Battle Of Donation Widgets: The Six Left Standing

In today’s world of shiny new online toys, a plethora of donations tools are readily found online. These apps come in many shapes and sizes with some of them full fundraising platforms while others are more focused on simple donations forms. Most of these tools are designed to be simple to use and eliminate the need for someone to know code.

We decided to take a look at some of the companies that offer donations widgets and share what you should be looking for when searching for a donation widget for your site.

What Is A Donation Widget?

A donation widget is a donate form that can be added to your website by adding a few lines of code. These widgets are generally designed to be simple and intuitive, removing any potential barrier for a donor. Most widgets provide you with tools that make it super easy for people to donate on your website regardless if they are on a mobile phone or on a desktop.

What To Look For In A Donation Widget

There are a number of important questions to ask yourself before deciding on a widget.

1. Payment Gateway
   Am I set on using a specific gateway? Almost all widgets will use Stripe. If you do not want to set up a Stripe account your widget options will shrink dramatically.
   
2. Additional Features
   Almost all widgets will allow you to offer recurring donations and let the donor cover the fees. However, you may want more features like custom fields, the ability to send tributes and more control over how the widget looks.
   
3. Integrations
   If you are using a CRM like Salesforce or a marketing tool like MailChimp you may want to think about a widget that integrates with those tools and others.
   
4. Do I need more than a widget?
   You may be in the market for a larget suite of donation tools and may need to find a company that offers more options.
   
5. Price
   From free to fees, no donation widget is equal. Before you start researching make a decision on what percentage or monthly amount you are comfortable paying for a widget. Run some numbers on how many donations you get a month and how much you bring in. This will help you compare your costs between different widgets.

6 Donation Widgets For You To Review

Here are six widgets you should consider for your donate page. If you would like Charity Studio to help you choose a widget we would be happy to help. You can contact us here.

Fundraise Up

Behind a simple intuitive layout lies a complex and sophisticated backend designed to solicit higher donation amounts from more donors. Some of their unique features include dynamic suggested donation amounts, acceptance of donations in over 135 currencies, automated emails, automated donation repair and more.

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Donorbox

Donorbox is a great option for small, medium and large nonprofits. Donorbox is free for organizations that raise less than $1,000 in online donations a month and only 1.5% for those that raise more. Setup takes only 15 minutes. Some of the unique features that they offer include weekly recurring donations, company donations, donor walls, and goal meters.

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Funraise

Funraise is a platform helping nonprofits modernize their online fundraising efforts with easy to use donation forms, event ticketing, donor management tools, campaign sites and more. Some of their unique features include text-to-give, wealth screening, donation page templates, and pledge tracking.

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Give Lively

Give Lively is great for small nonprofits on a shoestring budget. They do not charge for their donation widget and you will also have access to the whole suite of fundraising tools, including peer2peer campaigns, text to donate options, event registration and more. Give Lively is a offers minimal features and customization options so you may want to look elsewhere if you want more control.

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CauseVox

CauseVox is one of the bigger players in this space. In addition to widgets, they offer a whole host of fundraising tools. You can create donation pages, set up a fundraising campaign, manage donors, and more in less time, without hassle. Some of the features they offer include giving levels with impact descriptions, multi-currency support, real-time donor insights and more.

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Donate.ly

Donate.ly provides the online fundraising tools you need to improve your donor experience, simplify your processes and increase online revenue. Donate.ly enables you to create multiple donation landing pages or popups for specific campaigns and much more.

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