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One of the many things we love about WordPress is all the plugins that are available. There are some truly powerful plugins that expand the functionality of your site, including the donation process. However, when there are so many options out there, it can be overwhelming to determine what will work and what is a waste of time (and money) for your nonprofit. 

That is why we tested, reviewed, and rated the top fundraising plugins on WordPress in 2022.

Before we dive into our analysis, what makes a good fundraising plugin anyways?

We looked at six important qualities that will help you determine if it is a good fit.

Scalable

Will the plugin fit future campaign and fundraising needs?

Integrations

Does it play nicely with your existing tools?

Support

When you have questions, is there someone to ask?

Automated Emails

Does it communicate with the donor for tax purposes?

Customization

Will it allow you to customize it to your branding?

Recurring Donations

Does it allow donors to give on a monthly basis?

GiveWP

GiveWP one of the most popular fundraising plugins on WordPress. While the free version is pretty robust, upgrading to the paid version opens up so many more possibilities. One unique feature it offers is the ability to export reports, which not enough plugins do.

Scalable

With a free and premium version, this is a plugin that will grow with your nonprofit if you need more features.

Integrations

While the free version does not allow integration, upgrading allows you to integrate with many other popular tools.

Support

GiveWP has priority support for those with the paid version, but users have asked for more videos and documentation that guide them through questions.

Automated Emails

GiveWP does not automatically send out receipt information with the free version. You would have to upgrade in order to provide your donors with immediate information.

Customization

There are many options (pop-ups, buttons, forms, etc) that can be customized to match your branding.

Recurring Donations

Offering the option to become a recurring donor is not an option for the free version

GiveWP Summary

This is a solid fundraising plugin for most nonprofits. While the free version would work for very small nonprofits, it would limit what a larger nonprofit could do. But by regularly upgrading, it could grow with your nonprofit.

Charitable

Charitable gets a lot of recognition for being more advanced. It offers many payment options (including offline options), unlimited campaigns and even crowdfunding, once you get to a certain tier. And while it is one of the few that doesn’t have a free version or a free trial, the first tier paid version isn’t too expensive.

Scalable

Charitable has several tiers available, each with increasing capability. When you pay more, you get more.

Integrations

They offer extensions that expand the capabilities of the plugin, but it currently does not integrate with other tools.

Support

Users give their support system 5 stars. Between a ticketing system, blog and documentation, their users feel confident

Automated Emails

Charitable provides automatically emailed receipts to all donors.

Customization

Technically it is customizable, but it isn’t beginner friendly. They offer you the snippets of code to make changes, so you might need a developer to help with certain changes.

Recurring Donations

Recurring donations are an option when you upgrade to Pro, but it is not available for Plus users.

Charitable Summary

Charitable’s fundraising plugin works great as an a la carte tool. Each extension will cost extra and the different tiers unlock additional capabilities. If you go into it knowing what you want out of it, Charitable is very effective. But if you’re hoping to do A/B testing or experiment outside of the box, those add-ons will add up.

PayPal Donations

Everyone knows PayPal. It has brand recognition as being a trusted method of sending money, donations included. This plugin allows people to easily donate with confidence.

Scalable

There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles with this one. It will accept as many donations as you need. You can put it on as many pages as you want, but there aren’t additional features if your campaign requires it.

Integrations

There is no integration capability.

Support

This plugin was made for PayPal but not by PayPal. That means the customer service comes from outside PayPal.

Automated Emails

Donors will get a PayPal receipt after making a payment.

Customization

Minor customization is doable if you are able to work within the code snippets.

Recurring Donations

There is not an option for recurring donations.

PayPal Donations Summary

PayPal Donations gets the job done for a small nonprofit or an organization hosting a one-off fundraising event. It is strong in its simplicity, but it is not powerful enough for a growing or large nonprofit.

Seamless Donations

Seamless Donations is another a la carte style fundraising plugin. The basic free version accepts donations and even allows for recurring donations. Additional features are available at an additional cost.

Scalable

While it does have a wide variety of extensions you can add on, there is a limit to what you can do with it.

Integrations

It does not offer integration with other tools.

Support

Since it is a smaller operation, the support team is not extensive. However, users love the level of support they receive when their ticket is answered.

Automated Emails

Seamless Donations automatically sends an emailed receipt, and for an additional cost, you can customize a thank you page.

Customization

Seamless Donations offers customization plugins that allow you to choose from 15-20 options, depending on which element you are customizing.

Recurring Donations

Recurring donations are included with the free version.

Seamless Donations Summary

Seamless Donations offers some fun options, like highlighting the top donors, but it lacks the customization that a large nonprofit would require, or one working to build brand recognition.

Donorbox

Donorbox is different from the rest of the plugins we are reviewing. First, it isn’t just made for WordPress. It can be used on many other platforms. It is also the only one that is focused on recurring donations as opposed to adding it as a feature.

Scalable

Donorbox is really good at what it was made for (encouraging donors to give monthly), but it lacks additional features that allow it to grow.

Integrations

Donorbox integrates with a few of the more popular tools, like Quickbooks and Raiser’s Edge

Support

While they are very responsive to emails, there is no phone support option.

Automated Emails

Donorbox automatically sends receipts to donors

Customization

There are plenty of options for customizing your forms and pages, but within certain parameters.

Recurring Donations

Yes. Absolutely. First and foremost.

Donorbox Summary

Donorbox wants nonprofits to raise the most money they can because, while the plugin is entirely free, they take a percentage once the nonprofit starts raising above $1,000 per month. This plugin would be ideal for an organization that wants to take a slightly more passive route to fundraising – allowing Donorbox to do what it does best.

ClassyPress

Classy is the tool to use for fundraising. Over 4,000 nonprofits are already using it on their websites, and for good reason. ClassyPress is the corresponding plugin that allows you to take it to the next level.

Scalable

ClassyPress stays ahead of the curve, and is constantly updating and adding new features.

Integrations

ClassyPress integrates with Classy, which integrates with all sorts of marketing, analytics, event, and CRM tools.

Support

ClassyPress offers online documentation, email or phone support.

Automated Emails

Donors will receive an automated email thanking them of their donation.

Customization

ClassyPress allows you to customize the forms, campaigns and more so that it matches your brand.

Recurring Donations

Donors have the option to give once or set up recurring donations.

ClassyPress Summary

ClassyPress understands that fundraising is often about connection and building relationships. That is why the fun features – like leaderboards, progress stats, and activity feeds – do more than just raise money. They offer the donor the opportunity to interact with the cause. If you are a nonprofit that already uses Classy, this plugin will certainly elevate your fundraising efforts and your website. 

What now?

While every part of your website deserves detailed attention, fundraising plugins can make or break your fundraising goals. Mittun works exclusively with nonprofits, food banks and mission-based organizations, and stays on top of trends and stays involved in the changing landscape of the industry. That is how we can ensure ClassyPress is always being updated with what you need to do the most good in the world.

As we learn and grow, we are all about sharing our resources with you. Explore our blog and ask us questions. And reach out. We offer enterprise website solutions for food banks and nonprofits – marketing, design, ad management, website management and more.

We’ve got you covered.

Which fundraising plugin works best for your needs?

Contact Mittun for a free assessment today.