Online giving — one-time, monthly, annually — with receipts. Plus campaign tracking and an admin ledger for hand-recorded donations (checks, cash, in-kind).
What you can do
- Take online donations via Stripe (one-time, monthly, annually) and PayPal (one-time).
- Run named campaigns with progress bars ("Library Renovation: $4,200 of $10,000").
- Auto-send tax receipts with 501(c)(3) language when an EIN is configured.
- Let donors cover the processing fee so 100% of their gift reaches you.
- Accept anonymous donations (donor identifier scrubbed from the public-facing list).
- Take in-honor-of / in-memory-of dedications.
- Record check, cash, and in-kind donations by hand for complete books.
- Pseudonymize donor records on GDPR erasure request while keeping the financial total intact.
Before you start
You need a Stripe account. Create one at stripe.com if you don't have one. Drop your publishable key and secret key in SocietyPress → Settings → Payments. Test mode keys work for trying things out; switch to live keys when you're ready to take real money.
PayPal is optional. If you want it, add your client ID and secret under the same Settings page. PayPal handles one-time donations in the form; recurring (monthly/annual) goes through Stripe.
How to put a donate form on a page
Two paths:
- Page builder. Drop the "Donation Form" widget. Configure default frequency (one-time / monthly / annually), whether to show the in-honor-of field, optional campaign association.
- Shortcode.
[sp_donate]on any page. Accepts the same options as attributes:[sp_donate campaign="library-fund" default_frequency="monthly"].
The form has preset amount buttons ($25 / $50 / $100 / $250 / $500 by default) plus a custom-amount input. The donor picks one-time / monthly / annually, optionally toggles "cover the processing fee," fills in name + email, optionally adds a dedication and a note. Then they click Donate and Stripe Checkout takes over.
How to set up a campaign
SocietyPress → Donations → Campaigns → Add New. Name, description, goal amount (optional), end date (optional), image (optional). Save.
Once a campaign exists, every donation form / widget can attribute gifts to it: pass campaign="library-fund" (using the campaign's slug) to the form, or set the campaign in the widget settings.
The campaign page (/campaigns/[slug]/) shows a progress bar with current total vs goal, recent donors (anonymous gifts excluded), and a donate button pre-tagged for the campaign.
How to read the receipt
Receipts go out automatically the moment Stripe confirms the payment. The email includes:
- The amount.
- The frequency ("one-time donation" vs "monthly recurring donation").
- The dedication, if one was provided.
- 501(c)(3) language including your EIN — but only if the EIN is configured under SocietyPress → Settings → Organization. If it's blank, the receipt simply thanks the donor without tax-status language.
For check/cash donations recorded in the admin, receipts go out via a batch action on the donations list ("Send acknowledgment for selected"). Same template.
How recurring donations work
When a donor picks Monthly or Annually, Stripe creates a subscription. SocietyPress records the first donation immediately (status: subscription_active). Each subsequent renewal arrives via webhook (invoice.paid) and creates a new donation row tagged with the original subscription ID, so your books match Stripe's records.
If a donor cancels their subscription (via Stripe's customer portal or by emailing you to cancel), the webhook (customer.subscription.deleted) flips your record to subscription_canceled. No more renewal rows are created.
To set up the webhook: in your Stripe dashboard, add an endpoint URL https://yoursite.org/wp-json/societypress/v1/webhooks/stripe. Pick the three events: checkout.session.completed, invoice.paid, customer.subscription.deleted. Copy the signing secret into SocietyPress → Settings → Payments → Stripe Webhook Secret.
How to record a donation by hand
For checks, cash, in-kind contributions, or grants that don't flow through Stripe:
SocietyPress → Donations → Record Donation. Donor name, email, amount, type (cash / check / in-kind / grant), date, optional campaign, optional note. Save. The donation appears in the ledger alongside online donations; receipts can be sent on demand.
In-kind donations support a free-text description of what was given (e.g., "1850 census photocopies, ~200 sheets, value $50") plus an optional fair-market amount.
If something looks wrong
Donation form says "Stripe is not configured." SocietyPress → Settings → Payments. Drop in your publishable + secret keys.
Donations land but no receipt arrives. SocietyPress → Settings → Email → Send test email to confirm outbound mail works. If mail works generally, check that the donor's email address is correctly captured (look at the donation row in the admin ledger).
Recurring donations stop after the first payment. The webhook isn't reaching your site. In Stripe's dashboard → Developers → Webhooks, look at recent attempts to your endpoint. If they're failing, the most common reasons are: signing secret doesn't match (re-copy it from Stripe), URL is wrong, or your host's firewall is blocking the request.
Donor wants their data scrubbed (GDPR). SocietyPress → Tools → Privacy → Erase Personal Data. Their donation rows are pseudonymized — donor name becomes "Anonymous Donor," email is cleared, the amount + date + payment method are kept (IRS recordkeeping requires this for at least 7 years). The financial total of past gifts isn't touched.
Stripe processing fees are eating into small donations. Turn on the "cover the processing fee" toggle in the form. Donors who tick it add ~3% to their gift so 100% reaches you. Most do, especially for smaller amounts.
Related guides
- Members — donations link to member records when the email matches
- Setup Wizard — picks your initial 501(c)(3) language