Accepting donations can be a great source of income for nonprofit organizations, developers, or for raising funds. What better way to do that on our beloved WordPress than using WooCommerce donation plugin.
When we talk about eCommerce and payments in WordPress, we’re typically thinking about businesses that sell physical or digital goods to customers.
However, there are also kinds of sites that need to accept payments online, but don’t sell anything. Such as non-profits or sites for charitable causes that accept donations.
Donations are a great way to reward someone for their work. Online donation is a phenomenon that has been getting very popular in recent years.
Users make donations to support cultural projects, to collect for fundraising initiatives, to express their gratitude for a service or a product they have received.
It is generally hard to obtain selfless contributions from customers. Especially considering how hard it is to convince them to buy something.
Whether it is a matter of few dollars or considerable amounts, if you want to implement the possibility to receive donations on your WordPress website, what you need is efficient and easy to use solution.
If you are a WordPress developer who offers products for free and wants to raise some funds to support your efforts or if you run any not profit organization and want to raise funds for your project, you must have a website with a donation option on easy to spot place.
Below you will find paid, and free donation plugins for WordPress which I think would be worth your time and money. Some are based and require WooCommerce, but most are standalone WordPress plugins.
Table of Contents
Best WordPress & WooCommerce Donation Plugin?
There are several quality plugins for accepting donations. I have taken into considerations those who are most popular and last updated at least in recent few months.
1. YITH Donations for WooCommerce
YITH Donations (around $55) for WooCommerce aims to make the whole process regarding donation easy.
It is a simple plugin which you can use to add a donation form in any sidebar of your site using the widget, or you can associate a donation to a product on your store. If you want to add the donation form into page content, you can use the shortcode.
For each donation made, the plugin sends an email to the associated user. Email settings can be configured from section “Emails” in plugin configuration panel.
You can select the email template and choose between WooCommerce standard one or the one provided with the plugin. The plugin also comes with widget counter showing the total amount of donations received so far. YITH Donations comes in free and paid version.
Features of free version:
- Users can make donations using YITH widget
- Add a donation form in a single product of the shop
Features of premium version:
- All features of the free version
- Set minimum and maximum amount of each donation
- Put donation form on the cart page
- Set specific payment methods for orders with one or more donations
- Change the style of the form button
- Add the donation form in more shop products
- Make donation mandatory on one or more shop products
- Customizable textual labels
- Edit the contents of the email
- Filtered list of all orders of the shop with donations
- The YITH Donations Summary widget which shows total amount of donations received
- A shortcode to add the donation form on the shop page
YITH Donation for WooCommerce free version can be downloaded from WordPress repository or from the official site. If you intend to get little more features with PRO version, single site license will cost you $55.
A license entitles you to 1 year of updates and support. Each installation of the plugin will require a license key for you to receive updates and support.
This is simple donation plugin for WooCommerce, and it does not have advanced features. Like option for people to donate monthly automatically (or on other time intervals), can’t embed the donation form in a popup lightbox, no choice to put multiple donation forms on one page or to automatically donate a % of the order total to charity and allow the customer to chose the charity.
2. Give Plugin
Give is a free plugin (free with paid extensions) that allows you to create a donation form for your WordPress site. It does not take any commission from the donation nor does it require WooCommerce to be installed.
Give gives the ability for nonprofit organizations and causes to self-host their own donation forms, manage reporting and send out customized emails all from the WordPress admin panel.
Give plugin is incredibly easy to use with professionally designed forms that are flexible enough to accept funds of different amounts.
Users can set custom amount to donate in forms generated by Give. The donation amounts don’t need to be fixed. Give WordPress donation plugin markets itself as the most robust and flexible solution for accepting donations via WordPress.
Using Give plugin, you can insert forms inside your posts and pages with the help of a shortcode. It also gives you the option to use the widget to display the forms or publish them on a separate landing page.
Another feature which separates Give from other donation solutions is the possibility of exporting form according to specified dates in PDF or CSV format.
