Creating online donation pages

Your organization's members and website visitors want a convenient way to donate online. iMIS makes it easy for your supporters to contribute to the causes and projects your organization champions by providing an out-of-the-box Give Now web page to collect donations.

If you want to customize your online donation page, you can copy and modify the Give Now page or build your own customized donation page.

The Donor and Member quick start sites both provide an out-of-the-box donation page, Give Now. You can simply copy the desired quick start site to quickly create your own website with a Give Now page.

If you want to make changes to the Give Now page, copy the Give Now content record at @/iCore/Fundraising/GiveNow and modify the copy. Then, point a navigation item on your website to the copied Give Now content record.

You can also change your Give Now page to use one of several pre-built content records that address different donation scenarios. You can simply change your Give Now navigation item to point to one of the following content records:

  • Sustaining membership - Donors can select to pay for their donation in a single payment or to pay for it in monthly installments. Gifts will automatically be renewed each year. The donor will see premiums offered if the gift item is already part of a defined premium set.

    • You can access this content record at @/iCore/Fundraising/Donate/Give to a Cause. This content record is set up with the following configuration:

    • (Donation Creator content item) Fixed payment terms enabled and Monthly selected for installment payment frequency
    • (Donation Creator content item) Display premiums enabled and Donor chooses premium with associated gift amount is selected.
    • (Recurring Donation Creator content item) For the Recurring gift frequency option, Fixed annual frequency is selected.

    Note: For full functionality, you must have an Autopay license. Without an Autopay license, this feature is limited.

    With an Autopay license:
    -- The initial installment payment is captured when the donation is initially submitted (payment is sent to the credit card gateway for immediate capture).
    -- The remaining installment payments will be automatically charged to the donor's credit card on scheduled dates, according to the chosen frequency.

    Without an Autopay license, the transaction is treated as an installment pledge with an initial downpayment:
    -- The initial installment payment is captured when the donation is initially submitted (payment is sent to the credit card gateway for immediate capture).
    -- Your organization is then responsible for maintaining communication with your donors, reminding them to send their future installment payments. These remaining installment payments must then be processed by a staff member in your organization. Your staff member can process these payments through the Advanced Accounting Console.

  • Ongoing Giving - With this content, donors will not see any payment term options or premiums offers, even if the gift item is part of a premium set. A donation made through this page will renew annually.

    • You can access this content record at @/iCore/Fundraising/Donate/Ongoing Giving. This content record is set up with the following configuration:

    • (Donation Creator content item) Payment term options is disabled.
    • (Donation Creator content item) Display premiums is disabled.
    • (Recurring Donation Creator content item) For the Recurring gift frequency option, Fixed annual frequency is selected.

If you would prefer not to use the out-of-the-box pages, iMIS provides the ability to build a custom donation page for your organization. You have flexibility in how you design your donation page, but there are a few requirements that must be met.

You must also associate the donation with a specific gift item, which is credited with the donation.

Do the following to build a donation page:

  1. From the Staff site, go to RiSE > Page Builder > Manage content, and create a new content record.
  2. Add the necessary content items to your content record.

    Allows the entry of donation information for donations. Select the following configuration options:

    • Display the gift item description: Enable if you want the associated gift item's description to display above the Gift Amount field.
    • Processing mode: Select Process donation immediately to process the donation immediately or Add donation to cart to add the donation to your cart where a user can pay for it along with any other items in the cart when they check out.
    • Payment term options: Enable the Fixed payment terms to provide the ability for donors to choose to pay a donation with a single payment, or make installment payments to fulfill a specific donation amount.

      Note: For full functionality, you must have an Autopay license. Without an Autopay license, this feature is limited.

      With an Autopay license:
      -- The initial installment payment is captured when the donation is initially submitted (payment is sent to the credit card gateway for immediate capture).
      -- The remaining installment payments will be automatically charged to the donor's credit card on scheduled dates, according to the chosen frequency.

      Without an Autopay license, the transaction is treated as an installment pledge with an initial downpayment:
      -- The initial installment payment is captured when the donation is initially submitted (payment is sent to the credit card gateway for immediate capture).
      -- Your organization is then responsible for maintaining communication with your donors, reminding them to send their future installment payments. These remaining installment payments must then be processed by a staff member in your organization. Your staff member can process these payments through the Advanced Accounting Console.

      Note: If you enable the Fixed payment terms option on the Donation Creator content item, the Recurring Donation Creator is not supported as part of your donation page unless the Fixed annual frequency option on the Recurring Donation Creator is enabled.

      If you select None (single payment only), the donor can still specify a single amount for a gift, but will not see any option to pay with installment payments. The donor must submit the full payment amount when they make a donation.

      Note: Payment term options is only available when the Processing mode is set to Process donation immediately.

