In a world where almost all funding activities take place through digital portals, WordPress helps collect funds for donations with easier and simpler plugins.
For those who have a site on WordPress and want to raise funds for nonprofits, relief projects, charities, and other causes, donation plugins are the way to go.
In this article, we’ll let you know about WordPress’s most prominent and popular donation plugins and what features they provide. But first, let’s talk about how to tell which plugin is better than the other.
What to Look For in a WordPress Donation Plugin
How to Choose the Right Donation Plugin For You
12. Green Donations for WordPress
13. Cryptocurrency Donation Box
Which is the Best WordPress Donation Plugin?
What to Look For in a WordPress Donation Plugin
There are dozens of WordPress donation plugins available. The problem, however, is how to identify which ones are right for you. Some plugins aren’t easy to use and don’t have customization options.
If you’re accepting donations on your WordPress website, you need to make sure that you get a reliable plugin.
Some things to look for in a donation plugin are:
- It should work on both mobile and desktop
- The plugin should support your preferred way of payment
- The donation plugin should send receipts to your donors
- If the donation is not one-time, donors should be allowed to make recurring donations
- It should be customizable enough to look good on your website
- Shouldn’t be tacky or glitchy
- Ideally, a donation plugin should be free, but if it’s charging fees, they should be low and fixed yearly (instead of a percentage fee on your donations)
How to Choose the Right Donation Plugin For You
It might not be tough to spot which plugin supports most of the factors above and make your decision. However, some plugins might have everything except that one factor you need the most, and some plugins might only have the feature you most wanted.
In the end, it all comes down to you – which one do you think is the best for you?
If you need a factor that helps you set your mind on one thing, look at the price. The plugin with the most features and the least cost should generally be the ideal option.
To make it easy for you, we’ll outline several plugins listed below, along with their features, pros, and cons.
The Best WordPress Donation Plugins
1. GiveWP
GiveWP is one of the most popular WordPress plugins for donations and fundraisings. It comes with many benefits for the user to take advantage of when raising funds.
Features
GiveWP offers a unique way for users to create a custom donation from inside WordPress and accept one-time and recurring donations.
The user can integrate with their preferred payment methods from a huge variety of transfer gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, Paytm, Paymill, Authorize.net, 2Checkout, Braintree, Mollie, PayFast, Square, AmeriCloud, and more.
Although GiveWP’s interface is not easy to use, it allows you to tune every feature of your donation through customization, including options like multi-level donation, campaign, incentive-based, currency switcher option, and tax-deductible donation receipts.
This plugin comes with a donor management area so that you can manage your funds both online and offline. It’s integrated with email marketing services, so you can interact with your donors about seasonal campaigns.
Pricing
Initially, this plugin is free, but to access powerful add-ons and unique features, you need to buy a yearly-paid plan – the Basic for $240/year or Plus for $360/year.
Pros
- Vast customization
- One-time and recurring payments
- Wide range of payment gateways
- Complete door management
- Integrated with email marketing
- Initially free
Cons
- Not a very good interface
- Needs paid upgrade for good features
2. PayPal Donation
PayPal donation is a free, popular WordPress donation plugin that allows you to add a PayPal donate button to your website, making it significantly easier for donors to donate and for the owner to collect.
Features
With a PayPal donation plugin, a button gets added to your website, and visitors can just click it to donate funds from their PayPal account or credit card. The button has seven different templates, but you can also customize it with your own design.
The goal of this plugin is to make the donation process easier for users. You can just add your PayPal account to the plugin and start receiving donations. With this plugin, visitors can also choose recurring monthly donations.
The PayPal donation plugin is a straightforward problem-solver with limited features that do the job.
Pricing
This plugin is free if you want one-time, uncustomized donations. However, for recurring donations, you need to sign up for a Pro version that costs $59.95/year.
Pros
- Simple and easy to use
- Customizable
- 7 button templates
- One-time and recurring donations
Cons
- Needs upgrade for recurring donations
3. Charitable
A popular and easy-to-use donation plugin, Charitable is filled with great features that can help expand your donation campaigns.
Features
With Charitable, you can create unlimited fundraising campaigns with specific set goals for each cause. The plugin allows you to select a fixed donation amount, create a custom amount, or go both ways.
What’s more, you can also embed the donation form on your website pages, posts, sidebars, or popups.
Pricing
The basic option of Charitable is free, but you’ll have to upgrade to the Plus plan for $99/year to unlock mainstream transfer gateways like Stripe and Authorize.net. For crowdfunding, recurring donations, donor fee relief, peer-to-peer fundraising, and many more powerful features, the cost goes up to $249/year.
