How to build a more effective online donation form using PayPal {tutorial video, PayPal alternatives, and increasing online donations}
updated 4/19/2022
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How to customize your PayPal donation form (video and text transcript)
If you are going to offer online giving as an option, there are two major components you’ll need to have in place - the donation form which donors use to enter their gift information and the payment processor behind the scenes that processes the gift and gets the money into your bank account.
While both are relatively simple to set up, it’s important to understand your options, effectively evaluate the agreement with the company of your choice, and ensure that the donation form your donors ultimately see on your website offers the right options in the most attractive and user-friendly manner.
First, what is a payment processor?
A payment processor executes the transaction by transmitting data between you, the merchant; the issuing bank (i.e., the bank that issued your customer's credit card); and the acquiring bank (i.e., your bank).
While you are in control of your own donation page and the website experience you deliver, nonprofits are often at the mercy of a payment processor for much of the donor experience. The vendor you choose has a great deal of power so it’s wise to do your homework and choose a payment processor that allows you the greatest flexibility with the most security.
There is no shortage of payment processors so this post won’t attempt to cover all of your options. (And, this post from Qgiv does an excellent job explaining payment processors!)
Instead, I want to offer four options for the donation form/donor-facing platform to get you started.
Donation form/payment processor options for nonprofits
Squarespace + Stripe — An easy choice if you have a Squarespace website and are using the donation form tool.
Squarespace makes it very easy to add a donation form (and customize it) and then your donor’s payment will be processed by Stripe.
You will set up your Stripe account before taking donations and be able to see all of your received donations when you log in to your Stripe account. Stripe is relatively straightforward and the processing fees are in line with other processors.
PayPal —- Best for organizations that have a robust online giving page and just need the payment processing portion. PayPal is a donation form + processor all in one tool.
PayPal Pros
PayPal has instant recognition and lots of trust among users
PayPal offers a wide variety of integration so the chances of it working on your website are high, regardless of your platform
PayPal’s dashboard on the administration side is easy to use and understand
PayPal is also an option if you are using a Squarespace website and their own donation form
PayPal Cons
PayPal’s default giving form is severely lacking, offering only one giving amount choice. (Good news — this can be altered and I explain how right here >> PayPal Tutorial)
PayPal’s default settings can look very impersonal and generic so a little work is needed to customize buttons and forms to feel more native to your website (research is clear: branded donation pages perform better!)
Qgiv - Best for nonprofits that want recurring giving options, no contracts, and lots of design flexibility
Qgiv’s donation form (which also doubles as the payment processor) is robust, loaded with features, and allows nonprofits to accept one-time and recurring donations. Unlike PayPal, it also includes additional features like campaign thermometers, design flexibility to add images and impact statements, and is fully customizable to your brand.
Their Starter Package includes unlimited, customizable multistep and single-step donation forms, event registration, and a whole host of other features to help you attract new donors and increase conversion rates on your online giving page.
Snowball Fundraising (formerly AtPay) — Best for beginners who cannot edit their own website and need an externally-hosted donation page.
With Snowball, you link to your custom giving page from your own website. They take care of the giving form and processing.
Snowball Pros
Setting up a Snowball account is really simple and quick. Most organizations can be up and running in under an hour if you have all the information you need handy (bank account number, routing number, etc.)
The forms are flexible and mobile-friendly
You can customize your online giving page with your own logo, brand colors, and some text (though it’s limited)
It offers recurring giving and some donation history, even on the free plan
You can customize your giving page domain (see an example here: https://fosa.snwbll.com/giving-portal)
Snowball Cons
Since re-branding from AtPay, it is less widely known and not instantly familiar as PayPal
The amount of text space available is very limited
On the free plan, the giving form asks for a “tip” from donors. They can decline but the field cannot be removed.
What to consider before choosing a payment processor
Regardless of which platform you choose, you’ll want to be very clear on the following:
Am I signing a long-term contract or can I cancel at any time?
Will this product integrate seamlessly with my current website?
What types of payments can I accept? All credit cards? Apple Pay? Google Pay? Android options?