      To view the invoices for installment payments and process the scheduled payments, review the following:

      • Process recurring donation invoices
      • Update iMIS to incorporate payments that have been processed
      • Review submitted renewal payments
    • Gift Item: Associate the donation with a distribution. See Associating donations with a distribution target for more information.
    • Commit sequence: 2 if you choose to process the donation immediately. You do not need to choose a commit sequence if you add the donation to the cart.
    • Personalized gift array query: If you would like Gift Amount field to populate based on the user's prior giving history, select the $/Fundraising/DefaultSystem/Queries/ProductFundraising/GiftArray query.
    • Display premiums: Enable if you want your donors to have the option to select a gift premium.

      • Note: The Processing mode must be set to Process donation immediately for the Display premiums checkbox to appear.

      • Enter the Section title text that appears at the top of the displayed list of premiums.
      • Select the premium Display Mode:

        • Users will enter the amount of their gift, and then will see a list of eligible premiums for that gift amount. Premiums that require a higher gift amount will not appear.

        • Include option for donor to choose no premium - When enabled, if the donor’s gift amount is eligible for selecting a premium, they will also see a button to opt out of a premium.
          • No premium title - Enter the text that will appear on the button for choosing to opt out of a premium.
          • No premium description - Enter any text you want to appear in the area next to the button to opt out.

        All premiums appear with their associated gift amounts. When a user selects a premium, that establishes the amount of their gift. If more than five premiums are available, a user can page through the list showing five items per page. In this display mode, the personalized gift array is ignored.

        Note: Gift items offering premiums should not share a content record with gift items that do not offer premiums.

        • Gift amount label - Enter the text that will appear next to the gift amount associated with each premium.

    When using Donor enters gift amount first, by default the Gift Amount field is empty. You can pre-populate the field with a personalized gift array as described above or display a pre-defined array of gift amounts or one set gift amount. See Pre-populating the Gift Amount field for more information.

    Allows the user to set their donation to repeat at a specified time interval (weekly, monthly, annually, and so forth).

    Note: If you enabled the Fixed payment terms option on the Donation Creator content item, the Recurring Donation Creator is not supported as part of your donation page unless the Fixed annual frequency option on the Recurring Donation Creator is enabled.

    Select the following configuration options:

    Note: In order to use AutoPay you must have a license key. Contact ASI for more information.

    • Commit sequence: 3 if you choose to process the donation immediately. You do not need to choose a commit sequence if you add the donation to the cart.
    • Recurring gift frequency: Select whether or not to allow a donor to specify the frequency with which their gift is renewed. Select one of the following:
      • Allow user to specify frequency: Allows donors to determine the frequency with which their gifts renew. This option should not be used if Fixed payment terms is enabled on the Donation Creator content item.

        • Note: This option should not be used if payment terms are offered for the donation.

        • 'No' radio option text - Configure the text for the No radio option.
        • 'Yes' radio option text - Configure the text for the Yes radio option.
        • Gift frequency text - Configure the text for the gift frequency option.
      • Fixed annual frequency: Sets any gift entered on this page to renew annually.

        • Note: The Recurring Donation Creator content item will not be displayed on your donation page if this option is selected. It is recommended that text on the donation page clearly indicates to the donor that their gift will automatically renew each year until they choose to stop it.

    (optional) Allows donors to specify the name to be listed in all reports and acknowledgments for their donation (for example, Bob and Sue Smith). You can only use this content item if the Donation Creator is configured to process the donations immediately. If you use the Display Name Editor, you must create a connection to the Donation Creator. The Display Name Editor content item must be the Object Consumer, whereas the Donation Creator must be the Object Provider. Select the following configuration options

    • Commit sequence: 3
    • Salutation Type: Donation List As
    1. On the Display Name Editor content item, click Connect.
    2. Click Create a new connection.
    3. Select your Donation Creator content item as the Object Provider.
    4. Select Connect.

    Once you select Connect on a separate content item, the connections for the previous content item are no longer visible. The only connections that appear are the ones for the selected content item. To review connections for any content item, select Connect.

    (optional) Allows donors to make a donation in honor, memory, or recognition of someone. You can only use this content item if the Donation Creator is configured to process the donations immediately. If you use the Tribute Gift Editor, you must also create a connection to the Donation Creator. The Tribute Gift Editor content item must be the Object Consumer, whereas the Donation Creator must be the Object Provider. Select the following configuration options:

    • Commit sequence: 4
    1. On the Tribute Gift Editor content item, click Connect.
    2. Click Create a new connection.
    3. Select your Donation Creator content item as the Object Provider.
    4. Select Connect.

    Once you select Connect on a separate content item, the connections for the previous content item are no longer visible. The only connections that appear are the ones for the selected content item. To review connections for any content item, select Connect.

