Donation Widget - Custom Attributes

Overview

The Custom Attributes section lets you add additional questions or fields to your Donation Widget.

Custom Attributes can be used to collect information about your donors and their donations that isn't captured by the standard Donation Widget fields.

For example, you could ask:

• What is the reason for your donation?
• How did you hear about us?
• Would you like to receive further correspondence?
• How would you rate your experience?

The information collected is saved against the donor's contact in Vega.

Before you begin: The attributes or attribute types you want to use must already exist in Vega before you configure them on the Donation Widget.

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.

Add a Custom Attribute

Each Custom Attribute field connects to either an Attribute or an Attribute Type.

The option you select determines what information is displayed on the donation form and how the information is saved to the donor's contact.

Label

Enter the label or question you want to display on the donation form.

For example:

How did you hear about us?

The way the label is displayed depends on the option type selected:

• For Checkbox and Radio Buttons, the attribute name is also displayed as an option.
• For Date, the label isn't used; the attribute name is displayed instead.
• When using an Attribute Type, the label is used for Drop-down, Checkbox, and Radio Button options.

Section Headers

A Section Header allows you to group related Custom Attributes together under a heading on the Donation Widget.

This can make a form easier to follow, particularly when you are collecting several pieces of additional information.

For example, you could create a Communication Preferences section containing:

• Would you like to receive our newsletter?
• Would you like to receive information about upcoming events?
• How would you prefer us to contact you?

The section header clearly separates these questions from the donor's contact and donation information.

When to use a Section Header

Section Headers can be useful when you have several Custom Attributes that relate to the same topic.

For example:

Communication Preferences

• Newsletter preferences
• Event information
• Contact preferences

About Your Donation

• What inspired your donation?
• How did you hear about us?
• Donation comments

Your Experience

• How did you hear about us?
• How would you rate your experience?
• Would you recommend our organisation?

Tip: Use clear, short section headings to help donors understand why you are asking for additional information.

You can use the Position and Row settings for your Custom Attributes to control where the fields appear within the relevant section.

Attribute or Attribute Type

Choose whether you want to use an individual Attribute or an Attribute Type.

Attribute Type

Selecting an Attribute Type makes all attributes within that type available as options.

For example, if you have an attribute type called How Did You Hear About Us?, containing:

• Facebook
• Google
• Friend or family
• Event
• Other

These attributes will be displayed as options on the Donation Widget.

Individual Attribute

Selecting an individual Attribute displays that attribute as a single field.

This can be useful when you want to ask a specific question or capture a single piece of information.

An example could be:

Attribute: Volunteer Interest
Option Type: Checkbox

☐ Yes, I'd like to hear about volunteering opportunities.

Option Types

The Option Type determines how the custom attribute is displayed and how the donor can enter their information.

Examples

Option Type	Image	Used with Attribute/ Attribute Type
Drop-down		Attribute Type
Check-Box		Attribute or Attribute Type
Radio Buttons		Attribute Type
Text Box		Attribute or Attribute Type
Text Area		Attribute or Attribute Type
Date		Attribute or Attribute Type
Yes/No		Attribute or Attribute Type

 Continued:

Custom Attribute Field

Explanation

This can be used in conjunction with the Drop-down option type. The attribute type selected here will show each attribute as an option in the list. This can be used as scale options, for example; 1-10, great- bad, happy- unhappy. This rating can then be used for multiple attributes within a type for a consistent format: The attribute selected here will be recorded as the attribute value on the attribute set up

Using an Attribute Type with Text Box or Text Area

When an Attribute Type is used with Text Box or Text Area, a separate field is displayed for each attribute within the type.

The information entered into each field is saved as the attribute comment.

Using an Attribute Type with Date

When an Attribute Type is used with Date, a date selector is displayed for each attribute within the type.

The selected date is saved as the attribute value.

The start date of the attribute will be the date the attribute is added to the contact.

Using an Attribute Type with Yes/No

When an Attribute Type is used with Yes/No, a Yes/No drop-down is displayed for each attribute within the type.

The selected value is saved as the attribute value.

Select Attribute Type for Dropdown

When you select Drop-down as the Option Type, an additional setting called Select Attribute Type for Dropdown will appear. The selected attribute type is recorded as the attribute value.

This setting allows you to use the same set of attributes as the answer options for multiple attributes.