Is this process PCI Compliant (protecting both you and your donor information)? For more info on PCI, check out this article by Investopedia for a simple explanation)
What are the fees? Typically you’ll pay a flat fee per transaction plus a percentage of each gift made.
How to customize your PayPal donation form - step-by-step
If you’re using PayPal as your payment processor for your nonprofit website, you’re in the right place for a big, helpful tip!
So tell me if this has been you…
We really need to get our online giving results moving.
Everyone is preaching mobile-giving this and mobile-giving that. We gotta get on this.
That company takes what kind of fee? Yikes. Let’s just use PayPal.
If any of those are summing up your nonprofit, welcome to the group. PayPal is among the leading payment processors for nonprofits and for good reason.
Their fees are in line with most, if not slightly less sometimes
Their platform is relatively simple to use
It’s easy to see money in, money out, and the majority of people trust the PayPal name
But, the mistake many nonprofits are making is taking PayPal’s “out of the box” donation form, grabbing that button code, and throwing it up on the website as they sit back and expect the money to roll in.
If only.
Research has proved time and time again that donation forms matter. It matters which fields are included and what order they appear in. it matters what colors you use. It matters what you ask for and how many options you provide.
How to build an effective online donation form using PayPal even if you’re not tech-savvy so you can stop leaving money on the table and start raising more money online.
Watch the video below and then build your own PayPal donation form! This video will walk you through how to set up a PayPal donate button, how to customize your donation form, and then how to embed that donate button onto your website.
Prefer to have step-by-step instructions? Keep reading for the text version below.
Easy enough, right? When we use the tools available to us in the most effective way, we can begin to transform our reach and impact and free up time for the tasks that matter most - like getting in front of donors, volunteers, and clients and doing the work that brings us joy.
Here are the steps in text form:
Log in to your PayPal Account
To create your donate button:
Under Tools, Go to All Tools, and then click open
Choose the Donate button
Customize the button, if you wish.
Check the box if you want to show the accepted card logos
Click Continue
Next, customize your organization name and logo
Enter your logo URL (to find your logo URL, go to your website, right-click on your logo and copy the image address)
Go back to PayPal and paste that link into the Logo URL box
Complete the name of your organization
Fill out your organization purpose (there’s a character limit so keep it short)
Optional: If you want to allow your donors to choose from more than one program, complete those options next. This is great for special campaigns like capital campaigns or special drives.
Click Continue
Customize the amount choices donors will see — set three amount options. Plant the seed of what you want, and start with the largest amount first. Enter your three options ($500, $250, $100)
Keep the recurring donations box checked.
Click Continue
Under the optional settings, explore each menu item. You can ask donors to share their mailing addresses or share a note with you.
Under Route Settings, you can redirect the donor to your website if they cancel the transaction. Or, after the purchase is complete, redirect them to your home page, a special thank you page (create that on your website), or even volunteer opportunities.
Finish and Get the Code
Once you have the code, copy and paste it into a note on your computer.
On your website, use a code block to insert the code and display your new PayPal giving form!
Having your form optimized is necessary but there are plenty of other ways to increase online donations, too!
Four steps to increase online donations
Do you know that feeling of getting the email notification that someone has made an online gift to your nonprofit? You get that little high of wow, someone believes in our work! Someone is on our website! I believe it’s possible to get those notifications every single day and I want you to believe it, too.
So what’s the secret sauce to increasing online donations? It’s creating an excellent user experience before, during, and after the online gift process.
When we miss a step with any part of the donor experience, we run the risk of sending the wrong message, and we give them an easy reason to make it a one-time transaction, going back to the sporadic checks we used to get. In some cases, depending on the level of our oversight, we might turn the donor off to our cause for good.
So how we can create a user experience that instills confidence in our organization and motivates the donor to keep coming back over and over?
Let’s look at four steps to increase your online donations using the RACE method: Review, Aim, Cultivate, Exceed
REVIEW - Start with a thorough review of the current donor experience.
Ask a trusted friend to visit your website and walk through the online giving experience, making an actual gift. It can be a small amount but it's important to test every aspect of the process. Ask them to consider the following:
Before the gift…
Was it easy to find the online giving page? How many clicks did it take to get there?