    Allows unauthenticated users to create an account when they submit a donation. Select the following configuration options:

    • Hide for authenticated users: Enable

      Users must log in to make a donation, so that their contribution is recorded against an iMIS ID. Enable this option so that your supporters are only prompted to create an account if they are not logged in.

    • Include option to create an account: Enable
    • Require username and password: Enable
    • Commit sequence: 1

    Required to allow entry of payment information. For information on how to set up PayPal support, see Integrating PayPal Express Checkout. Select the following configuration options:

    • Purpose: Donation
    • Display Update button: Disable
    • Commit sequence: 5

    Required to submit the donation.

    • URL for order confirmation: Select a content record to display after the user has submitted a donation.

      • Note: A sample content record thanking the user for their contribution is available at @/iCore/Fundraising/Donation Thank You Page. Make a copy of this content record if you want to use it in your website.

    • Purpose: Donation
    • Commit sequence: 6
  3. Save and publish the content record.

You can pre-poplulate the Gift Amount field in the Donation Creator content item on your donation page with an array of gift amounts or a set gift amount.

  1. In the Advanced Accounting Console, go to Settings > Membership > Set up tables > Lookup/validation tables.
  2. Select or create a new GIFT_AMOUNT table.
  3. Click New.
  4. In the Code field, enter the Distribution Code for which you want to customize the display (To find the Distribution Code, go to Settings > Fundraising > Set up tables > Distributions).
  5. In the Description:
    1. To display an array of gift amounts, enter a comma-separated list of gift values that you want to appear in the list. For example, entering 50,100,200,500 results in a radio list of those values displayed on the page. To preselect an option, precede the number with an asterisk: 15,*25,75.
    2. To display a single Gift Amount field with a pre-populated gift amount, enter a single amount. For example, *25.

    Note: The gift array always displays an option for the user to select Other and enter any amount, regardless of using an array of several values or a single amount.

  6. Save your changes.

Warning!  

The Expansion field must be left blank. The gift amount will not display if there is an Expansion value.

Distributions (as they are called in the Advanced Accounting Console; also known as Gift items when working in iMIS websites) allow you to predefine combinations of funds, campaigns, and appeals. When a gift is received, it is usually distributed among a fund, a campaign, and an appeal. A distribution does not have to include a campaign or an appeal, but it must include a fund. If you use a general ledger system, the distribution also determines the general ledger income account to be credited.

You must associate every donation with an iMIS distribution in the Advanced Accounting Console. The distribution is credited with the donation.

You can tie your donation page to a single distribution or use the distribution specified in the ItemId parameter of an URL that links to the page. If you choose the second option, you can have multiple URLs with different ItemId parameters that link to your donation page.

The distribution description can also determine the description that displays above the Gift Amount field on the donation page if you configure the Donation Creator content item to include this information.

  1. In the Advanced Accounting Console, go to Settings > Fundraising > Set up tables > Distributions to define the distribution/gift item. The distribution/gift item does not have to be associated with an Appeal and Campaign, but it is required to be associated with a Fund.
  1. In the Donation Creator content item on your donation page, configure the distribution/gift item option.

    • Set the gift item by an ItemId URL parameter – Indicates that the Donation Creator content item will be dynamically populated with a gift item based on the value of an ItemId parameter in the URL.

      For example, let’s say you want to provide a list of all of your current fundraising campaigns on your homepage, each of which links to a donation page for the cause. Instead of creating a custom donation page for each campaign, you can set up a single content record that contains the Donation Creator configured to Set the gift item by an ItemId URL parameter. Then you only have to add the URL parameter and gift item code to each of the links. When clicked, your content record displays the description and gift amount options associated with the gift item code.

      • Relative link: To assign the URL parameter from a relative link pointing to a content record published to your website, use the Content Link content item. For example, if you have a content record with a Publish File Name of DonateNow in the @/CoreContent/Fundraising content folder, and you want the link to populate the Donation Creator with the BLDG distribution, then enter the following relative URL in the Content Link content item’s URL for link field:~/iMIS/Fundraising/DonateNow.aspx?ItemId=BLDG.
      • Absolute link: To assign the URL parameter through an absolute link to the page, add the URL parameter to the link's URL. For example, if you want to create a link to a donation page for the BLDG distribution , set the URL to http://mywebsite.com/donationpage.aspx?ItemId=BLDG.
      • Navigation item: To assign the URL parameter from a navigation item, enter ItemId=DistributionCode in the URL Parameters field of the navigation item pointing to your content record. For example, ItemId=BLDG.

    • Select a gift item – Specifies a single distribution code to be used for any donations made from the content item. If selected, this option overrides the value of an ItemId parameter in the URL.