Create online giving forms so your supporters can donate online. Transactions are automatically processed and added to Bloomerang CRM.
Online giving forms can accept credit, debit, EFT payments, and digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Venmo).
Forms can receive donations from anywhere, and donations are processed in United States dollars (USD). If you select Canada in your organization settings, and if you have a Canadian Stripe or Authorize.net account, your online forms use Canadian dollars (CAD), not USD converted to CAD.
This article explains how to create a standard form for online giving. To create a custom self-hosted form, view Create, Edit, and Revert Self-Hosted Forms. For ticket sales, use an event registration form instead of an online giving form.
Before You Begin
Payment Methods
Before you can create an online giving form, you must set up a transaction processor integrated with Bloomerang CRM. We recommend Bloomerang Payments.
To accept EFT on online forms, you must use Bloomerang Payments or Authorize.Net.
To accept digital wallets on your online giving form, your organization must use Bloomerang Payments. To accept Apple Pay, PayPal, and Venmo, you must also complete some setup steps:
Apple Pay — If you embed the form on your website, Apple must verify your domain before you can accept Apple Pay. For information about domain verification, view Apple Pay on Online Giving Forms. After Apple verifies your domain, donors who have Apple Pay and Apple Wallet enabled and use a supported web browser automatically see Apple Pay on online giving forms.
PayPal and Venmo — To accept PayPal and Venmo payments on online giving forms, you must first enable the PayPal & Venmo add-on. After PayPal verifies your business information, PayPal and Venmo payment buttons appear automatically on these types of giving forms:
New and existing Bloomerang-hosted forms
New and existing standard embedded on your website
If you have a custom self-hosted form embedded on your website, you must complete an additional step after PayPal verifies your information: Regenerate the form code and copy the code to your website.
To accept Google Pay, you don't have to complete any setup steps. Donors who have Google Pay enabled and use a supported web browser automatically see Google Pay on online giving forms. Domain verification isn't required for Google Pay.
Emails, Campaigns, Appeals, Funds, and Custom Fields
Before you can create an online giving form, you must set up at least one fund. To use a custom confirmation email, campaign, appeal, or custom field on your form, you must first set those up.
Create a New Form
To create an online giving form:
Click Communications.
Click Forms.
On the Online Giving tile, click Select.
Click New.
Next, design the form.
Design the Form
You can customize online donation forms to meet the needs of your organization. You must complete these required settings:
Form Name
Transaction Processor
Confirmation Email
Notification Email
Funds
Other settings are optional.
Settings
To complete the general settings:
Enter a Form Name. This name appears in Bloomerang CRM and on notification emails your organization receives when a donor uses the form.
Select a Transaction Processor.
Select the Bloomerang CRM Default email or a custom confirmation email. For Bloomerang CRM Default emails, the Purpose type is Receipt, which does not mark the transaction as acknowledged in Bloomerang CRM. For custom confirmation emails, the Purpose type can be Receipt or Acknowledgement. When you use an Acknowledgement email, it marks the transaction as acknowledged in Bloomerang CRM.
Important: If you use Journey Automation to automate email acknowledgements, select a confirmation email that has a Receipt purpose. This makes sure you email only one acknowledgement for a donation.Enter a Notification Email. When a donor submits this form, Bloomerang CRM sends a message to the email listed in your organization settings.
To add up to 10 more email addresses, click Add Email and enter the email address. When a donor submits this form, Bloomerang CRM sends each email address the same message. To remove an email address, click the X button.
Fund, Campaign, and Appeal
Next, complete the Fund, Campaign, and Appeal settings:
Select a Fund for the donations. Donors won't see this fund on the form.
To allow donors to select a fund they want their money to go to, click Add Fund. Select a fund and enter a display name, which donors see. To move a fund in the list, click the up or down arrow. To remove a custom field, click the X button.
Select a Campaign: Select a campaign if you want funds from these donations to go to a particular campaign.
Select an Appeal: Select an appeal if you want funds from these donations to go to a particular appeal.
Recurring Donations
To give donors control over the donation frequency and start date, select one of these options:
Allow Donor to Select Frequency: Donors can select Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly.
Allow Donor to Select Start Date
EFT
To allow EFT donations, select the Allow Donation via EFT checkbox. EFT is available through Bloomerang Payments, Authorize.Net, or BluePay.
True Impact
In the True Impact section, you can select Allow Donor to Offset Estimated Fees. When you select this option, donors can select to cover estimated bank fees for transaction processing. The form shows donors how much will be added to their transaction, which is calculated based on current payment processing fees.
Donation Levels
You can add donation levels to your form. Constituents can always donate any amount they want, even if you add predefined donation levels.
To add predefined donation levels:
Click Add New Donation Level.
Enter an Amount.
Enter an Impact Statement.
Tip: Write descriptive, action-oriented statements, which are more effective than traditional giving levels such as Gold or Bronze.To move a donation level in the list, click the up or down arrow.
To remove a donation level, click the X button.
Custom Fields
To use custom fields to gather more information about the donor:
Click Add Constituent Field or Add Transaction Field.
From the drop-down list, select the custom field and enter a Display Name.
To move a custom field in the list, click the up or down arrow.
To remove a custom field, click the X button.
Tip: Be judicious about how many custom fields you place on the form. Donors are more likely to fill out three or fewer fields.
For more information about custom fields, read Custom Field Basics.
Design the Success Page
Constituents see a success page after they donate. You can design the page in Bloomerang CRM or use your own success page. You can also use the success page as another opportunity to thank and engage with donors.
To design a success page in Bloomerang CRM:
Click Build in Bloomerang.
Edit the Title and Message Body.
To include Twitter and Facebook buttons on the success page, select one of these options:
Tweet button: Adds the text you enter in the Prefill Tweet Text box, and a link to your form, to the constituent's Twitter timeline. The constituent can personalize the message.
Follow button: The Constituent now follows your organization.
Share button: Shares your form's page to the donor's timeline, groups, or friends. The donor can add a personalized message.
Like button: Adds a Like to your organization's Facebook page.
To add or update your organization's Twitter handle or Facebook URL, enter it in the text box. This updates your organization settings.
Click Save and Preview.
To use your own success page:
Click Redirect to URL.
Type in the URL for your success page.
Click Save and Preview.
Preview and Publish the Form
On the Preview Form page:
Make sure that your form looks correct. Click Edit to make changes.
To change the CSS, HTML, or JavaScript, click Self-Host Form. See Create, Edit, and Revert Self-Hosted Forms for more details.
Click Next.
On the Publish Form page, copy the code snippet that Bloomerang CRM generated.
Paste the code snippet to your website's HTML where the online giving form should appear. For links to instructions provided by Wix, WordPress, Squarespace, and Webflow, view Add Bloomerang Forms to Your Website.