Did the URL begin with “https” or are those two dreaded words appearing (Not Secure!)? Donors need to see that "s" to ensure your site is secure.
Were they motivated to give by the text on the online giving page? Did it compel them to give more than they originally planned? We know they are testers but ask them to evaluate this step independently of the test.
During the gift…
Was it easy to enter their credit card information? Encourage the tester to view the page on both a desktop and a mobile device.
Did the tester have the ability to specify where their gift would be directed, or to give in honor or memory of someone?
Was there any confusion about the information being asked or were clear directions provided?
After the gift…
Once the gift was entered, what message appeared?
Did the tester receive a confirmation email?
What other actions did the donor anticipate would happen after the gift? Did you meet those expectations?
AIM - After the experience has been tested, aim to improve at least one step of each stage.
Now that your online giving experience has been tested, review the results. What were you surprised to find? Where did you think you were clear but the donor felt otherwise? Identify one possible improvement for each stage. Here are a few examples of what might need attention:
Before the gift…
Can you make your online giving page more visible from the home page with the use of a button or stand-out text? (Read all about improving your call-to-action over on this post)
Are there any steps you can remove between the online giving button and the actual donation form?
During the gift…
Can you add a testimonial to your donation page that might persuade someone to give more than they originally planned?
Can you add examples of what a gift will actually do? (A gift of $100 means we will be able to purchase XYZ to make our residents safer)
After the gift…
How can you improve the message donors see after their gift is complete? Can you offer them a way to volunteer or to share their love of your nonprofit with friends and family?
How can you improve the automated confirmation email with a personal thank you? Instead of a message from the Executive Director, considering crafting a thank you written by someone you serve who directly benefits from your programs. Because donors want to know the gift went through and they were charged what they expected, you have their undivided attention. Use it wisely.
CULTIVATE - Remember that the online giving process does not end when they enter their credit card. It's only just the beginning of your donor lifecycle.
One of the biggest mistakes a nonprofit can make is taking online donors for granted and not bringing them into your regular donor stewardship program. Often, online donors can get overlooked because they fall outside the traditional donor process (receive a check, enter check, deposit funds, send thank you, etc.).
Take special care to make sure you have the appropriate alerts set up to notify you that a gift has been received. Then, be prompt in your acknowledgments.
Spend as much time thanking your online donors as you do your traditional donors and ensure your automatic thank you emails are personal and meaningful.
Flag your online donors in your database — they are tech-savvy enough to give online and therefore may be a great prospect for future email-marketing asks and or feedback regarding other online initiatives.
Research shows that online donors may tend to be less loyal than traditional donors so you might need to work a little harder to get a repeat gift. By flagging them in your database, you can begin to track their other involvement and target them specifically in the future.
EXCEED EXPECTATIONS — The final key to increasing online donations is to make the experience memorable, in a good way!
If you exceed someone’s expectations, they will be more likely to remember the experience and more apt to repeat it.
Wow — this post covered a lot of information and I hope the RACE method helped to inform you about the online giving process. In a world that is changing rapidly, the online giving landscape is bound to keep evolving as well. The most important thing you can do now is to stay educated on your options, to choose vendors carefully, and to keep the donor at the center of it all. When you begin to put yourself in the donor’s seat and understand what’s important to them, you can make decisions that will improve their experience and increase the likelihood of gaining their trust and recurring support.
Further Reading on Payment Processors
If you’re looking for alternatives to PayPal (and there are plenty of them), I highly recommend checking out this great blog post from the Wild Apricot Blog where they walk you through the top 5 alternatives to PayPal. And although I don’t have personal experience with it, I know lots of nonprofits who love Donorbox. They have a great post - "10 Reasons Why Nonprofits Love Donorbox over Paypal" - you can check it out here - https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/donorbox-vs-paypal/
If you need help or have a question about this PayPal tutorial, please let me know! Send me an email {andrea@oneninedesign.net] or send a message on my contact page.
Until next time,
Andrea
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