CiviCRM - Section 8: Fund-raising & CiviContribute

CiviContribute gives you the means to run fund-raising campaigns and accept donations, as well as accept fees for Events and Memberships, online.

Additional tools within CiviContribute include a widget for displaying funds raised, Personal campaign pages (PCPs) and Tell-a-Friend functionality for enlisting your supporters in spreading the word.

All contributions and fees are accepted on your website through contribution pages you build in CiviCRM, then display on the front-end of your site.

To optimize your use of CiviContribute, you should be familiar with Custom Data fields and Profiles. For additional help on CiviContribute, see the CiviCRM Online Book: Working with CiviContribute

IMPORTANT!

In order to accept online payments you MUST have a payment processor such as PayPal or Authorize.net, and have setup your payment processor within CiviCRM. For instructions on setting up your payment processor, see Setting Up a Payment Processor.

Create Contribution Types

CiviContribute has a number of core contribution types including Donation, Event Fee, and Member Dues.

You're not limited to the core types. CiviContribute allows you to create as many custom contribution types as you need to match the inner workings of your organization.

  1. In the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Administer → CiviContribute → Contribution Types. You now see the Contribution Types page.
  2. Click the New Contribution Type button.
  3. Enter the Name and Description of the new contribution type.
  4. To integrate CiviContribute with your accounting system, enter the appropriate Accounting Code. The code you enter will be included when you export contribution data to your accounting package.
  5. If this type is tax-deductible, check the Tax deductible check box.
  6. Make sure Enabled? is checked.
  7. Click the Save button to save the new contribution type. This contribution type is now available for use on your contribution pages.

Create a Contribution Page or Modify an Existing One

To accept donations, fees and dues online you create forms in CiviContribute that display on your website. Make sure you have completed the following tasks (if necessary for this campaign) before creating your contribution pages:

  • configured your payment processor
  • created custom data sets/field (only if necessary for this campaign)
  • created profiles (only if necessary for this campaign)
  • create contribution types (only if necessary for this campaign)
  • create price sets (only if necessary for this campaign)

To create a new Contribution Page,
from the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Contributions → New Contribution Page. You now see the first of nine screens (don't be scared!) for creating a new contribution page.

If you'd like to modify an existing Contribution Page,
such as the your main Donation page on your website, select Contributions → Manage Contribution Pages. From the list, find Donate Now! and on the right-hand side, click on Configure. A pop-up menu with all the available screens as defined below will be listed. Choose the appropriate item, or start with Title and Settings to walk through each screen. Follow the steps listed below.

NOTE: CiviCRM includes excellent instructions guiding you through the creation of the contribution page. Consequently, this section of our user guide covers only items of note except for the first section – Title and Settings – where we discuss each option.

Step 1. Title and Settings

IMPORTANT!

You can include images on your contribution page. For instructions on adding images through Drupal and the GingerFeet File Upload page, follow instructions for Working with Two Windows or Tabs for Ease of Editing and Upload an Image and Add it to Content in the Drupal Getting Started User Guide.

  • Enter your Footer Message into the text editor and format using the WYSIWYG editor. On your website, this text displays at the bottom of the contribution page.
  • Enter the Goal Amount.
  • Enter the Start Date and Time and the End Date and Time.
  • Check the Honoree Section Enabled if you want contributors to be able to make the contribution in honor of another individual.
  • Check Is this Online Contribution Page Active? only when you are ready to the page to be live. (You can enabled and disable the page whenever you want.)
  • Click the Continue button.

IMPORTANT!

Each time you click the Continue button while creating a contribution page CiviCRM saves the work you have just done. You can always leave the “wizard” and return later to complete the new contribution page at a later time through Contributions → Manage Contribution Pages.

CiviContribute will move to:

Step 2. Amounts

This section allows you to configure your contribution amounts and payment options. If you have complex pricing structures you will want to consider creating Price Sets – a feature of CiviContribute much like custom data fields but tailored to contributions and financial transactions.

IMPORTANT!

In order to have the option to activate recurring donations you MUST have a payment processor configured and select Execute real-time monetary transactions.

You can also select to offer a user the option of making a Pledge.

You can only do either recurring donations OR pledges per contribution page. Not both.

At this time recurring donations are only supported in CiviCRM for Authorize.net, PayPal Website Payments Standard, PayPal Website Payments Pro and Moneris.

  • When you have completed the form to your satisfaction, click the Continue button.

CiviContribute will move to:

Step 3. Memberships

This section allows you to enable this contribution page as a membership sign–up form.

The form will expand to include options for memberships including durations and membership types. If you have not configured your membership types you can return to the form at a later time through Contributions → Manage Contribution Pages to complete this section.

  1. If this will be a membership form, check Membership Section Enabled?
  2. Complete the form following the instructions on the page.
  3. When you have completed the form to your satisfaction, click the Continue button.

CiviContribute will move to:

Step 4. Thanks and Receipt

This section allows you to configure the thank-you message and receipt delivery options. Return email is a required field.

  1. Complete the form following the instructions on the page.
  2. When you have completed the form to your satisfaction, click the Continue button.

CiviContribute will move to:

Step 5. Tell a Friend

This section allows you to configure the Tell a Friend functionality that gives your contributors a powerful tool for furthering your efforts via viral marketing.