The free core currently supports offline payments and comes with the PayPal gateway along with options for test and offline donations.
If you want to extend the functionality or want to add another payment gateway, you will need to purchase add-ons. Commercial add-ons available include payment gateways, recurring donations, marketing options and other useful tools.
Give is a very flexible plugin and the settings allow you to choose to only allow your visitors to donate a fixed amount, or provide them opportunity to enter a sum of their choosing.
You can also create multi-level donations to encourage more generosity from your supporters. Developers can also easily add custom form fields. Give plugin provides an intuitive solution for raising money without taking any cut from the money raised.
- GIVE DONATION PLUGIN
- Free with option to purchase extensions
- Using free WordPress Importer plugin
- Offline Donations and PayPal Standard
- Paid extension
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- Coming soon
- NAME
- PRICE
- SINGLE DONATION AMOUNTS
- MULTI-LEVEL DONATION AMOUNTSThis 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 SHORTCODEUse the Form as a stand-alone page, or insert it anywhere on your site with a shortcode
- CUSTOM AMOUNTSUser can input amount he wants to donate
- FIXED AMOUNTSUser can choose from predefined amounts
- SET MINIMUM AMOUNT
- GUEST DONATIONSDo you want to allow non-logged users to make donation
- REGISTRATION/LOGINAllows you to add the WordPress Registration and/or Login form into your donation form.
- DONATION GOALSEnable or disable donation goals
- WIDGETDisplay forms using widget
- FORM IN STANDALONE PAGEShow donation forms as it’s own stand-alone page with full content
- TERMS AND CONDITIONSAdd terms and conditions to your donation forms
- IMPORT/EXPORT FORMS
- DONATION DETAILSGet 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 DETAILSDonor management, and reporting, as well as the ability to export data about those donors.
- DONATION REPORTSOverview 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 SETTINGSAllow you to configure which currency all your donations will be received and reported in
- FREE PAYMENT GATEWAYSWhich payment gateways come with free version of plugin
- EMAIL SETTINGSOption to send and customize series of emails to both donors and admins for different purposes.
- FORM FILED MANAGERAdd and manage additional fields for your donation forms
- PDF RECEIPTSOption for donors to get receipts for donations by making PDF downloadable copies
- GOOGLE ANALYTICS DONATION TRACKINGMeasure campaign success. Track user interactions with donation forms, admin refunds, and more.
- MANUAL DONATIONSCreate 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 REPORTSFetch 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 EMAILSCustomize everything from the logo, subject, content, and even template per donation form
- CHOOSE PAYMENT GATEWAY PER FORMSet 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 AVATARAdd a community feel to your website by giving your donors the ability to upload their profile photo.
- ALLOW OTHERS TO CREATE CAMPAIGNSCreate a crowdfunding platform
- 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
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3. Charitable
Charitable free core plugin (free with paid extensions) allows you to create fundraising campaigns carefully designed to blend in with your website. Like Give, Charitable also doesn’t require you to have WooCommerce installed. There are no transaction fees, setup costs or monthly charges when you use Charitable.
You can set fundraising goals for your campaigns or even give them an end date if they are time-sensitive campaigns.
Donations can be accepted via PayPal or as offline donations with credit card donations available through payment gateway extensions (you will need to pay if you want to use extensions).
A growing library of extensions adds support for features like anonymous donations, campaign updates and custom avatars for donors and campaign creators.
The Ambassadors extension allows non-profits to run peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns on their website, as well as supporting crowdfunding campaigns for personal causes.
This WordPress plugin for donations allows you to create Campaigns the same way you create blog posts. Simply go to Charitable -> Add Campaign and add your campaign details.
Charitable has been designed to work with any WordPress theme, including the default WordPress themes.
Charitable extensions can be bought separately, or you can purchase packages. Packages are Plus and Pro. Plus comes with all payment gateway extensions plus some others and consists of 9 add-ons for the price of $99.
