Looking for a way to quickly raise funds, that is also secure? Donation forms by MightyForms can be the help you need to boost your campaigns.
Encrypted from end-to-end and powered by great payment methods such as Stripe and Paypal, you can have fully automated donation forms that drive donors in. Also, all forms are responsive by default. Let your donors use any device they feel comfortable with to make donations for your campaign or organization.
With the perfect online donation request forms, you can achieve any goal you have for your fundraiser campaign.
But, what are donation forms? How can you build the perfect form to get more funds? These are a few questions we aim to answer in this article, along with 7 free donation form templates for you to be inspired by or to customize them for your campaigns.
No matter if you’re getting help for your church, or for a friend in need, MightyForms has the perfect resources and form template for you.
What is a Donation Form?
A donation form is the most important part of your donation page. It is how your nonprofit website can make it easier for its visitors and donors to give a contribution to your project/campaign. It is a document through which you can get the donations and provide the donor with a PDF copy as a receipt.
Using an online donation form is one of the easiest and quickest ways to get the funds for your non-profit or charity organization. Not only to collect the given funds, but also donors’ information, so you can send nice thank you messages and keep them in the loop of how your project or organization is going.
Your form is also like the face of your non-profit. It can drive donors away if it is a mess, but an organized, clean, and perfect flowing form will help you get the funds you need. And this is the goal of this article: teach you how to build the perfect donation form to gather funds for any project and charity you’re working at.
Where are Donation Forms Mostly Used?
Raising funds for your scientific research? Or maybe your school’s library needs some new books? If your goal is to raise money for a good cause, you definitely can use a donation form to achieve it. Here you have 5 situations where donation forms are mostly used:
Non-profits Organizations
It can be focused on education, environment, culture, or even scientific research, if you are a volunteer in a non-profit organization you most certainly will use a donation form.
Non-profits organizations can get recurring or one-time donations, focused on those who require help, like non-profit organizations for causes such as poverty and the environment.
Charity Drives
Usually, charity drives are a more one-time type of event, where you can organize a donation activity to raise funds for a special circumstance, like donating food and clothes for victims of a natural disaster. This means that you’re not collecting recurring donations since this is only one campaign you’re putting in order to help others at disadvantage.
Fundraiser Campaign
Are you in need of a high amount of money in a short time? Maybe a fundraiser is a solution for you. You can use the multiple fundraising platforms available or create your own fundraising form and website.
Since a fundraiser, like a charity drive, is a one-time campaign, there is no need for adding a recurring donation to your fundraising form.
Content Creators & Influencers
You can ask for one-time support or allow a subscription option to your donation form. For those who choose to make recurring donations, you can offer to diversify content. When you offer exclusive and valuable content you increase your chances to have more donors. And just like that, you can raise enough funds to support your work.
Church Collection
Is your church about to make an event for the community and need money for it? Or maybe it needs funds to keep its space and services? Several are the reasons, but the mean can be an effective church donation form on your church’s website. Allow the worshippers to make one-time or recurring donations, according to your church needs at each moment.
Key data any online donation request form must have
You must consider some key fields you must have on your donation request form, such as:
Name: Although it can be marked as optional and anonymous, it is important to know who donated, especially to send nice thank you messages customized with the donor’s name on them.
Email address: this is how you’re going to keep in touch with the donor, sending them the thank you note, a donation receipt, and some exclusive content and updates. Although, it can also be optional and the donor can choose if they want to know more about your project, campaign, or organization.
Payment method: Differently from previous fields, this is a mandatory field. After all, your goal is to collect funds. With MightyForms forms, you can choose between Stripe and Paypal as your payment platform and decide if you’re accepting one-time or recurring donations.
Other fields you may include in your donation form can be:
- Address
- Option for tipping
- How did they learn about your campaign/organization
- Phone number
And any other field you believe can help you improve your campaign and that won’t be on the way, causing the donor to abandon the form.
7 Online Donation Form Templates
Donation form templates are the easiest way to begin to build your own form or to be inspired to create a form from scratch. And MightyForms has some great examples and free donation form templates that you can use to start raising funds. It can be for your fundraising campaign or for your church. MightyForms also has integration with two payment platforms, so you can choose the best one for your purpose: Stripe and Paypal.
Online Donation Request Form Template
Build your brand new online donation request form, or use this bright template that can be fully customized to add your campaign identity, so it gets easier for donors to recognize your form.
Change the background image to one that addresses your campaign purpose. Ask for any key information you need, remember that some data, like phone number, is better when left as optional. And decide if you’re letting the donor choose the amount or if you’ll establish some values as the suggested donation amount.
Fundraiser Form Template
You can make your donation request form a multi-step one, making it less overwhelming for the donor. And also you can offer some merchandising products to be purchased by donors, a kind of upsell within a donation form, increasing your funds. It can create a brand identity for your non-profit organization, making people recognize it both from its actions and its products.
Church Donation Form Template
Help your church get the necessary funds using an automated and beautiful online church donation form template. Ask for only the necessary information, so you won’t scare donors off. You can ask for the donor’s details or leave it as an anonymous donation, depending on your church practices and policy.
