all fields are selected for you. Simply click on the ticked checkbox to unselect the ones you want to hide.

Profile fields in donor dashboard customization

Note: The choices you make here will not affect the fields that are visible in your admin Donor Management area.

Donations Tab

This tab appears by default and is automatically configured. It will display a list of all the donations made by the donor across all campaigns. They can manage their donation records and download PDFs here. There are no customizations needed.

Campaigns Tab

You can choose to display a list of all campaigns the donor has created or participated in.

Simply click the checkbox next to Campaigns to enable this feature and save your changes.

Enable campaigns tab

Comments Tab

You can choose to display any comments made by the donor across various campaigns. They’ll be able to see the status of their comment as well.

Simply click the checkbox next to Comments to enable this feature and save your changes.

Enable comments tab

Pro Tip: Collect only the information you need from donors. This increases the chances of getting your donors to fill out all the fields in the dashboard.

Settings Tab

This tab gives your donors the option to consent to being contacted by email or withdraw their consent.

You can also give them to option to change their password for added security. You can enable this option in the same Donor Dashboard settings page like so:

Allow password change

Hit the ‘Save Changes’ button to store all your dashboard settings.

Create a Static Donor Dashboard Page

Charitable automatically creates a donor dashboard for you. You’ll find this setting under the Charitable » Settings » General » Pages tab.

If you’d like to create a static page, then head to Pages » Add New in your WordPress admin panel.

In the page editor, give your page a title such as “Donor Portal”. In the content section, add this shortcode [charitable_donor_dashboard]

Donor portal page in block editor

Save and publish your page.

Now, go to the Charitable » Settings » General tab. Switch to the Pages tab.

Charitable pages settings

Scroll down to “Donor Dashboard Page”. There’s a dropdown menu to choose the page you just created.

Donor portal page

Save your changes. Now you can visit this Donor Portal page and you’ll get the option to log in as a donor and access the dashboard.

That’s it. You’ve learned how to use the Donor Dashboard. Next, you may also want to learn more about How to Use the Donor Management System »

Still have questions? We’re here to help!

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ambassadors New

🔑 Introducing Passwordless Fundraisers: Sign Up With Just an Email!

Supporters arrive wanting to help, and then the form asks them to invent a password for a website they may only visit twice. A lot of them stop right there. Passwordless Fundraiser Accounts, new in Charitable Ambassadors 3.5.0, let a supporter start a peer to peer fundraiser with nothing but an email address. Why this is important:

  • 🔑 No password step to lose them at: Switch it on in Charitable » Ambassadors » Templates » Submit Form and the create-fundraiser form asks only for a name, an email address and a page title.
  • 👤 Still a real WordPress account: One click in one email confirms the address, signs them in and creates the account, so they can come back later to edit their story, change their photo and see who has donated.
  • 🎚️ Your call on every campaign: Each peer to peer campaign can follow the site default or override it, which matters when a campaign pays fundraisers through Stripe Connect and those people do need a password.
  • 📋 See who has not clicked yet: The Charitable » Ambassadors » Directory » Awaiting Sign-In tab lists everyone still waiting, with the campaign they joined and a Resend button, so a typo or a spam folder is something you can spot and fix.
  • 🛡️ Links a scanner cannot use up: Opening the link only shows a page, and your fundraiser is signed in when they press the button on it, so corporate email scanners never burn the link. Each one works once, expires on its own and is stored only as a hash.

Check out our announcement here.

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.

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