Creating a giving form for a specific cause can be a great way to help raise funds or promote things like missions, year-end giving, and disaster relief. See the instructions below to create a simple caused based form.
Create
Use the 'Create New Form' button to start the setup process. Use the 'Giving Form' template to get a boost in creating a basic form. Then, add a descriptive name to pique interest and give a quick idea of what the form's goal is.
Click the 'Start Building Form' button to create and customize your new form.
Customize
A more in-depth look into the Form Properties can be found here: Form Properties Features
Right now the form is pretty plain. Add a new Header Image either by dragging and dropping directly into the image field or by doing so in the Image Library. The Image Library can be accessed by clicking the Header Image field and stock photos are available to use or upload your own. We recommend using images with the dimensions 1000 x 562.
Use the Form Properties to enhance the look and feel of the form. Review the General Info tab to upload an image from your computer to the top of the page. Then, add a welcoming description to let your donor know the mission of the church and why donating through this form is going to be beneficial.
Open the Theme tab and choose a general color profile that will match your image and color theme.
For more customization options, open your Form Properties and make the necessary changes under your Advanced Theme tab.
Review the Payment tab to ensure the money is going to the right fund and members can use already saved payment methods on their Giving profile.
- Enable Member Portal - Adds to the donation form a 'Sign In' tab at the top. The portal allows for the management of payment methods, contact information, etc. This is also needed for the option ....
- Enable Partial Payments - Give users the option to pay in increments over time. Users can either submit payments manually or set up automatic monthly installments.
- Enable Recurring Payments - Allow your donor to make this one-time gift a regular recurring one! The member portal option is needed to associate a donor with the recurring transaction that will take place.
- Accepted Payment Types - Enable or disable options here. Leverage ACH (e-check/bank account) transactions which will save money on the fees per transaction in comparison to Credit/Debit cards.
- Total Amount Fund - Add an existing fund or create a new fund in Giving to apply the donations to.
Create and manage funds in Giving: Click to Find Out How
Click the Email tab to thank your donor with a custom message. Add placeholders to the message (looks like #A PLACEHOLDER#) by simply clicking one of the blue buttons you want to insert.
Note the 'To' field which will automatically send your thank you email to the donor based on the email address they provide while filling out the payment information.
The 'From' address can be changed to an email associated with the church. (A domain name email address is one that uses the same web address as the church website URL. ex - info@yourministry.org)
Stay away from using emails provided by Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc. which can cause the email to fail in sending due to email policies they control. Leave this on the default email address if there is not a domain-based option available for your organization.
Click OK at the bottom of the Form Properties window to apply the changes.
Clarify
Making donating simple helps smooth the choices available and quickly engage the donor. Make things simple by using Payment Buttons!
Remove the default fund dropdown from the Form by clicking the 'X' to the right of the field description.
Drag to add your new Amount Button field
Edit the field through the configure gear and customize the field name, button line items, and make it required (You don't want people to miss the reason they are here right! :) ).
Click OK at the bottom of the Field Properties window to apply the changes.
Complete
After all these changes are done, you are ready to Save and then Publish your form. Click the
SAVE CHANGES button along the bottom right, then choose to Publish to make these changes live.
Linking and embedding options can be found here: Form Properties Features
Updated