Can’t Speak Geek decided to make a donations page and at first thought it would be best just to use a PayPal button and call it a day. Then Devin Walker from WordImpress said I should try Give. Since I will give almost any plugin at least one shot, I decided to give Give a try.
Setting up Give
Give is a donations plugin built by WordImpress’s very own Devin Walker and Matt Cromwell. It is a free plugin on the WordPress plugin repository. I went and downloaded it Monday night but realized there were a few steps to setting it up so I waited until the morning. Tuesday morning I started configuring the plugin to start taking donations.
I really like the ease of setup of the form. It took less than 5 minutes to make a form the way I wanted it to look. The form set up gives the option of one price point or multiple price points and the option to let the donor to set their own price. I chose to make different price points with the option of letting the reader choose as well. During the set up it does have two separate boxes, one for the price and the other the description. I added the price also in with the description so it can show on the form. Once I finished the form, I added the shortcode to the donate page and it just worked. I love when things just work.
Your site can have more than one donation form and the plugin makes a confirmation and a failed payment page to direct donors to. The form editor also gives the option to add your own text to the form. There is also the option to have users logged in before they can donate.
I chose to use the Give core defaults and have not tried the commercial add-ons.
One thing to note about the setup. It sets up the forms in a test mode. To make them live, there is a little box on the front page of the settings, un-check that box to make the form live. I missed this at first and had to go back and change it. That was the one and only thing that threw me off. Everything else about the setup is super easy.
Some very cool things about Give
Their goal is to “Democratize Generosity” which gives a chance for every website to have the option of donations and an easy way for everyone to donate. It is a win-win plugin.
Give is a 0% commission based plugin. With every donation, the user receives 100% of the donation. That is very awesome! I like seeing that the small non-profits being able to keep 100% of their donations. This just means we all can help more people go farther.
The plugin itself is free. There are commercial add-ons that you can purchase to go with the plugin but are not mandatory to use the plugin. From the looks of them, they will always keep the core file free. The core (free) plugin currently supports offline payments (send checks) and the PayPal Standard payment gateway.
Give’s Features
- Simple and pain-free giving
- Zero commission charges
- Own all your donation data
- Accept Single, Custom, and Multi-level donations
- Easy to customize and enhance
- Robust reporting features
- Customizable emails
- PayPal Standard and Offline Payments
- Custom user roles
- Dedicated support and development
- … and much more!
Bottom Line: I am glad Devin commented on the status requesting I try Give. It has been a great plugin that creates a beautiful donation form. It is a full encompassing plugin that takes care of anything and everything one needs to set up their site for donations. If you are looking for a donation solution for your website, I suggest Give.
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