Pros
- Unlimited campaigns
- Custom and fixed amount
- Availability to embed donation forms
- Initially free
- Paid version has crowdfunding and donor relief
Cons
- Need Pro version for more practical features
- Some payment gateways not in basic plan
4. Donorbox
Donorbox is one of the best donation plugins available and is packed with a variety of features that work on WordPress and non-WordPress websites.
Features
With Donorbox, you can set up one-time, weekly, monthly, or annually recurring donations. You can also conduct company gift matching to accept company donations.
You can accept payments in Donorbox from credit cards or through popular platforms, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, One-Touch Paypal Express, and ACH banks for the US and Europe.
Some key features in Donorbox include the goal meter, multi-currency support, donation popup forms, donor profile and donor wall, complete donor management, and end-of-the-year tax receipts.
However, all these hard-to-find features come with a hefty price tag.
Pricing
While you can collect donations up to $1000 per month, you’ll have to pay a 1.5% platform fee for other amounts. This fee is on top of the payment processing fee imposed by payment platforms, such as Stripe, PayPal, and banks, significantly increasing the cost of collecting donations significantly. Apart from that, Donorbox also charges monthly fees for integrations like email marketing and CRM.
Donorbox is still popular because it makes everything easy and takes away technical complications. The security of Donorbox is also pretty tight so you don’t need to worry about glitches or errors.
Pros
- One-time, weekly, monthly, and annually recurring donations
- Acceptability of company donations
- Multi-currency support
- Goal meter
- Donation popup forms
- Donor profile and donor wall
- Complete door management
- Easy to use
- No technical complications
Cons
- Very costly for plugins
5. WPForms
WPForms is the most beginner-friendly WordPress donation plugin on this list, used by over 50 million websites across the world.
Features
This plugin is a drag and drop form builder that comes with built-in form templates to help you create online donation forms on your site.
Small charities usually don’t need a full-fledged giveaway platform. Instead, they just need a simple and easy way to raise funds. WPForms allows that with customization, so visitors can donate one time or periodically.
With the integration of payment ways like PayPal, Square, and Stripe, funds can be securely collected via credit card. This comprehensive form builder serves multiple purposes, including contact forms, email newsletter signup forms, survey forms, volunteer signup forms, polls, and more.
WPForms can also be easily integrated with all major email marketing services and CRM platforms, including Constant Contact, AWeber, MailChimp, and SendinBlue.
Pricing
WPForms require collectors to buy their add-ons in order to begin accepting online donations. They have four plans that vary in price, starting at $79/year.
Pros
- Beginner friendly
- Over 300 built-in form templates
- Simple and easy to use
- Customization
- One-time or recurring payments
- Integrated with mainstream payment ways
- Different forms builder
- Integrable with email marketing CRM platforms
- Cost effective
Cons
- Free version is basically feature-less
- Pro version is extremely expensive
- Unable to multiple files in forms at once
6. Donation for WooCommerce
The Donation for WooCommerce plugin allows you to raise money through your already established online business. If you have an online business with WooCommerce, this is the perfect plugin for you.
Features
With Donation for WooCommerce, you can create multiple donation campaigns and receive funds on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis. To fund your campaign, donors can choose either the “pay what you want” option or simply select a predefined option.
One thing that makes Donation for WooCommerce different from other plugins is the features that integrate your online stores with your ongoing donation campaigns. For instance, with a “round-up” feature, the customer is encouraged to pay the bill rounded up with their contribution to your campaign, benefitting both you and the cause.
This plugin allows you to showcase a list of charities on your website for customers to choose from, allowing donors to pick the cause they support and believe in, which results in a more likely successful campaign. You can also place a customizable donation widget anywhere within the site with a shortcode.
Pricing
Although Donation for WooCommerce is initially free to use, adding its plugins on your website costs $49/year. If you want a currency switcher option, you’ll need to add another plugin for $79/year.
Pros
- Monthly, weekly, and daily payments
- Integration with your online store
- Round up feature on bills
- Showcase option for different charities
- Donation widget
- Customizable
Cons
- Plugin is not free
- Currency switcher is not free
7. Donation Content Locker
Donation Content Locker plugin for WordPress works very similarly to a membership system. It has unique features that can help you run a successful donation campaign.
Features
With Donation Content Locker, you can sell exclusive content in exchange for a donation amount. In other words, you offer different incentives to encourage people to help you raise funds for your cause.
