Donation Forms & Pages

This section outlines the critical requirements for the online donation forms and giving pages that will serve as the primary interface between the organization and its online donors. These tools are essential for acquiring new supporters, increasing gift conversion rates, and providing a modern, branded experience across devices. Donation forms must be highly customizable, accessible, and optimized for staff flexibility and donor usability. The ability for fundraising staff to launch and tailor donation pages without technical support is a high priority, as is ensuring every donor touchpoint reflects the organization’s brand and mission.

🎨 Customization & Branding Flexibility

Donation forms must be fully customizable to reflect the organization’s brand identity and to support different fundraising campaigns and donor journeys.

• Ability to modify the look, feel, layout, and content of forms without developer support.
  
  
• Support for themes and style variations for different use cases (e.g., events, appeals, surveys).
  
  
• Customizable confirmation pages and autoresponder emails for branding and content.
  
  
• Embedding of fonts, videos, widgets, images, and dynamic content based on donor characteristics.
  
  

“We need to be able to spin up a branded giving page for a campaign launch in under an hour—no IT ticket, no waiting.”

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🧰 Easy Creation & Editing by Non-Technical Staff

The platform must empower marketing and fundraising teams to manage forms independently.

• Non-technical users must be able to create, edit, or delete forms and fields.
  
  
• Drag-and-drop or simple UI for rearranging form layout and field order.
  
  
• Ability to adjust form behavior (e.g., required fields, conditional logic) without coding.
  
  

“We want fundraisers to run A/B tests on their own forms—field placement, button language, etc.—without needing a developer.”

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📱 Mobile-Friendly & Accessible Design

Donation forms should be built using a mobile-first, responsive design approach and meet accessibility standards.

• Mobile optimization is essential, with clean navigation and fast load times.
  
  
• Adherence to WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards is required.
  
  
• Forms must be compatible with screen readers, support keyboard navigation, and maintain proper color contrast.
  
  

“Most of our donors give via mobile, so every form must feel like it was designed for a phone first—not just adapted.”

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🔌 Flexible Implementation Options

The platform must support multiple deployment options to meet varying campaign and technical needs.

• Hosted pages with custom domains (e.g., give.organization.org) and CNAME support.
  
  
• Embeddable widgets for CMS use or microsites.
  
  
• Modal pop-ups for event or campaign integration.
  
  
• Support for URL parameters to pre-fill data or customize user experience.
  
  

“Our Christmas campaign needs a modal version of the form on our homepage and a full-page version for social sharing—ideally using the same backend.”

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💸 Customizable & Dynamic Ask Arrays

Donation forms should enable flexible ask strategies to increase conversion and gift size.

• Personalized ask amounts based on donor behavior or data, with support for formulas or AI/ML.
  
  
• Separate ask arrays for one-time vs. recurring gifts.
  
  
• Options for adding user-defined amounts and reordering or styling ask buttons.
  
  
• Ability to pass ask parameters via URL or override defaults.
  
  

“We use donor history to set default asks. Our tool must let us show different amounts for new vs. returning donors.”

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🎯 Flexible Designation Options

Support donor choice in gift allocation through various designation presentation styles.

• Display of single, multiple, fixed, or searchable designation lists.
  
  
• Ability to tag designations for one-time or recurring eligibility.
  
  
• Optional open-text fallback if donor cannot find their designation.
  
  
• Link designations to GL codes and sync with CRM.
  
  

“We want supporters to choose a missionary to support from a searchable dropdown—and add a note if they don’t find them.”

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🎁 Premiums & Add-Ons

Enable gift-with-donation options and cost-recovery features.

• Conditional display of premiums based on donation thresholds.
  
  
• Support for FMV, digital goods (with delivery), and shipping options.
  
  
• Quantity selection, multiple selections, and opt-out features.
  
  
• Option for donors to cover transaction fees at checkout.
  
  

“If someone gives $50, we want to offer them a t-shirt—but also let them opt out to give more.”

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📊 Tracking & Attribution

Robust support for digital analytics and campaign attribution is required.

• Full integration with GA4, Google Tag Manager (GTM), and UTM parameters.
  
  
• Ability to configure source codes and custom variables.
  
  
• Support for passing attribution data via URL and exposing it in exports/API.
  
  
• Tracking of site traffic and form conversion metrics.
  
  

“We want to track conversions from Facebook ads by passing UTMs to the donation form and recording that data.”

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💬 Additional Form Features

A range of additional capabilities must be supported for specialized giving needs.

• Tribute giving (in honor/memory) with notification and message options.
  
  
• Minimum gift amount settings per form or per payment method.
  
  
• Anonymous giving toggle (internal data still retained).
  
  
• Organization giving on behalf of others, with differentiated admin display.
  
  
• Progress thermometers or goal tracking widgets for live updates.
  
  

“We’re launching a memorial campaign where people can give in someone’s honor and include a message—that needs to feel seamless.”

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