Donorbox Review PROS & CONS (2023) – Useful Or Overrated?

Donorbox Donation Form Plugin

9.5

Easy to use

9.5/10

Settings

9.6/10

Price

9.4/10

Overall quality

9.5/10

Pros

  • Free
  • Multi level donation amounts
  • Custom amounts
  • Donation reports
  • Email reports
  • Payments gateways integrated
  • Manual donations

Donation buttons and forms became standard practice with anyone looking to acquire funding from willing volunteers. With the usage of WordPress donation plugin, accepting donations on your website is very easy.

Choosing a donation plugin for your WordPress site is not an easy task. Especially with so many solutions available. Each plugin has their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Figuring out which plugin suits your cause best may be somewhat tricky.

The features vary from basic to advanced. All of them make it easy for a visitor to pay money of any amount in a few clicks. If you own a WordPress charity website, you will need a plugin that speeds up the donation process.

Quality donation plugin must let donors effortlessly fund your charity campaign. It also needs to accept multiple payment methods, and have the ability to set up custom recurring donation forms.

In this Donorbox review, I will be reviewing WordPress donation plugin called Donorbox. Does Donorbox meet premium standards of a fundraiser? Let us find out.

 

Donorbox vs Give vs Charitable

blank-page
  • NAME
  • PRICE
  • SINGLE DONATION AMOUNTS
  • MULTI-LEVEL DONATION AMOUNTS
    This option lets you create an infinite amount of donation levels. Each level can be set to any amount you like, have its own corresponding level name, can be set as the default level, and later be re-ordered
  • FORM SHORTCODE
    Use the Form as a stand-alone page, or insert it anywhere on your site with a shortcode
  • CUSTOM AMOUNTS
    User can input amount he wants to donate
  • FIXED AMOUNTS
    User can choose from predefined amounts
  • SET MINIMUM AMOUNT
  • GUEST DONATIONS
    Do you want to allow non-logged users to make donation
  • REGISTRATION/LOGIN
    Allows you to add the WordPress Registration and/or Login form into your donation form.
  • DONATION GOALS
    Enable or disable donation goals
  • WIDGET
    Display forms using widget
  • FORM IN STANDALONE PAGE
    Show donation forms as it’s own stand-alone page with full content
  • TERMS AND CONDITIONS
    Add terms and conditions to your donation forms
  • IMPORT/EXPORT FORMS
  • DONATION DETAILS
    Get an overview of donations that you’ve received through your website. Filter and sort your donations by date, or status. Perform “Bulk Actions” like resending Email receipts, deleting donations,etc.
  • DONORS DETAILS
    Donor management, and reporting, as well as the ability to export data about those donors.
  • DONATION REPORTS
    Overview of the current state of your donation forms with displayed info such as performance per time intervals, donations per Form, activity of Donors, or breakdown of Payment Methods.
  • CURRENCY SETTINGS
    Allow you to configure which currency all your donations will be received and reported in
  • FREE PAYMENT GATEWAYS
    Which payment gateways come with free version of plugin
  • EMAIL SETTINGS
    Option to send and customize series of emails to both donors and admins for different purposes.
  • FORM FILED MANAGER
    Add and manage additional fields for your donation forms
  • PDF RECEIPTS
    Option for donors to get receipts for donations by making PDF downloadable copies
  • GOOGLE ANALYTICS DONATION TRACKING
    Measure campaign success. Track user interactions with donation forms, admin refunds, and more.
  • MANUAL DONATIONS
    Create donations directly in your WordPress dashboard. Donations can be attached to a specific donor, or a new donor can be easily created.
  • INTEGRATION WITH ZAPIER
  • EMAIL REPORTS
    Fetch all of your site’s important donation statistics in detaile report email that summarizes how your donation forms are performing for the current day, week, month,etc.
  • CUSTOMIZE EMAILS
    Customize everything from the logo, subject, content, and even template per donation form
  • CHOOSE PAYMENT GATEWAY PER FORM
    Set which payment gateways you would like to enable for donors per particular form
  • RECURRING DONATIONS
  • MAILCHIMP INTEGRATION
  • MAILPOET INTEGRATION
  • AWEBER INTEGRATION
  • CONVERTKIT INTEGRATION
  • CONSTANT CONTACT INTEGRATION
  • STRIPE PAYMENT GATEWAY
  • AUTHORIZE.NET GATEWAY
  • 2CHECKOUT GATEWAY
  • IATS GATEWAY
  • PAYPAL PRO GATEWAY
  • PAYTM GATEWAY
  • PAYUMONEY GATEWAY
  • PAYMILL GATEWAY
  • WEPAY GATEWAY
  • GOCARDLESS GATEWAY
  • AMERICLOUD PAYMENTS GATEWAY
  • DWOLLA GATEWAY
  • BRAINTREE GATEWAY
  • RAZORPAY GATEWAY
  • CCAVENUE GATEWAY
  • PAYFAST GATEWAY
  • USER AVATAR
    Add a community feel to your website by giving your donors the ability to upload their profile photo.
  • ALLOW OTHERS TO CREATE CAMPAIGNS
    Create a crowdfunding platform
give donation plugins vs charitable donation
  • GIVE DONATION PLUGIN
  • Free with option to purchase extensions
  • Using free WordPress Importer plugin
  • Offline Donations and PayPal Standard
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
charitable vs give donation plugin
  • CHARITABLE DONATION
  • Free with option to purchase extensions
  • Can’t resend email receipts
  • Can export donation data as CSV
  • Offline Donations and PayPal Standard
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
  • Paid extension
donorbox vs give vs charitable
  • DONORBOX PLUGIN
  • Free
    Donorbox is free if you get less than $1k in donations in a month. If you reach $1k in a month, Donorbox charges a small platform fee of 1% for the month’s donations.
  • Can’t resend email receipts
  • Can export donation data as CSV
  • Can export donation data as CSV
  • Stripe and PayPal