Since it works similar to a “give and take” policy, it comes with a content restriction feature, which means that specific content will be locked for the user until they make a one-time donation of a specific amount to unlock the content.
When they donate, donors will receive a one-time activation email once the funds are received. Based on the content’s value, you can set the minimum donation amount yourself.
Moreover, the Donation Content Locker plugin records donors’ information using cookies, making it possible to have a block feature, which prevents people from distributing the activation link to other people.
As for customization, the Donation Content Locker plugin has a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) editor that eases the design process of the form. This form can be placed on your website with a shortcode.
Pricing
Donation Content Locker costs $16 for a regular license and $80 for an extended license. It doesn’t charge any platform fees.
Pros
- Simple and straightforward
- Minimum donation amount can be set
- Block feature to prevent uncredible shares
- WYSIWYG feature for easy customization
Cons
- No free version
- Content can be leaked
8. Seamless Donations
A straightforward and reliable plugin for WordPress, Seamless Donations is very easy to use and has a lot of cool features to offer.
Features
Seamless Donations WordPress plugin has an easy setup process. It’s integrable with your Stripe and PayPal so you can raise funds according to your own convenience and with more security.
You can receive donations from all across the world with absolutely zero platform fees. This means you can even set up a donation campaign with a limited budget. With Seamless Donations, donors can make recurring donations. It’s supported on both mobile and desktop views. After donation, donors will receive a “thank you” email to add an effect of gratitude.
The Seamless Donations plugin also has a tribute feature that lets you raise funds in memory of a deceased person.
Pricing
Seamless Donations WordPress plugin is free to download, but it has add-ons you need to pay for. Each paid add-on costs $19.95 to be visible on-site.
Pros
- Easy setup process
- Integrable with Stripe and PayPal
- Zero platform fees
- Recurring donations availability
- Tribute and thank you feature
- Free download
Cons
- Free version doesn’t have good functionality
- Add-ons are not cost-effective
Another versatile donation plugin for WordPress, Formidable Forms is a form builder you can use to collect online donations.
9. Formidable Forms
Features
Formidable Forms’ most important feature is the drag-and-drop form builder that allows you to create all types of forms. Moreover, this form builder is accompanied by a visual styler. Using this, you can design forms to match your website’s theme.
To ease the design process, this plugin offers you a lot of design templates, including donations and payment forms, WooCommerce forms. What’s more, these forms can be customized with custom HTML and Bootstrap.
Formidable Forms plugin also allows you to grow an email list and get more exposure. It can be integrated with various email marketing tools, such as AWeber and Mailchimp. It also has an SMS notification feature that can notify your donor when the donation made has been confirmed.
Formidable Forms accepts payments from credit cards and recurring donations via PayPal, Authorize.net, and PayPal. Simultaneously, Formidable Forms is integrated with spam protection options, including honeypot, Akismet, and reCAPTCHA, to protect your donation campaign from fraudulent or spam donors.
Pricing
Formidable Forms WordPress plugin can be purchased in plans, ranging from $49.50/year to $299.50/year.
10. WP Crowdfunding
WP Crowdfunding is another excellent donation plugin for WordPress to fund your projects and causes.
Features
An excellent crowdfunding plugin for WordPress, WP Crowdfunding is a way for WordPress site owners to fund their projects and causes with the help of collective online backers.
Powered by WooCommerce, this plugin has a native wallet system that allows you to accept and manage multiple donor pledges. Once the goal has been reached, you can approve the donors’ withdrawal request as an administrator.
You can collect the funds without hassle using Stripe Connect gateway, and also PayPal, Skrill, and credit cards.
Pricing
The basic version that covers crowdfunding’s basic functionality is available for free on WordPress. However, the native wallet system, Stripe Connect, and multiple other important features are only available on premium versions, ranging from $149/year to $299/year.
Pros
- Easy donor management
- Straightforward crowdfunding
- Hassle-free payment collection
Cons
- Free version has no notable features
11. Donation Thermometer
Donation Thermometer is a great WordPress plugin to collect more donations. With limited but very effective features, this plugin motivates others to donate.
Features
Donation Thermometer is a great complementary plugin for other WordPress donation plugins. This plugin allows you to use a “thermometer image” to display the number of donations that you have received so far. After seeing the current number of donations on a website, people are more motivated to donate to the cause.
While the design of the Donation Thermometer plugin can be customized, Donation Thermometer uses vector-based images, which means that metrics will be shown in high resolution on all screen sizes.
