Donation blocks

Add a donation block to accept financial support for a charity, cause, or event.

Last updated January 24, 2025

Use donation blocks to collect donations from visitors to your cause or organization. You can also use them to set up a customized cash gift registry on a wedding website.

Accessing this feature

Donation blocks are available in the Basic, Core, Plus, Advanced, Business, Commerce Basic, and Commerce Advanced plans. To learn more, visit Choosing the right Squarespace plan.

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Before you begin

  • You need to edit your site on a computer to add a donation block. It's not possible to set up donations in the Squarespace app.
  • To use donation blocks to collect donations, connect your site to a payment processor. To do this, open the Payments panel.
  • Transaction fees apply to donations.
  • Your store's tax rules don't apply to donations.
  • Donation checkout always asks for an email address and phone number.
  • You can create recurring donations on version 7.1 sites connected to Stripe or Squarespace Payments only.

Add a donation block

The way to to add a donation block depends on your site's version.

To add a donation block:

  1. Edit a page or post, click Add Block or an insert point, then click Donation. For help, visit Adding content with blocks.
  2. Open the block editor by clicking the pencil icon on the block.
  3. Click Set Up Payment Processor if you don't already have a payment processor connected. This opens the Store payments panel so you can connect your site to Squarespace Payments, Stripe, or PayPal. Customers can't check out until you complete this step.

Click the fields in the block to edit the button text and fund settings.

Button text

To customize the button, enter a new label in the Button Label field. By default, the button for donation blocks says Donate, but you can change it to fit your needs. For example, if you're using a donation block for a cash registry, you can change it to Send us a gift.

Fund settings

By default, donations are attributed to the General FundTo rename this fund, edit the fund settings, and add more funds:

  1. Click Funds.
  2. Select the funds you'd like to connect to the donation block. Donors can select the fund they want to contribute to from a dropdown menu. Funds can have different settings, like recurring donation options and suggested amounts.
  3. To edit the General Fund, click the pencil icon, then click OK. To add a new fund, click Add, then click Save and continue.
  4. On the fund page, edit or add the fund name, suggested amounts, and recurring donation settings.
  5. For detailed information about setting up funds, visit Donation funds.

Collect more information

If you need more information from your donors, create a custom checkout form to collect this information when they make their donations.

To add a donation block:

  1. Edit a page or post, click Add Block or an insert point, then click Donation. For help, visit Adding content with blocks.
  2. Open the block editor by clicking the pencil icon on the block.
  3. Click Set Up Payment Processor if you don't already have a payment processor connected. This opens the Store payments panel so you can connect your site to Squarespace Payments, or Stripe and PayPal.

Click the fields in the block to add or customize:

  • Suggested donation amounts
  • The button text
  • The block title and description
  • Form fields
  • The donation receipt email

Donation amounts

Click Donation Amounts to add suggested amounts. This encourages visitors to donate at specific levels. Visitors can choose from the suggested amounts or donate any amount.

Click Add Amount to add a specific amount. You can add labels to specific amounts, like Gold Membership or Feeds 10 cats. This is a great way to create different sponsorship levels.

Remove an amount by clicking Edit, then clicking the - icon. If you remove all suggested amounts and leave the Amount column blank, visitors will enter their desired donation amount without suggested options.

Button text

To customize the button, enter a new label in the Button Label field. By default, the button for donation blocks say Donate, but you can change it to fit your needs. For example, if you're using a donation block for a cash registry, you can change it to Send us a gift.

Tip

Custom button text doesn't appear on transaction records in the Donations panel. To prompt donors to specify what their donations are for, add a custom form.

Title and description

Enter a title in the Title field. The title displays on the donation page, in sales analytics, and in emails sent to donors. Enter information about your cause in the Checkout Description field. The description displays in the Your Contribution section during checkout.

Add form fields

Click Add Form Fields, then Add Field to add more fields for additional information at checkout. To learn more about each form field, review Form fields explained. To delete or rearrange fields, click Edit.

Form fields display in the additional information section during checkout. Donors can use these fields to give in someone's honor, choose a thank you gift, or specify where they want their donation to go.

Site owners, administrators, and store managers can view completed forms in the Donations panel.

Edit donation receipt

Click Edit Donation Receipt to open the Customer Notifications panel, where you can customize the emails sent to donors.

Design

The donation block design options depend on your site's version.

Click the Design tab in the block editor to change style and layout of each donation block field. Fonts and colors follow your site's global styles.

Click the Design tab to set the button alignment leftcenter, or right.

Tip

To ensure donors can complete their transactions, always use a donation block to link to the donation checkout page. We don't recommend linking directly to the donation checkout page with text links, button blocks, or other methods.

Manage donations

For information about donor profiles, where to view donation revenue, and how to refund or cancel donations, visit Managing donations.

Checkout options

Customize your checkout settings to streamline the donation experience and collect more information from donors. Open the Checkout panel. Some settings in this panel, like shipping address, won’t affect the donation checkout page. Here’s what applies to donations:

You can also Style the checkout page to match the aesthetic of your site.

Switch blocks

Accessing this feature

You can switch to the new donation block if you have a version 7.1 site.

We updated the donation block on July 8, 2024 to offer recurring donations, more design options, and the ability to add multiple funds. If you added a donation block before this update, you can continue to use the original block to collect donations or switch to the new block.

To switch blocks, add a new donation block and delete the original one. It's not possible to undo this, or to add the original donation block after you delete it. Before you switch, note that these features will no longer be available: 

  • Custom form fields
  • Donation block description
  • Donation block title
  • Direct links to donation checkout
  • Individual block settings

You can use both blocks at the same time to collect donations. However, your revenue in the donations panel will only count donations made through the new block. Donations made through the original block will appear in your bank account and in your site's sales analytics, but not in the revenue total displayed in the donations dashboard.

Which block do I have?

The original donation block is a button that leads to a checkout page where donors enter their contribution amount. The new donation block displays the suggested amounts on your site, before donors check out. This is what the blocks look like:

Donation_Block.png

Donation_Block.png

If you have the new block, follow the steps in the version 7.1 tabs in this guide to customize it. If you have the old block, follow the steps in the version 7.0 tabs.

FAQ

What are the donation fees?

When someone makes a donation, you’re charged a payment processing fee and, depending on your Squarespace plan, you may also be charged a transaction fee. The best place to learn about this is in Transaction fees and payment processing fees.

Are transaction fees discounted for non-profits?

No. Transaction fees aren’t discount for non-profits.

Can donors pay for the transaction fees?

No. Site owners always pay the payment processing and transaction fees.

Do donors need to create a customer account?

Only if they sign up for recurring donations. One-time donors can contribute without creating an account.

Can I integrate with a third-party CRM?

Yes. You can connect Squarespace Extensions to integrate with these third-party sales and marketing platforms. You can also export your contacts and import them to the third-party CRM of your choice.

What payment methods can I accept?

You can accept all payment methods available on Squarespace Commerce.

Tip

Squarespace Payments supports ACH payments.

Can donors contribute anonymously?

No. It’s not possible for someone to hide their name at checkout. However, the transaction is only visible to the site owner, administrators, and store managers.

Can donors contribute on behalf of someone else?

Yes. To give donors the opportunity to attribute their donation to someone else, create a custom checkout form.

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