In Pro package you’ll receive all extensions, including Charitable Ambassadors, so you have the tools you need to create a peer-to-peer fundraising website or crowdfunding platform.
It consists of 13 add-ons plus any future ones for the price of $249. You will receive one year of support and automatic updates for every extension in the packages.
4. WooCommerce Donation Plugin
This is a simple plugin ($18) for accepting donations with WooCommerce. It is very similar to YITH Donations plugin. Using WooCommerce donation plugin, you can accept donations with the amount specified by the user.
Donations can be shown as a WooCommerce product or on the “cart” page. If the client skips the “cart” page or goes directly to “checkout” and hasn’t made any donation, a link on the “checkout” will be shown so he can make a donation.
Plugin easily integrates with the template design of your theme. After installing the plugin, you will find a new menu item named “Donations” under the Woocommerce main menu.
The idea behind this plugin is that donations are related to a product. When making a donation, the client is setting a price for a particular product and also purchasing that product. You can have the donation as a standalone product or as an option on the cart with other products.
5. SUMO Donations
SUMO Donations ($25) is a donation system that provides options for the users to make donations on your WooCommerce site.
Donations from visitors can be performed on the single product page, checkout page, cart page, donation form displayed in any page/post using the shortcode and on exit fly box in cart/checkout page.
Donations can be automatic, manual or recurring if you purchase SUMO subscription addon. The users can buy products in the shop as usual and also can make a donation as well. This plugin is essentially similar to WooCoomerce Donation Plugin mentioned above. Check Sumo Subscriptions review for more info about it.
6. Donorbox
Donorbox is a powerful WordPress donation plugin for nonprofit organizations that can accept recurring donations from donors. Nonprofits can accept weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even annual donations with Donorbox. For more info, you can check my Donorbox review.
Prominent Features:
- Can customize donation form to match your brand theme
- Can offer multiple currencies, language, and payment options
- Ask Donors to cover processing fees
- Easy & seamless donor management system.
- Embed donation form or install popup widget
- Robust & responsive design
Highlights:
- No coding required
- Easy to set up under 15 mins. Tutorials Included
- Seamless Integration with third-party apps.
7. Donation For WooCommerce
Donation for WooCommerce ($99 for a single site billed annually) is a dedicated WooCommerce extension to make the donation process easy.
Donation For WooCommerce enables you to run fundraising campaigns and go beyond simple donation collection. You can personalize your donation campaign with lucrative features such as recurring donation payments, progress goals, round-up donations, and more.
With the WooCommerce Subscription extension, you can accept recurring donations. You can also add donation options on the cart, product, shop, and checkout page or add a donation widget.
Features:
- Donate for more than one campaign.
- Accept customized contribution amounts.
- Display predefined donation amount options.
- Visitors can donate to different donation campaigns at a time.
- Visitors can insert a decimal value to their share of contribution.
- Filter crowdfunding orders through the name of donation campaigns.
- Charge visitors with a processing fee (through credit card) on donations.
- Add different causes for support to a campaign.
- See stats for donation campaigns.
- Show amount for donations in varying styles (label, dropdown, etc.).
- Export reports for crowdfunding via PDF + CSV.
- Send donation receipt to the users through email.
- Insert Tributes in campaigns for donation.
Donation for WooCommerce is an advanced donation plugin with all the latest features embedded. Through this plugin, you can enhance your brand image by expanding your campaigns for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), especially if you are an NGO.
Free WordPress & WooCommerce Donation Plugin Alternatives
Here are more free WooCommerce donation plugins:
1. Seamless Donations
Seamless Donations can help you raise money for your organization or business. It is easy to install and configure.
It lets you accept payments via PayPal and shows thank you message when donors make a payment handling the donation process from start to finish.
The plugin has some useful features like accepting payments anonymously, collecting recurring payments, invite users to join your email list, and track down donors.
Seamless Donations has recurring payments option. You can turn on repeated payments which show patrons a checkbox to make any donation repeat.
