DONATE Campaigns
Run a fundraising campaign online
One donation page for your appeal, with its own text code, short link and QR code. DONATE claims the Gift Aid and pays you with your payouts.
- A donation page with its own short link and QR code
- Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Direct Debit
- Text giving with your own code
- One-off and monthly giving
- Gift Aid claimed by DONATE for you
- Match funding from a sponsor
- Preview before you go live
- Every donation, with its fee, in your portal
What is a DONATE campaign?
One appeal, such as a Christmas Toy Appeal, with its own donation page, text code, short link and totals in your DONATE portal. Supporters give online or by text, and DONATE claims the Gift Aid. It costs nothing to set up, and DONATE takes a small fee from each donation (see What does it cost?).
What supporters see
- Donors give on any phone or computer, with no app and no account. The page shows your story, Recent supporters and a running total, with a Donate button always in reach.
- Donors pick an amount or Other, then are asked to give monthly if you allow it. They can cancel any time.
- They can add an optional tip for DONATE and leave a message, choosing who can see it.
- UK taxpayers giving their own money can add Gift Aid, with their home address and postcode. It adds a quarter to their gift at no cost to them.
- By text: they text your code to the number for the amount, and the reply sends a link to add Gift Aid.
The examples
- You can run as many campaigns as you like. The pictures use two examples, a live Christmas Toy Appeal and a Christmas Hamper Appeal that is not live yet.
Your donation page
Your story, Recent supporters and what has been raised so far, with a Donate button always in reach.
Choose an amount
Donors pick an amount or Other and give their email and name. With match funding, they see what their gift is worth.
Gift Aid adds a quarter
UK taxpayers can boost their donation by 25 per cent at no cost to them.
Why run an appeal with DONATE?
Because one campaign takes gifts online and by text, asks for Gift Aid and monthly giving, claims the Gift Aid, and shows every donation with its fee in your portal, with no set-up fee.
What DONATE does for you
- Your page, text code, short link and QR code are ready as soon as you create the campaign.
- Donors pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal or Direct Debit, or by text, with no app and no account.
- Donors are asked to give monthly if you allow it, and to add Gift Aid. DONATE claims the Gift Aid for you.
- A match funding sponsor's pledge shows donors what their gift is worth before they pay.
- You can give a test donation from start to finish in Preview before anyone can give for real.
What do I need before I start?
Your organisation approved and live on DONATE. Then a campaign name, a short summary and your own thank-you messages. A story, images, a target and a match funding sponsor are up to you.
Needed before you go live
- A campaign name, up to 64 characters, and a campaign summary, up to 200.
- A web donation response, shown on screen after a donation, and an email thank-you message. DONATE fills both with standard wording, so change them to your own.
Worth having
- Your story, and up to three landscape images.
- A fundraising target, if you want a progress bar on your page.
- A sponsor who has pledged to match donations, if you have one.
How do I set up a campaign?
Click Campaigns, then New campaign, type a name and click Create campaign. Then add your summary, story, thank-you messages and images on the next screen. New campaigns start not live, so nobody can give until you publish.
Start with a name
Type a name and click Create campaign. You set up everything else on the next screen.
Write your thank-yous
Open Thank-you messages for the words shown on screen after a donation and the thank-you sent by email.
Add up to three images
Landscape images, up to three. The first is the main image.
How do I choose how people give?
In the Settings card, switch on Ask donors for Gift Aid and Allow monthly donations, and set a target if you want one. Below it, your text codes are ready, and you choose the amounts on your page.
Settings
- Ask donors for Gift Aid and Allow monthly donations apply by text and on the web.
- Fundraising target shows a progress bar on your page.
- Offline donations to add to stats adds money you took yourself, such as collection tins, to your page's total. DONATE pays nothing out for it and charges no fee.
- Stop taking donations at target closes the page once donations plus offline donations reach the target. Close donations closes it straight away. Either way the page says fully funded and takes no more online donations.
Text giving
- Every campaign has a code. Supporters text it to 70201 for £1, 70331 for £3, 70970 for £5 or 70191 for £10, plus their standard network rate.
- Texts of £20, £30 or £40 need the premium codes, a one-off £50 for the campaign.
- Your own code: up to eight letters and numbers. A code that is not a real word is free for 12 months. A real word, like GARDEN or XMAS, is a premium code: £20 for 3 months, £35 for 6 or £60 for 12.
Gift Aid, monthly and texts
The Settings card, with the target and every switch, and the text codes for each amount under Text giving.