  1. If you want to maximize your campaign efforts, check Tell a Friend Enabled?
  2. Complete the form following the instructions on the page.
  3. When you have completed the form to your satisfaction, click the Continue button.

CiviContribute will move to:

Step 6. Include Profiles

This section allows you to include Profiles for collecting additional information from your contributors. If you have not configured your profiles you can return to the form at a later time through Contributions → Manage Contribution Pages to complete this section. For more information on profiles, see Understanding Profiles and Working with Profiles. Profiles are available to be added at the top of the contribution page or the bottom.

  1. Select the Profile you want to include from the appropriate drop–down.
  2. Click the Continue button.

CiviContribute will move to:

Step 7. Premium Settings

This section allows you to enable Premiums incentives/thank you gifts – for your supporters.

  1. If you want to offer Premiums with this contribution page, check Premium Section Enabled?
  2. Complete the form following the instructions on the page.
  3. When you have completed the form to your satisfaction, click the Continue button.

CiviContribute will move to:

Step 8. Widget Settings

This section allows you to configure a CiviContribute Widget that can be added to your – or any – website. It is a thermometer-style indicator that automatically updates as contributions are made to this campaign.

Preview Widget and Get Code will now appear. You will want to complete your contribution page and add it to your website before you add the widget code to your website. You can return to this section of the contribution form at a later time through Contributions → Manage Contribution Pages to access the widget code. For more information, see Add Contribution Widget to Your Website.

  1. If you want to add the widget to your website, check Enable Widget?
  2. Complete the form following the instructions on the page.
  3. When you have completed the form to your satisfaction, click the Save and Preview button.
  4. To modify the colors of the widget, click Widget Colors to expand the box and modify the hexadecimal colors.
  5. Click Save and Preview to review your changes.
  6. Once you are satisfied with the appearance of the widget, click the Continue button.

CiviContribute will move to:

Step 9. Enable Personal Campaign Pages

This section allows you to include an extremely powerful feature of CiviCRM – Personal Campaign Pages. Personal Campaign Pages (PCPs) are contribution pages that can be created by your constituents after they have completed their transaction. Each donor to your campaign can choose to set up a PCP (that resides on your website), then enlist their family, friends and colleagues in a personalized version of your campaign.

Supporter Profile is a required field. CiviContribute contains one core profile called Supporter Profile that contains First Name, Last Name, Email. If this information is not sufficient for your needs, consider using another profile that you have created for use elsewhere on your site, or create a new profile for use with PCPs.

  1. If you want to allow constituents to create PCPs for this campaign, check Enable Personal Campaign Pages?
  2. Complete the form following the instructions on the page.
  3. When you have completed the form to your satisfaction, click the Continue button. The Manage Contribution Pages page will now appear.

Add a Contribution Page to Your Website

Once you have completed all the sections of your contribution page, you are ready to add it to your website. To add the contribution page to your website you may want to have two tabs or windows open to easily move between CiviCRM and Drupal. If you are unfamiliar with working in two tabs or windows, see Working with Two Windows or Tabs for Ease of Editing in the Drupal Getting Started User Guide.

If the contribution page is active:

You will see a yellow box with a green traffic light which contains the URL for the contribution page.

If the contribution page is NOT active: You will see a yellow box with a red traffic light that contains a link to the Title and Settings section where the contribution page is activated.

  1. In the Administration Menu across the top of your page, select Contributions → Manage Contribution Pages.
  2. Click the Configure link for the contribution page you want to add.
  3. The Configure Contribution Page now appears. The contribution page must be active to accept donations.
    1. Highlight the URL.
    2. Copy the selected URL by pressing Ctrl+C on a PC or Cmd+C on a MAC (on the keyboard).
    3. Open a new tab or window.
    4. Navigate to the location (page or menu) on your website that will hold the link.
    5. Paste the selected URL by pressing Ctrl+V on a PC or Cmd+V on a MAC (on the keyboard).
    6. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
    7. Click the Save button to save your changes.
    1. Click the Title and Settings link.
    2. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
    3. Check Is this Online Contribution Page Active?
    4. Highlight the URL.
    5. Copy the selected URL by pressing Ctrl+C on a PC or Cmd+C on a MAC (on the keyboard).
    6. Click the Save button to save your changes.
    7. Open a new tab or window.
    8. Navigate to the location (page or menu) on your website that will hold the link.
    9. Paste the selected URL by pressing Ctrl+V on a PC or Cmd+V on a MAC (on the keyboard).
    10. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
    11. Click the Save button to save your changes.

Add a Contribution Widget to Your Website

To add the code to your website you may want to have two tabs or windows open to easily move between CiviCRM and Drupal. If you are unfamiliar with working in two tabs or windows, see Working with Two Windows or Tabs for Ease of Editing in the Drupal Getting Started User Guide.

IMPORTANT!

When you disable rich text mode you are viewing the HTML code. If you are unfamiliar with HTML code, please submit a support ticket for assistance in adding the widget to your page.

  • Paste the code by pressing Ctrl+V on a PC or Cmd+V on a MAC (on the keyboard).
  • Scroll down to Input Format and click to expand the box.
  • Make sure that Full HTML is selected.
  • Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
  • Click the Save button to save the widget code on your website page.