Donation form with Newsletter subscription
Do you produce interesting content along with your campaign? Add a CTA inviting the donors to sign up for your newsletter and receive periodic updates from your project or organization. This can help you have donors coming back for a second donation, and also help you spread the news of how you’re putting their money to work.
Blog Donation form with Stripe
This simple straightforward form template helps you ask for specific amounts, using all the power and security provided by Stripe. You can easily customize the template to reflect your blog identity, adding all the colors you use, changing the typography, and using images that address your content, not forgetting your logo and blog name. It is also nice if you add some details explaining the use of the donated money, to compel visitors to donate.
Content Creator Donation Form with PayPal
A blog donation for content creators and influencers can be the boost you need to change your content, streamline your offers, and improve your website to become the top creator in your niche.
You can make the field’s name and email address optional, and, every time a donor fills their email address, you can reply to them with a nice thank you note. Integrate to your Paypal account and receive your money using the processes you already know and are familiar with.
In-Kind Donation Form
Do you run a physical place where people can go to donate? Perhaps you can use an in-kind donation form. With this type of form, you can receive not only money, but also goods, and keep all donations information organized and well stored.
Best Sponsorship Request Form
You can use a sponsorship request form at your organization to collect more sponsors, who are responsible to connect your non-profit to companies, increasing your raised funds. Compelling, attractive, and intuitive forms can help your campaign to reach its goal sooner and get you more sponsors.
With a sponsorship request form, you can connect to companies and donors and design according to your approach, outlining your agreements and having a legal document for your future transactions.
The main purpose of a sponsorship request form is to create a long-term relationship with companies and organizations.
The best sponsorship form would include a few key elements on it, such as:
Sponsor Name
Phone Number
Address
Email Address
How much the sponsor is willing to commit
Signature field (both from the sponsor and the non-profit)
Besides the form fields, you’ll be needing a great design that addresses your organization, and integrations that allow you to automate your processes, speeding up the donation intake.
Don’t forget to add your organization details as well, like contact information, name, and logo.
Sponsorship Request Form
You can create your sponsorship request form from scratch, or use this great free template that conveys all the necessary data you’ll need from your sponsor.
Customize the form to attend to your demands and to bring your organization’s identity to it.
What is a Request Letter and how to build one
A request letter is a document you send to potential donors and leads to inform them about your organization or project. It must be persuasive since it is one of the main ways you can convince people to become sponsors of your fundraiser.
You can mail your request letter, send it through email (along with a link to your donation form), or make it as your landing page, attracting donors all over the globe.
You’ll start as a regular letter, where you add your organization address and then greet the reader.
Here you have a sample that you can add to a landing page or send to your leads through an email campaign. Remember to always add the link to your donation form.
ABC Fundraiser
Cleveland, OH
June 2021
Dear reader,
How are you?
We are living through some challenging times. The pandemic caused by the Covid-19 has deeply reached us all. But for some people, it has hit even harder.
For this reason, we from ABC are organizing a campaign to collect money for food, medicine, and clothes for those in the most vulnerable situations.
We’ve been working delivering food and clothes to the people most in need for a decade, being able to help over 100k families thanks to the good heart of kind donors, like yourself, and you can check our work on our website. But this past year has been harsh and with you, by our side, we can make these hard times pass by less overwhelmingly for a lot of families.
We came here to ask for your help.
You can donate whatever amount you can. Even a quarter can make a difference on the day of people in vulnerability.
Can we count on you?
Follow the link for more information.
Thank you for your sincere attention,
ABC TEAM
Donation Forms Thank you Messages
Now that you’ve created your donation form, have made a great request letter, and have sent your sponsorship request form, it is time to thank all those who committed to help your cause.
Saying THANK YOU after a form is submitted is an important action that helps delight leads and keeps them close to your organization. But saying thank you after a donation has been made is a kind and mandatory gesture. That’s because without a thank you letter emailed to donors they might feel lost and cheated by you.
So, write a beautiful message and set it up to be shown as a landing page, for example. It can appear right after the donor hits the submit button as a landing page.
Define the URL that donors will be redirected to and customize each message with form data.
Here is an example of what you can write in your message:
Thank you [donors name] for being awesome!
Thanks to your help now more people can count on food on their table.
Your good heart is what moves us and gives us reason to believe in what is good and beautiful in the world.
Keep updated with our campaign by regularly checking our website. We’ll post all the information on how your donation is helping to change the lives of many people.
Your friends,
ABC Fundraiser
A donation form, as you can see, is a secure and fast way to gather all the funds you need. You can easily share your forms on your organization’s website, or its social media profiles.
Bring donors back with nice automatic messages, even if they abandon the form, as long as they leave contact information, you can reach them out and convince them to come back. Also, allow donors to finish filling out the form at any time or from any device that is more convenient for them by enabling the Save & Resume feature. And remember to notify your team about each new donation made, to keep all data on track and organized.
MightyForms has all the features and integrations you need to make your form perfect to collect funds for any purpose and goals.