 

NOTE: The information stated in comparison table can become outdated and incorrect as plugins get updates and changes. Please contact support to get full list of eatures for desired plugin if in doubt.

 

Donorbox Review

The plugin is free to install, but you need to sign up for a free account and set up the donation form in the plugin website. After that insert campaign link created within Donorbox website to Donorbox plugin in your site to display the donation form.

The form builder allows to collect custom questions from donors or ask donors where to designate their donation. With Donorbox, organizations can accept recurring donations and donors also have full control over their recurring donations.

Forms are localized in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, and Swedish, and are optimized for desktop, mobile phones, and tablets.

Donorbox makes it possible to accept payments via credit cards, ACH bank transfers, PayPal and Stripe, and offers customizable receipt texts.

The platform is compatible with all CMS systems including WordPress, Weebly, Squarespace, and integrates with Salesforce, MailChimp, and more.

 

Creating Donation Form

To begin, log in through your Stripe account or create a free account on Donorbox website. Click the New Campaign button after signing in. There are several tabs to configure when setting up donation form. Those are Basic, Amounts, Email, Advanced, Custom Fields, Tracking, Social Media, and Design.

 

Basic Configuration

In the Basics tab of the Donorbox campaign, type the name of your nonprofit initiative and its details to inform potential donors.

Because almost all Donorbox settings are configured from its website instead of the plugin, you get basic WordPress text editing options.

 

Accept Donations with WordPress

 

The Donorbox plugin is multi-lingual and allows you to select from eight form languages or choose the auto mode which adapts the language to user browser language.

There are about 21 currency options for donations are at your disposal. You have a Save Draft choice to resume setting up your donation campaign later.

 

Amounts Tab Settings

Set different amounts in Donorbox and explain what they will be used for. This tells the donors where their donations are ending up.

Although the donor can pick any donation amount, they do have the choice to set a custom amount. Inputting a donation goal will enable your donors to view your progress.

 

add donate button to wordpress plugin

 

A $3 minimum donation amount is enforced by Donorbox to prevent the misuse of stolen credit cards. You can turn on a commenting option to enable for donors if they want to leave a message or comment about the donation that is made. Also, you can write a thank-you message to your donors in the last form field of Amount Setup.

