Overview

The Donation Options section lets you customise the donation amounts and frequencies available to donors.

You can use donation prompts to suggest specific donation amounts and donation frequencies to encourage donors to choose a regular gift rather than a one-off donation.

Open the Donation Widget

1. Go to Admin > Widget Configuration.
2. Find the donation widget you want to edit.

3. Select Edit next to the widget name.

4. Select Donation Options from the menu on the left.

   

    

Donation Prompts

Donation prompts allow you to provide suggested donation amounts for donors to choose from.

By default, the widget provides $25, $50 and $100 donation prompts. You can replace these with your own amounts.

Add a Donation Prompt

When adding a donation prompt, you can configure:

• The donation amount displayed to the donor.
• A document to display above the donation selection when that amount is selected.
• Whether the prompt should be the default amount.

Show the Impact of a Donation

You can associate a document with each donation prompt to help donors understand the potential impact of their donation.

For example, you could use the document to explain:

• What a $25 donation could provide.
• How a $50 donation could support your organisation's work.
• What a particular donation amount could fund or achieve.

This can help donors understand the value of their contribution and encourage them to consider a higher donation amount.

Tip: Consider using engaging content to show the real-world impact of different donation amounts. You can also use CSS to customise the appearance of the widget and help the donation prompts fit seamlessly into your website.

Default Donation Prompt

Select the Default option for the donation prompt you want automatically selected when the donation form loads.

For example, if $75 is configured as the default, the $75 donation amount will already be selected when the donor opens the widget.

Donation Frequencies

Donation frequencies determine how often a donor can make their donation.

Before you begin: The Show Donation Frequency Option setting under Form Options must be enabled before the Donation Frequencies section will be displayed on the widget.

The available frequencies are taken from attributes configured under the Frequency or Donation Frequency attribute type.

Vega includes the following standard frequencies:

• Annual or Annually
• Six Monthly
• Quarterly
• Monthly
• Fortnightly
• Weekly
• One-off

You can add additional frequency attributes if required.

Default Donation Frequency

Select the Default option for the frequency you want automatically selected when the donation form loads.

For example, selecting Monthly as the default will automatically select a monthly donation when the donor opens the widget.

The donor can still select another available frequency if other options have been enabled.

Recurring Acknowledgement Emails

Each donation frequency can be configured to use the Frequency Acknowledgement Email.

When Use Frequency Acknowledgement Email is enabled for a frequency, donations made using that frequency will receive the Recurring Acknowledgement configured under Acknowledgements.

Recurring acknowledgement emails are sent without a PDF attachment.

Recommended setup for recurring donations

It is recommended to use the Recurring Acknowledgement Email for recurring donations.

This allows you to thank the donor for setting up their regular gift without sending a separate receipt for the initial donation.

An annual receipt can then be issued at the end of the financial year covering the donor's donations for that period.

Tip: Review the acknowledgement settings for each recurring frequency to make sure the email and receipt process matches your organisation's requirements.

Recurring Donation Start Dates

You can choose how donors select the start date for a recurring donation.

Under What start date options would you like to offer?, choose from the following options:

Use the sign-up date as the recurring start date

The donor's sign-up date will automatically be used as the start date for their recurring donation.

This is the simplest option and means the recurring donation will begin based on the date the donor submits the form.

Show a calendar to select the start date

Displays a calendar on the donation widget, allowing the donor to choose when their recurring donation should begin.

When this option is enabled, additional settings are available to control which dates donors can select.

Allow Any Start Date

Select Allow any start date if you want donors to be able to choose from the available dates on the calendar.

You can use the following settings to control when dates become available:

Number of allowance days
Sets the number of days that must pass before the first available start date.

For example, if you enter 7, dates within the next seven days will be unavailable and the first available start date will be after the allowance period.

Number of months available
Sets how many months into the future the donor can select a start date.

This allows you to control how far ahead donors can schedule their recurring donation.

Restrict Calendar to Specific Dates

Select Restrict calendar to specific dates if you only want donors to be able to choose from specific recurring donation start dates.

You can manually select the start dates you want to make available to donors.

You can also configure:

Number of allowance days
Sets the number of days to block out before the first available start date.

Number of months available
Sets how far into the future the available start dates can be offered.

Use this option when your organisation only wants recurring donations to begin on specific dates, rather than allowing donors to select any date.

Tip: The allowance days setting provides a buffer between the date the donor signs up and the first available recurring start date. This can be useful when your organisation needs time to process or prepare the recurring payment.

Example

If a donor signs up on 1 August and an allowance period of 7 days is configured, dates within that allowance period will be unavailable. The first available start date will be after the seven-day allowance period.

If Restrict calendar to specific dates is selected, only the dates manually configured by your organisation will be available for the donor to select.

Next steps

Once you've configured your Donation Options, continue with the next section of the Donation Widget setup:

Widget Code – Generate the code required to add the Donation Widget to your website.

> Next, Widget Code

“Some content in this article may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by staff.”