It’s very easy to integrate an existing donation campaign with this plugin – just use a shortcode from other plugins. You wouldn’t have to update the value after every donation. That will happen automatically once you integrate it with the donation plugin.
Pricing
This plugin is free.
12. Green Donations for WordPress
Green Donations for WordPress is a simple but powerful donation plugin that comes with a lot of notable features to boost your donation campaign.
Features
Green Donations for WordPress is a straightforward plugin that charges you no platform fees. It supports PayPal and Stripe for payment gateways, and you can optimize it for SEO campaigns.
This plugin has multisite installation available, so you can promote your donation campaigns on multiple WordPress websites, which can significantly help your cause. In addition to that, you can embed a donation form anywhere on your website using a shortcode or via widget.
Once the donation is received by you, donors will get an automated email notification that will confirm and thank them for their donation.
Green Donations for WordPress’s two very notable features are Top Donors and Goals. These features display the donation progress and it advances, showing a list of top donors on the screen for each campaign. This encourages more people to donate.
Pricing
Green Donations for WordPress offers its features for differently priced packages, ranging from $19 per license and $95 per license.
Pros
- Straightforward and simple
- No platform fees
- SEO optimization available
- Multisite installation
- Form can be embedded with a widget and short form
- Top Donors feature
Cons
- No free version
13. Cryptocurrency Donation Box
Cryptocurrency Donation Box is a perfect plugin for you if you’re a part of the growing crypto community.
Features
The basic feature of Cryptocurrency Donation Box is that it accepts donations in over 20 major cryptocurrencies, which gives people a wide range of currency options to donate in. It supports Metamask cryptocurrency wallet to secure transactions and currency.
In this plugin, you can convert the payment address into a QR code, which makes the donation process much easier. You can also customize your donation box to make it match the theme of your WordPress website and embed the plugin anywhere on your website using a shortcode.
Pricing
This plugin is free.
Pros
- Accepts 20+ cryptocurrencies
- Secured transactions
- Ease of use
- Straightforward layout
- Customization
- Completely free
Cons
- Doesn’t have option for normal currency
14. SKT Donation
SKT Donation WordPress donation plugin is a very straightforward plugin that helps make your fundraising campaigns successful.
Features
SKT Donation is a WordPress plugin for non-profit charities and non-governmental organizations. The payment in SKT Donation can be accepted via a few gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, 2Checkout, and Authorize.net.
Apart from charging absolutely no platform fees, SKT Donation also comes with a drag-and-drop form editor with a colour picker for a more straightforward customization process.
Once the donation is made, you can send a “thank you” email with tax-deductible receipts to your donors. Additionally, the plugin is integrated with form builders, mainly Ninja Forms and Gravity Forms, that allow you to generate different kinds of forms to support your donation campaign.
Pricing
There’s a free version of SKT Donation, but it also has a premium version that costs $69 for a license.
15. WP Simple Pay
A popular WordPress plugin that is specifically used for payment transactions, WP Simple Pay has some great features to make your fundraising campaign successful.
Features
With WP Simple Pay, you can make both one-time and recurring payments or donations on both mobile and desktop. It’s also supported with credit card payments, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and ACH debit payments. WP Simple Pay is powered by multilingual and multi-currency support.
Although WP Simple Pay doesn’t charge any processing fees, you’ll still need to pay a bank processing fee, like every other platform. However, WP Simple Pay makes it easy for you to add an option where donors will bear the payment processing fee.
Pricing
The free version of WP Simple Pay will let you make one-time donation payments. However, if you want to accept recurring donation payments, you’ll have to upgrade to a Pro version that costs $249/year.
Which is the Best WordPress Donation Plugin?
After seeing facts and figures of 16 donation plugins you can use on your WordPress sites and looking into their features, pros, cons, and pricing, you should have all you need to decide which plugin you want to use.
Donorbox has an option to have your donors cover the processing fees. However, it’s better to use a platform like GiveWP where more money goes towards the cause instead of just being wasted o fees. That being said, Donorbox is still the best platform when other SaaS donation platforms are considered, such as Crowdrise and Donately.
On the other hand, although the interface of GiveWP isn’t as smooth as WPForms, it still manages to create custom donation forms inside WordPress to work with one-time and recurring donations.
Lastly, PayPal Donation is one of the top on the list, but its features are not the cause of that. Sometimes you don’t need a plugin filled to the brim with features (like WPForms and GiveWP) that you may never even use, because a donate button will do the trick.
We hope this list and analysis will help you manage a successful donation campaign for your cause. Good luck with your fundraising.
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