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In my sincere opinion, Donorbox stands out as the top donation app for Squarespace and Wix, and potentially for WordPress as well. Their fees are likely the most budget-friendly, and the forms they offer are aesthetically pleasing. While it may lack a fully-featured CRM for donor management, this is not a shortcoming on its part. Donorbox effectively fulfills its purpose by facilitating online donations, including recurring ones, and seamlessly integrates with other tools for various additional functionalities.
What is Donorbox?
Donorbox is a versatile donation application that can be seamlessly integrated into any platform. Designed for simplicity, this embeddable app allows you to effortlessly add a donation button, custom form, or page link to your website, enabling you to commence accepting donations instantly. The functionality extends to advanced features such as recurring donors, suggested amounts, and corporate matching.
When we say it’s platform-agnostic, we mean that Donorbox is indifferent to the tools you use or the hosting location of your website. It can be deployed anywhere you can copy-paste HTML code or add a link. Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with any software compatible with Zapier, providing flexibility for adjustments as your requirements evolve.
It’s important to clarify that Donorbox is not primarily a donor management or CRM tool. Although it does maintain donor profiles and can generate year-end reports, it doesn’t compete with platforms like Salesforce or Neon. Instead, it complements them. Donorbox excels in facilitating donations and online fundraising, but for medium-to-large nonprofits, pairing it with another tool may be beneficial for comprehensive donor relationship management.
Features Of Donorbox
Curious about the experience of using Donorbox? In this review, I’ll guide you through the software, pointing out key features and quirks, and demonstrating how we utilized it to set up a sample donation page.
Donation Types and Form Fields
When you first log in to Donorbox, you’ll encounter a nearly blank screen prompting you to “Create Your Campaign.”
Campaigns refer to personalized donation pages and/or forms, and it’s recommended to create multiple ones. According to NextAfter, campaign-specific donation pages can boost contributions by approximately 20%.
As an illustration, let’s establish a campaign named “Save the Trees.” Upon initiating the campaign creation process, Donorbox provides the option to include details such as images and videos.
The subsequent screens offer a plethora of choices to tailor the types of donations you wish to accept and the fields to include in the form. Virtually every conceivable option is at your disposal.
You can begin with essentials like suggested donation amounts, a fundraising goal with a progress bar, and the option to enable or disable recurring donations at specific intervals.
Additionally, less common yet equally significant choices, such as memorial gifts, anonymous donations, multiple currencies, and company matching, are available.
Donorbox collaborates with Double the Donation to introduce an exceptional company match function not found in other tools. The donor simply enters their company’s name, and the form seamlessly searches for a match; it’s a user-friendly process. If it generates $999/year or more for you, the associated add-on fee is well justified.
Another noteworthy feature is the option to ask donors to cover the processing fee. By checking a box on the setup page, this functionality becomes available—a simple method to minimize overhead costs.
In summary, you have the flexibility to add, remove, or modify nearly every field, including those not mentioned here. If that’s not sufficient, you can create up to 10 custom fields, designate them as optional or required, and choose from input types like text, radio, checkbox, or dropdown
Customization and Design
Customization is evidently a forte of Donorbox, extending even to aesthetics. Within the “Design” tab, users have the flexibility to alter the form color, incorporate a photo background, and integrate their nonprofit’s logo. However, a drawback surfaces when attempting to customize the overall page design beyond these three options, as it requires delving into the realm of CSS rather than simply clicking buttons. While Donorbox grants the ability to precisely target various elements of the form through custom CSS, this process may come as a bit of a challenge after the initially user-friendly setup.
For those envisioning an exceptionally tailored design, I would recommend constructing the page using platforms such as Squarespace, WordPress, or any preferred page designer, and subsequently embedding the Donorbox form. An illustrative form has been embedded below for reference.
Fortunately, the default form design maintains a clean and neutral aesthetic, minimizing the need for extensive modifications. It appears that Donorbox has invested considerable time and effort in crafting a form that aligns closely with perfection, adhering to best practices such as pre-filling form fields, incorporating multi-step forms, and ensuring mobile responsiveness.
Pricing
Now, let’s delve into the key component—what is the total cost?
You’ll be pleased to learn that Donorbox avoids a complex pricing structure. They simply impose a flat 1.5% fee, the most competitive rate available in the market.
While standard credit card processing fees still apply, it’s important to note that this is beyond Donorbox’s control. The breakdown provided in their table offers transparency on these costs.
Additional flat fees per month are applicable for employer gift matching and integrations, but these remain minimal. As previously mentioned, if the employer gift matching results in an extra $500/year in donations, it translates to a net gain.
In the grand scheme, Donorbox boasts some of the lowest fees within the industry. When coupled with the option to request donors to cover the fees, the platform becomes even more attractive.
An added advantage is the absence of setup fees, allowing you to explore Donorbox without any initial financial commitment.
Support
No matter how well-designed the app is, there will always be challenges and inquiries. We encountered one ourselves while creating the sample donation page: the background image only covered half of the page, leaving an awkward space at the top where our logo was placed.
After giving up on resolving it independently, I navigated to the support tab and submitted an email ticket. Although Donorbox doesn’t offer phone support, I personally prefer leaving an email, especially if the company responds promptly.
In this instance, Donorbox replied on the same day, and their response was exceptionally comprehensive. Not only did the support team provide a solution, but they also took the initiative to implement and test it. In their email response, my support agent shared the precise CSS code needed to address the issue. All I had to do was copy and paste it.
Final Thought
Yes, we highly recommend Donorbox, especially if your website is hosted on platforms like Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, or any other with limited plugin options. Donorbox is cost-effective, efficient, offers aesthetically pleasing forms, and seamlessly integrates with ease.
For burgeoning non-profits aiming to extend beyond one-time donations, Donorbox stands out as the most comprehensive solution we’ve come across. The recurring payments feature, employer match functionality, and conversion-optimized forms will significantly enhance your fundraising efforts. It proves to be an excellent ally for elevating your website without the need for a WordPress migration.
However, it’s essential to consider the scale of your organization. Larger non-profits may find better suitability with an all-in-one fundraising software, or by complementing Donorbox with applications like Salesforce. Donorbox boasts robust integrations, making it a valuable addition to your donation platform even in such cases.