The amounts on your page
Set the one-tap amounts and mark one as Pre-selected. Other is always offered.
Ask for your own code
Type the code you want. A free code is yours at once. A real word, like HAMPERS, is a premium code you pay for.
How do I add match funding?
Add your sponsor and their pledge under Match funding. Donations are then matched pound for pound until the pledge is used up, and supporters see what their gift is worth before they pay.
Match funding
- Donations are matched oldest first. Sponsors are used in the order you add them.
- DONATE does not collect or pay out match funding. Your sponsor pays you directly. It shows on your page and in your totals.
Add a match funding sponsor
The pool, what has been allocated and what is still available, with each sponsor below.
How do I test it and go live?
Click Preview on the Campaign code card and give a test donation: no money is taken. When it is right, switch Live on, confirm your posters carry the right wording, and share your link and QR code.
Preview
- Until the campaign first goes live, Preview opens your real page. You can give a test donation from start to finish.
- No payment is taken, no donation is recorded and no thank-you email is sent. The payment step calls it Rehearsal mode.
- Until the first time you go live, texts to your code are free tests. The reply comes back, but nobody is charged.
- Your short link and QR code are safe to print now. They show an "opens soon" page until you go live, then go straight to your page.
Going live
- Switching Live on opens Before you publish. Tick that your posters carry the text code format, the legal statement and a DONATE logo.
- Promotion requirements, under Share your campaign, has the logos and the legal statement to copy. If the campaign is for something specific, add the purpose line too.
- Preview ends for good the first time you go live. From then on, texts to your code are charged, even if you switch Live off later.
Give a test donation
In Preview the payment step takes no money. The screen calls it Rehearsal mode. Tap Continue as if paid.
Switch Live on
Before you publish asks you to confirm the text code format, the legal statement and a DONATE logo on your promotion.
Share your link and QR
Copy your link, easydonate.org and your code, or download the QR code for posters and cards.
How do I see what has come in?
Open a live campaign and it lands on its Donations tab, with every donation, its Gift Aid, match funding and channel. The Donations page in the menu covers all your campaigns, shows each donation's fee and downloads a report.
The totals
- Your page counts donations, Gift Aid, match funding and offline donations.
- The campaign list and the Donations tab Total count donations, Gift Aid and match funding.
- The campaign header counts donations only.
- You can edit a live campaign at any time.
Every donation as it arrives
Web and text donations by month, and each donation with its Gift Aid, match funding and channel.
Fees and your report
Click a donation to see its effective fee and what is net to you. Report downloads every donation that matches your filters.
How do I end it, refund a donor, and when is the money paid?
Switch Live off, or use Close donations, to stop donations on your page. Until a donation is in a payout to you, most one-off donors refund themselves at easydonate.org/login; after that, you refund them. Donations are paid out about three months after the month they were given, once at least £100 is due.
Ending a campaign
- Switching Live off stops donations on your page. Texts to your code are still charged, so take down your posters.
- Delete this campaign archives it and removes it from your public pages. A campaign with donations cannot be deleted.
The money
- Donations reach you in your payouts, less the fees. Where the Gift Aid goes is in What does it cost?
Refunds
- Donors refund their own donation by logging in at easydonate.org/login with the email they gave and opening Donations, while it is not yet in a payout to you. This works for a one-off donation by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Direct Debit. The whole payment goes back, including any tip, and Gift Aid is not claimed on it.
- DONATE emails them "Your refund of £10.00 to Oroojo", with your name in place of Oroojo. Your organisation is not emailed.
- Text donations are never refunded. For a monthly donation or a PayPal payment not yet in a payout, email hello@nationalfundingscheme.org and DONATE refunds it.
- Once a donation is in a payout, the donor sees "This payment has been passed to Oroojo. Ask them about a refund." DONATE cannot refund it then, so you refund them yourself.
What does it cost?
Nothing to set up. Charities, and companies raising for charities, pay 4.5 per cent plus 22p on a donation without Gift Aid, or 40 per cent of the Gift Aid plus 22p with it. Every donation in your portal shows its fee and the net amount to you.
Fees
- Charities, and companies raising for charities: 4.5 per cent plus 22p on a donation without Gift Aid. When the supporter adds Gift Aid there is no percentage fee: you keep the whole donation less 22p, plus 60 per cent of the Gift Aid, and our fee is the other 40 per cent.
- Other organisations: 5 per cent plus 22p; when the supporter adds Gift Aid, DONATE claims it and keeps all of it as the fee instead of the 5 per cent.
