Custom fields can be added to your donation forms to capture information that isn’t requested in a system or billing field. You can even use conditional logic to only show certain custom fields under specific conditions.

Looking for information on system and billing fields? You can find that here.

To set up custom fields, head to the Custom Fields tab within the Fields menu in your Form Settings.

Custom fields come in a variety of formats so you can collect various types of information. Your options include:

Here's a look at how each field type will display on your form:

When a donor clicks in the field, a calendar will appear so they can pick a date.

If a donor enters text that is not validated as an email address, they'll receive an error message asking them to enter a valid email.

Field validation prevents any characters that aren't numbers from being entered in this type of field.

This field includes a character limit option.

Area code formatting will automatically be applied when a 10-digit phone number is entered.

This field includes a character limit option.

If a donor enters text that is not validated as a website, they'll receive an error message asking them to enter a valid website address.

Just kidding, these won't show up on your public-facing form. :)

To create a new custom field click the Add New Field button above the custom fields table. An area will appear where you can enter the details of your new custom field.

Select the Field Type you’d like to add from the drop-down menu.

Depending on the type of field you select, your configuration options may look slightly different. For example, if you add a drop-down menu, you’ll see an area for entering multiple options that will appear in your drop-down.

Next, enter a Field Label. The text you enter here is what will show up on your form. You can also enter an optional Field Help Text if you need to provide context for your donors.

There is a 60-character limit for field labels of certain field types. These include:

Any custom field of this type that you create will be subject to the character limit.

Next, determine if this field should be required or not. You can also make a field required based on a custom donation amount, as shown below.

Next, you’ll configure your display settings for the field and, if you want, enable conditional logic.

If you’d like to gather more information based on a donor’s response to a custom field, you can enable conditional logic! Adding conditional logic means the field will only be displayed if donors take a certain action in a previous field.

For example:

Click the Enable Conditional Logic toggle.

Choose a condition from the Only show if drop-down menu that appears beneath the conditional logic toggle. Conditional logic can be set based on three different criteria:

With this logic applied, if a donor answers “yes” to “Are you interested in volunteering?”, then the custom field asking “What areas interest you?” will appear. Here’s what that looks like on the front end:

Donor sees the first custom field question:

If the donor answers “yes,” the field with conditional logic applied displays:

You can also make a field conditional based on the donation amount.

Determine whether you want the field to display based on gifts being less than, equal to, or greater than a set dollar amount. Then enter the donation amount in the text field. The field will now only display when the conditions you’ve set are met.

Your third option is to set conditional logic based on donation type.

If using Donation Type for conditional logic, choose whether to display for one-time donations or recurring donations.

Once you’ve configured (or skipped) conditional logic, choose where on your form to display the custom field. You have two options.

Then, choose the device/service options for where your custom field will appear. You can make multiple selections. The field can appear:

Finally, review your Reporting Settings.

The Reporting Label is created based on the Custom Field Label, but you can edit it. This will be used as the column header for this custom field in all reports. Use the underscore instead of spaces.

When you’re satisfied with your field settings, click Add New Custom Field. Your new field will then be added to your list of custom fields.

From this list, you can toggle the custom field on or off and review where the custom field is being displayed, what type of custom field it is, and whether it’s required.

When creating a custom field, make sure you’re not asking for sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, Tax Payer IDs, protected health data, and so on.

Custom fields are not set up to securely collect and store sensitive data, and using them in this way is a violation of our Terms of Service. If you attempt to set up a custom field to collect sensitive information, you may see an error message that prevents the field’s creation.

Custom fields can also be grouped together into Custom Field Groups. A group of fields will always appear together on a form. You can toggle fields within a group on and off with the press of a button. Custom field groups are editable, and the group itself can use conditional logic.

To create a new Custom Field Group, select the Add New Field Group button above the custom field table.

An area will appear where you can set up your new custom field group.

First, enter a Group Name.

Select custom fields you've already created to add to the custom field group using the Fields drop-down menu.

Decide if you want all selected fields to be shown on separate lines.

Next, set the Display Settings.

Like custom fields, custom field groups can use conditional logic, which we covered earlier.

When satisfied with your custom field group settings, click Add New Custom Field Group. Your group will now be displayed on your donation form.