The plugin provides options for custom thank you emails, “in honor of” donation pages, and personalized messages. Other useful features include donor tracking, so you know who is supporting you the most, and spam-blocking.
Seamless Donations is well documented with FAQs, and video tutorials to help you get started. It supports a range of plugins to enable CAPTCHA, exporting, and mail integration.
This plugin is free without any commission charging. The only thing you pay is extensions if you wish to add additional features.
One thing that makes this plugin stand out from the rest is its payment system. It has a complete payment solution for accepting payments via PayPal. It also lets you embed the widget anywhere on your site using a simple shortcode.
2. PayPal Donations
PayPal donations, as the name suggests, the plugin is specifically designed for accepting payments via Paypal. The donation button can be added anywhere in your website including header, page, posts, sidebar, and footer using a shortcode or widget.
All donations end up straight in your PayPal account. You can choose which donation button you want to use or if you want to use your custom button.
You can also set an optional default purpose and reference. There are also options available for currency, localization of the button, custom payment page style, and the return page.
While useful, this plugin definitely lacks a few things. For example, there is no feature to thank donors. Though this can be solved by creating a thank you page and redirecting the donors to that page.
3. Custom Post Donations
Custom Post Donations is a little different than other donation plugins. This plugin allows you to make three different types of widgets.
The Standard donation, Fixed + Additional donation, and Per item + Additional donation. There are two more type of widgets, and are only available in Pro version.
To choose a donation type, you go to the plugin settings page. From there you will be shown an option to create a widget to suit your purposes.
Once you have filled all the necessary details, you will be given a shortcode. You can then paste that shortcode on your posts or pages. The paid version of this plugin includes campaign donation type, multiple widgets, and two languages translations.
WordPress and WooCommerce Donation Plugin Summary
For startups and non-profit groups, donations are a vital means of funding campaigns. Visitors who support your website through donations have a greater incentive to stick around over the long term.
They will feel part of your overall mission and not just a static observer and casual visitor. Believe it or not, most people want to support the projects and individuals they truly believe in.
The donation plugins mentioned for WooCommerce and WordPress provide you very easy and straightforward solution to accept the donations. No matter if you are the site owner, blogger, or looking to raise money for a business venture or non-profit organization.
Accepting donations can be a nice revenue generation method if you provide any kind of free support or you produce quality content regularly.
If I had to choose any particular solution, my recommendation would be Give donation plugin. Another more advanced donation solution with different payment gateways, unlimited campaigns, and offline payment option is Charitable.
But if you are looking for a simpler solution and need only PayPal for accepting payments, go with Seamless Donations. For more robus solution I recommend checking IgnitionDeck review.
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.
Whydonate has developed a WordPress donation plugin that allows users with a WordPress website to embed fundraiser donation forms and widgets on their own website. The widgets and forms are connected to the fundraisers on Whydonate. Users can download the plugin from the ‘Plugin’ directory or straight away from the plugin page on WordPress.
https://whydonate.nl/en/blog/wordpress-donation-plugins-button/
I like the woocommerce donation plugin thats 18$. They update regularly alongside woocommerce which makes troubleshooting easier.
Hi — can any of these plugins work like Amazon Smile, where a small percentage of the purchase price is automatically designated to a specific charity? This is different from someone making a donation above and beyond their order. I can do this later in my accounting software, but it would be nice to show what the donation will be right there at checkout, and show the cumulative total in the customers’ account or something, like Amazon Smile. Thanks for any advice you can offer!
This is a good question. I really don’t know if that is possible. It would be best to contact support of each of this plugin and ask about this possibility.
Hi TL,
With Charitable, our Easy Digital Downloads integration supports this. You can sell products using Easy Digital Downloads, and have a set percentage of the sales go towards a Charitable campaign.
i.e. You could create a UNICEF campaign and have 10% of all sales go towards that campaign. The campaign page will automatically show all the funds raised.
Cheers,
Eric