 

Donorbox Email Settings

If the thank-you message is not enough, receipts get sent automatically when the donation occurs. Choose email subject and add a custom message along with full details of the donation.

 

best free wordpress donation plugin

 

You can also ask the donor to subscribe to your fundraising campaign newsletter. The “Send Test Email” option is there for testing the final email product.

 

Advanced Options Tab

For data analysis, statistic and legal purposes (like for political campaigns) the Donorbox WordPress donation plugin can collect the donor’s address, mobile number, and job status.

This can be enforced or remain optional. Enable Anonymous Donations to encourage hesitant people to raise funds for your nonprofit campaign.

 

wordpress recurring donations plugin

 

Turn off recurring fundraising altogether or impose monthly donations by default. Utilize reCAPTCHA to discourage fraudsters. You also have the choice to personalize the form URL.

 

Custom Fields Tab

For further plugin personalization, you can ask donors where they want their donation to be spent. Custom questions can also be added. The answer types include a textbox, checkbox, radio button and dropdown lists.

 

wordpress donate button plugin

 

Questions can be imposed or made optional.

 

Tracking Tab

You can insert two separate tracking codes. Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel conversion for the donation form and thank you screen.

 

tracking donations wordpress plugin

 

Social Media Settings

After donating, a custom message can be shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin to spread the word about your campaign.

 

free wordpress donation form plugin

 

You can enable a comment wall for interaction with donors or disable the social sharing icons if you’d like.

 

Design Tab

Here you can configure the look of Donorbox within your WordPress site. Upload your logo from a URL or cloud storage sites. Then choose the form accent color from the custom color picker. Below, you will get a live preview how your donation form will look like.

 

customize look donation form wordpress

 

Enter custom CSS code to style your personalized form. Save and preview for a fully-fledged prototype of your form.

Donorbox’s minimalist look and a fresh take on donation forms with clean design interface is a great way to ramp up donation page conversion and fundraising.

 

Donorbox Integration With WordPress

To add created Donorbox form to your WordPress website, copy your donation campaign link from your Donorbox account Dashboard or Social Media tab. Then go to Settings >> Donorbox in the dashboard of WordPress.

 

donorbox integration wordpress

 

Paste the link in the address field and save changes. Add a new page or post and paste the [donate] shortcode in the text field.

 

donorbox features

 

You can also use the shortcode [donate-with-info] which will include the campaign description and legal disclaimer that was on Donorbox.

That is all work needed to be done. You have just embedded your donation form. Donorbox will keep a record of all donations collected.

In case you want to find more options and settings for your Donorbox campaign, head over to the Donorbox site Account Settings.

 

donorbox plugin settings

 

There, you will get access to all features available like MailChimp integration, amount processing through Paypal instead of Stripe, Salesforce integration, etc.

 

What Does Donorbox Offer?

What separates Donorbox plugin from other available tools for collecting donations through your WordPress site?

 

1. Free – Donorbox is free if you get less than $1,000 in donations in a month. If you reach $1,000, they charge a small platform transaction fee of 1% for the month’s donations.

 

2. Form creation and customization – The registration process is simple and fast. Users can build an unlimited number of donation forms. Each form is assigned its own URL.

The Donorbox Form Builder is completely web-based. There is no software download required. Form creation is done in a tabbed, user-friendly design.

Most of the form-creation process involves enabling/disabling settings and choosing layout options. The beauty of this approach is that it will suit those with basic and advanced technical knowledge.

 

donorbox donation form disclaimer

 

Since donation forms are fully customizable, they can match the look and feel of your website. Donorbox lets you brand your donation page with your color scheme, styling, and logo.

 

3. Secure – Donorbox uses Stripe secure token mechanism. Card numbers are tokenized before Donorbox charges the card.

Saved cards and bank accounts for recurring donations are also tokenized. Donorbox doesn’t have any record of the donor’s card number in their database and logs.

Donorbox is entirely PCI compliant and secured by SSL/TLS (see how to add free SSL certificate in WordPress) and does not share client or donation information with any third party.