- Text donations cost the same. A small VAT amount on the fee is also deducted.
- When a donor's tip covers the fee, no fee is taken from the donation. Only the VAT amount and your payout charges still apply.
- Extras: premium text codes are a one-off £50 a campaign; a premium custom code is £20 for 3 months, £35 for 6 or £60 for 12.
- Charges on each payout: a usage fee of £3 for each week (Monday to Sunday) in which your organisation receives £10 or more (at most £12 a month), and a transfer charge of £7.50 plus 0.5 per cent of the payout for charities and companies raising for charities, or 1.5 per cent for other organisations (at least £3 either way).
Gift Aid
- DONATE claims it and pays it to you with your payout. Do not claim Gift Aid on these payments yourself as well.
- Gift Aid is claimed for every organisation. For a company, it goes on to its charities. For clubs, schools and other organisations that are not charities or companies raising for charities, DONATE keeps all of it as its fee.
Settings reference
Campaign code
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign code | Your text code and the end of your short link, easydonate.org/CODE. Shows an "opens soon" page until you go live. | Given automatically |
| Request a custom code | Up to eight letters and numbers. Free for 12 months unless it is a real word. A premium code is £20 for 3 months, £35 for 6 or £60 for 12. |
Content
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign name | Shown on your page and in the portal. Up to 64 characters. Needed to go live. | Required |
| Your reference code | Your own reference, for your records. | Empty |
| Campaign summary | A short line about the campaign. Up to 200 characters. Needed to go live. | Required |
| Campaign description | Your story, with headings, lists and links. | Empty |
| Web donation response | Shown on screen after a donation. Up to 750 characters. Needed to go live. | DONATE's standard wording |
| Email thank-you message | Sent to donors by email. Needed to go live. | DONATE's standard wording |
Settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fundraising target (£) | Shows a progress bar towards the target on your page. |
| Offline donations to add to stats (£) | Adds money you took yourself to your page's total. Not paid out, no fee. |
| Ask donors for Gift Aid | Donors are asked to add Gift Aid, by text and on the web. |
| Allow monthly donations | Donors are asked whether to give monthly, by text and on the web. |
| Display donation stats on public page | Saved with the campaign, but the donation page does not read it, so it does not change your page. |
| Display donor comments | Shows donors' public messages, with the amount given, on your page. |
| Stop taking donations at target | Shown once there is a target. Closes the page when donations plus offline donations reach it. |
| Close donations | Your page shows the campaign as fully funded and takes no more online donations. |
Text giving
| Setting | What it does | Default | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £1 | £3 | £5 and £10 codes | Text your code to 70201 (£1), 70331 (£3), 70970 (£5) or 70191 (£10). | On for every campaign |
| Premium codes | £20, £30 and £40 text codes, unlocked with a one-off £50 payment. | Locked |
Web giving and images
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Preset donation amounts donors can choose | One-tap buttons on your page. Mark one Pre-selected. Other is always included. |
| Campaign images | Up to three landscape 3:2 images, at least 750 by 500 pixels, JPG, PNG or GIF, 10MB each. The first is the main image. |
Match funding (per sponsor)
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Sponsor name | Who pledged the pot. |
| Pledged amount (£) | The most that will be matched, pound for pound, oldest donation first. Your sponsor pays you directly. |
| Comment | A note for your own records. |
Questions
- How is a campaign different from a Team challenge?
- A campaign is one donation page for your cause, where anyone can give. A Team challenge sits under a campaign: supporters fundraise with their own pages, and what they raise counts towards the campaign. See the Team challenges guide.
- How much does DONATE charge on a campaign donation?
- No set-up fee, and a small fee on each donation. The rates, with and without Gift Aid, are in What does it cost?
- Can I test my donation page before it goes live?
- Yes, with Preview. No payment is taken. See How do I test it and go live?
- Can I print my QR code before the campaign goes live?
- Yes. It shows an "opens soon" page until you go live, then goes straight to your page.
- Can people donate to my campaign by text message?
- Yes. Every campaign has a text code. The numbers and amounts are in How do I choose how people give?
- What must I put on posters and flyers for my campaign?
- A DONATE logo, the legal statement and the text code format. See Going live in How do I test it and go live?
- When will I receive the money?
- About three months after the month it was given, once at least £100 is due. See How do I end it, refund a donor, and when is the money paid?
- A donor wants their money back. What do I do?
- Until it is in a payout, most one-off donors refund themselves at easydonate.org/login. See Refunds in How do I end it, refund a donor, and when is the money paid?