Charitable Documentation

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

Setting Up PayPal

PayPal is available out of the box as a payment gateway option. You can enable it via your WordPress dashboard:

  1. Go to Charitable > Settings > Payment Gateways.
  2. In the PayPal box, click on Enable Gateway.

Next, you will need to configure some settings by clicking on Gateway Settings.

Settings

General Settings

Gateway Label

The label that will be displayed in the WordPress dashboard for donations made through PayPal. This label will also be shown in the donation form to donors when you have multiple payment gateways enabled.

PayPal Email Address

This is the email address of the PayPal account that should receive all donations.

To avoid problems with having donations remain stuck as pending, ensure that this account is fully set up and approved by PayPal, and also that it is in the same currency as you have set in your Charitable settings.

Sandbox PayPal Email Address

If you would like to test out the donation process without making real transactions, you can use PayPal’s sandbox environment. This is automatically used when you have Charitable’s Test Mode setting enabled (on the Payment Gateways settings page).

If you are not sure how to create a sandbox account, read this guide about how to set up a PayPal sandbox account.

PayPal Transaction Type

PayPal offers discounted fees to registered non-profit organisations. If you have registered as a non-profit organisation, you can select “Donations” for the transaction type; otherwise select “Standard Transaction”.

Click here for more information about registering as a non-profit with PayPal.

Disable IPN Verification

If you are having problems with donations not getting marked as Paid, disabling IPN verification can sometimes fix the issue. However, it is important to be aware that this is a less secure method for verifying donations.

Find out more about how to diagnose problems with donations not getting marked as Paid: PayPal IPN Troubleshooting.

API Settings

As of Charitable 1.6, you are able to automatically refund donations in PayPal via your Charitable donation management page. This feature requires API keys.

If you use our Recurring Donations extension, API keys are also required for automatically cancelling subscriptions.

Live API Username, Password and Signature

You can find your live API details at https://www.paypal.com/businessprofile/mytools/apiaccess/firstparty/signature. You will need to log in to your PayPal account before being able to access this page.

For each setting, click on Show to reveal the setting value.

Sandbox API Username, Password and Signature

To find your sandbox API details, go to https://developer.paypal.com and click on Log into Dashboard. On the following screen, log in with your regular PayPal account details.

Next, click on Account under the Sandbox menu in the sidebar.

On the following page you will see your list of sandbox accounts. Find the Seller account (the one you are using for the Sandbox PayPal Address setting), click on Profile and then click on the API keys tab.

Still have questions? We’re here to help!

Last Modified:

What's New In Charitable

View The Latest Updates
🔔 Subscribe to get our latest updates
📧 Subscribe to Emails

Email Subscription

Join our Newsletter

We won’t spam you. We only send an email when we think it will genuinely help you. Unsubscribe at any time!

Improvement receipts

🗓️ Annual Receipts 2.0: Send Year-End Receipts to Every Donor in Minutes

You can now send annual receipts in minutes with a few clicks to all your donors.

📧 One-Click Bulk Send Wizard that guides you to sending to hundreds of donors simultaneously directly from your WordPress dashboard.

🔍 Smart “Dry Run” Mode: See exactly who will receive a receipt and who will be skipped (and why) before a single email leaves your server.

🛡️ SMTP-Aware & Limit Protection: Charitable now detects your email setup and automatically adjusts batch sizes and pauses for daily limits to ensure your emails land in inboxes.

✅ Complete Audit Trail: Dedicated system log and on the individual donor’s profile, giving you a clear history for every fiscal year.

Stop dreading tax season and start spending that time on your mission. Update to Annual Receipts 2.0 and automate your year-end reporting today.

Addon Donations Improvement

🎈Recurring Donations 2.0: Smarter Automation, Better Recovery, and More Control

We’ve completely rebuilt our Recurring Donations system to help you grow your reliable income stream while giving you (and your donors) more powerful tools than ever before.

What’s New:

🔒 Recurring-Only Campaigns: You can toggle “Recurring Only” mode in the campaign builder to hide the one-time option entirely, ensuring your supporters stay focused on long-term commitment.

📧 Automatic Payment Recovery: Our new Payment Failed Email fires automatically the moment a subscription fails.

🛠️ Self-Service Donor Control:The new Cancel Subscription Button appears directly in the donor dashboard, allowing supporters to pause or end their recurring gifts on their own terms—reducing your admin burden and payment disputes.

📊 Real-Time Revenue Insights: Track your growth, monitor active subscriptions, and see exactly how much predictable support is coming in each month at a glance.

Our new Recurring Donations addon gives you the professional-grade tools you need to grow your mission.

Campaigns New

🧡 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.

donation form Donations New

💵 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.

Donations Live New

👉🏻 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.