 

4. Payment gateways – Donorbox uses Stripe and PayPal as payment processors. This presents the donor with a range of payment options, including debit and credit cards, ACH payments, Google Pay and Apple Pay. Donorbox accepts donations in multiple currencies (USD, EUR, CAD, GBP, AUD, etc).

 

5. Integrations – Donorbox easily integrates and allows you to get the most out of your online donation system.

  • MailChimp – Export donor and campaign data to your MailChimp account. The cost is $8 per month.
  • Corporate Donation Matching – Enable companies to match donations made by their employees. The cost is $40 per month.
  • API and Zapier Integration – For added support in advanced integration use cases. The cost is $17 per month.
  • Salesforce Integration  Export donor and campaign data to Salesforce account. The cost is $25 per month.

6. Embedding options – Donorbox forms can be embedded into any WordPress website. The website does need to be SSL-enabled. This is for security reasons because donors payment information will be sent via this donation form.

Every Donorbox form is also hosted on Donorbox secure servers, which are already enabled for SSL. It can also be embedded as a Donate button which deploys the actual form as a popup element.

 

7. Suggested donation amounts – Offering different giving levels allows donors to choose how much they are willing to give.

When giving levels are appropriately integrated, they can increase average donation amounts and help you meet or exceed your fundraising goals. Donorbox lets you set suggested amounts as well as tie-in descriptions to recommended donation amounts.

 

8. Recurring donations – Donorbox is optimized for recurring donations with its simple and effective checkout. Donorbox also offers the fundraising thermometer feature, which in combination with the recurring donations increases the number of donations.

 

9. Automated actions – Donorbox allows you to automate a lot of actions. For example, their payment gateway Stripe will transfer your donations to your account on your pre-selected schedule.

Furthermore, every donation triggers an automatic personalized receipt email that you only need to set up once.

 

10. User experience – Donors will be happy to encounter a minimalist-style donation form that is quick to complete. It loads fast and is a lightweight in the user web browser.

The donor sees a simple, uncluttered user interface, while the organization is still able to gather the information they need. In cases where certain information is legally required Donorbox forms can be set accordingly.

Donors are taken through the entire process step by step. There are clear instructions available. Any invalid information is flagged, and error messages indicate how to correct it.

 

donorbox payment gateway

 

11. Donation management and reporting – All donations are recorded and displayed for easy reference. A CSV file of all donations can be downloaded at any time.

Refunds are also easily processed. Receipts are completely customizable and are sent automatically after every donation. If donors require annual receipts, these can be sent easily. All receipts can be resent if needed. Donors with recurring donations can manage their donation plan via the self-service Donor login.

 

Donorbox Pricing

Donorbox is free if you get less than $1k in donations in a month. There are no set up costs. If you reach $1k in a month, Donorbox charges a small platform fee of 1% for the month’s donations.

Additionally, Stripe and PayPal merchant accounts charge 2.9% + $0.30 for credit card processing. These rates can be reduced for registered nonprofits by simply letting them know.

 

Donorbox Review Summary

Ensuring your nonprofit website works smooth and your supporters have easy donation experience, while at the same time balancing all other areas of nonprofit management, is not easy.

This is why an excellent donation tool that doesn’t come at a huge cost is essential. Donorbox continuously proves to be the best donation plugin for your WordPress site.

It is incredibly easy to use and set up. It is free, which makes it accessible to nonprofits of all kinds. Donorbox listens to customer feedback continually coming out with new features and integrations.

With its simple and effective donation forms optimized for recurring donations, multiple payment gateways, and its trustworthy safety system, Donorbox makes fundraising easier than ever.

The Donorbox WordPress donation plugin ticks all the right boxes if you are looking for a powerful online donation solution that supports recurring donations. It is filled with useful features, all neatly packed with a sleek modern form. As alternative solutions, you can use Give, Charitable or IgnitionDeck WordPress fundraising plugin.


DISCLOSURE: Posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, I might get a small commission, without any extra cost to you. Read more about it here.

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