Donation popup setup

A donation popup is an embedded donation form that opens in a modal on your own website. Donors click a link, usually a donate button, and complete their gift without ever leaving the page. This article covers when to use a popup, how the form works for donors, and how the editor is organized.

Donation popup or donation page?

Start with a donation page. The popup is the lower-converting surface: donation pages convert about 60% higher than popups, largely because a page is a one-step form while a popup walks donors through three steps. A page also has its own URL you can drop into email campaigns, social posts, paid ads, or QR codes. A popup only exists on the pages where you've embedded it, which makes it a poor target for direct links.

Use a popup for on-page donations: when your website already makes the case for giving and sending visitors away to a separate page would break the flow. Even then, we recommend creating your donation page first and adding the popup after. See Donation page setup for the full comparison.

Before you begin

Four things to have in place:

• Connecting Stripe is required to accept donations.
• Connecting PayPal is optional but recommended, since roughly 10% of donations come through PayPal.
• Your donor portal must be published. Recurring donors need it to manage their plans.
• Access to your website's code or site builder. Installing a popup means embedding a JavaScript snippet and creating the link or button that opens it.

A campaign uses either a donation page or a donation popup, not both, and the choice is permanent for that campaign. You make it when you create the campaign.

How the popup works for donors

The popup is a three-step form followed by a thank you screen.

1. Donation amount. Donors choose an amount, a frequency, and a currency. Designations and dedications, if enabled, are offered on this step.
2. Personal info. Donors enter their name, email, and whatever fields you've chosen to collect.
3. Payment. Donors select a payment method and complete the gift. GiveForms sorts payment options automatically so the highest-converting method the donor's device supports, Apple Pay or Google Pay, appears first.

Once payment is made, donors land on a thank you screen with a celebration animation and links to share the fundraiser on social media.

The appeal

Step 1 can include an optional appeal, a panel that opens beside the form with a photo, a short narrative, and an optional fundraising goal with live progress. Think of the appeal as a small ad that encourages people to donate. Use it when the page the popup opens from doesn't have content that makes the case for giving; skip it when the surrounding page already does that work.

The donation popup editor

The editor shows a preview of the popup in the center of the workspace. You configure it from the tabs on the left sidebar; each tab opens an editing panel on the right.

• Donation Info: logo, headline, mobile header photo, minimum donation amount, frequencies (one-time, monthly, yearly), and preset amounts for each frequency, including the default, per-amount descriptions, and a custom label such as "My Best Gift".
• Personal Info: which fields to collect beyond name and email (address, country, phone, company) and which of them are required.
• Payment Settings: payment methods, enabled currencies, automatic currency detection, and fee coverage.
• Thank You: the thank you screen's title and description, plus which social sharing options appear.
• Form Features: toggles for the appeal, comments, dedications, designations, and corporate gift matching through the Double the Donation integration. Dedications and designations get their own editing panels once enabled.
• Form Styles: the primary color used for call-to-action buttons and highlights, and the secondary color used for the background.
• Form Settings: the form's title, description, and URL slug with a search engine preview, plus a Tracking tab for analytics and conversion pixels. A Salesforce mapping tab appears when Salesforce is connected via an integration.

The breakpoint switcher at the top of the editor previews the popup at desktop, tablet, and mobile widths. The top bar also holds the preview and version history buttons and the Save Draft and Publish buttons.

What you'll configure

Each area of the popup gets its own focused guide:

• Donation amounts and frequencies
• Appeal
• Personal information
• Currencies and payment methods
• Fee coverage
• Comments
• Dedications
• Designations
• Corporate gift matching
• Thank you screen
• Form styles
• SEO and search visibility
• Tracking and conversion events
• Embedding the popup on your website
• Preview and test transactions
• Drafts and publishing