In other words:

• The Attribute or Attribute Type you selected first determines what the donor is answering for.
• Select Attribute Type for Dropdown determines the options the donor can choose from (attribute value).

This is particularly useful when you want to ask the same type of question for several different attributes, such as availability, ratings or preferences.

Example: Volunteer Availability

Suppose you have an Attribute Type called:

Please select the days you would like to volunteer

with the following attributes:

• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday

What time are you available?

with the attributes:

• Morning
• Afternoon
• Evening

In the Custom Attribute setup:

Attribute Type: Please select the days you would like to volunteer
Option Type: Drop-down
Select Attribute Type for Dropdown: What time are you available?

The Donation Widget will then display a drop-down for each day:

This allows the donor to select a different availability time for each day.

Why use this setting?

This is useful when you want to apply the same answer options to multiple attributes without having to create the same options individually for each attribute. 

For example, you could use this functionality for:

• Volunteer availability – Morning / Afternoon / Evening
• Event feedback – Very Poor / Poor / Average / Good / Excellent
• Programme ratings – 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
• Preference levels – Low / Medium / High

Tip: Think of the first Attribute Type as the questions and the Select Attribute Type for Dropdown as the answers. The same set of answers will then be available for each question.

Using the same setting for ratings

This functionality is also useful for creating consistent rating questions.

For example, you could create an Attribute Type called Rating with:

• 1 – Very Poor
• 2 – Poor
• 3 – Average
• 4 – Good
• 5 – Excellent

You can then use this Attribute Type as the Select Attribute Type for Dropdown for multiple attributes, such as:

• How would you rate our service?
• How would you rate our communication?
• How would you rate your overall experience?

Each question will use the same five rating options, making the responses consistent and easier to compare.

Custom Attribute Position

After selecting the attribute and option type, choose where the field should appear on the Donation Widget.

Our next step in the configuration is to decide on the position of our field in the donation form:

Custom Attribute Position	Explanation
	Displays the custom attribute between the donor's Name and Email fields.
	Displays the custom attribute after the Email field within the Personal Information section.
	This will display the attribute at the bottom of the Personal Information section:
	Displays the custom attribute below the Submit button.
	Displays the custom attribute on the Thank You page after the donation has been submitted. If no Thank You page has been configured, the custom attribute information will be displayed using the standard confirmation message.
	The collation setting determines the order of custom attributes within the same section. The lowest number is displayed first. Tip: If you have several custom attributes in the same section, use the Position setting to control the order in which they appear.

Custom Attribute Formatting

You can customise the size and layout of your custom attribute fields using the formatting options.

The Donation Widget uses a 12-column layout.

For example:

• 12 = full width
• 6 = half width
• 4 = one-third width
• 3 = one-quarter width
• 2 = one-sixth width

Custom Attribute Format	Explanation
	Row The Row setting determines the order of custom attributes within the same section of the form.
	Select/Field Width Use this setting to control the width of the custom attribute field. For example, setting the width to 6 displays the field at approximately half the width of the Donation Widget. Setting it to 2 creates a much narrower field.   Note: A small width works well for fields such as Yes/No selections, but may not provide enough space for longer text responses.
	Label Width Use this setting to control the width of the label. For example, setting the label width to 6 displays the label at approximately half the width of the Donation Widget. When both the Label Width and Field Width are configured, the label and field can appear on the same row. If the combined values are greater than 12, the field will move onto the next row. Both options set at 2: This setting can only be used with: Drop-down Text Box Text Area
	Default Formatting If both the label and field width settings are left blank, the custom attribute will default to approximately half the width of the Donation Widget, with the label displayed above the field.

Additional Custom Attribute Settings

The final settings allow you to add additional functionality to your custom attribute.

Custom Attribute Setting	Explanation
	Attribute Comment Enable this option to display a text box below the custom attribute. The donor can enter additional information, which is saved as the attribute comment on their contact. For example, you could ask: What is the reason for your donation? and provide an additional text box for the donor to provide more detail.
	Mandatory Enable Mandatory to require the donor to complete the custom attribute before they can proceed. A red asterisk (*) will be displayed next to the attribute label to indicate that the field is required. The donor won't be able to continue until the required information has been provided.
	Active Enable Active to display the custom attribute on the Donation Widget. If the attribute isn't active, it won't be displayed to donors.

Next steps

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

Advanced Configuration – Create more specific rules and conditions to control how your Donation Widget behaves and how donations are processed.

> Next, Advanced Configuration

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