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.

Donation Blocks appear as Donate buttons on the page. When a visitor clicks the button, they're led to a page where they can enter and submit a donation amount. You can customize the button text, suggested donation amounts, and change the button design. You can also add a custom form to collect specific information from donors.

Donation Blocks work through our Commerce platform. Visitors can use Stripe or PayPal to deposit donations to your bank account.

Donation Blocks are a Premium feature available in Business and Commerce plans.

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Before you begin

• To use Donation Blocks to collect donations, connect your site to Stripe, PayPal, or both. To do this from the Home Menu, click Commerce, then click Payments.
• Transaction fees apply to donations.
• Tax rules you create through Squarespace don't apply to donations.
• Donation forms always ask for an email address (required) and phone number at checkout.
• It’s not possible to accept donations on a recurring basis.
• Some donors may see a Google reCAPTCHA field at checkout, which asks them to check a box to prove they’re not a robot before they submit their payment. 

Add a Donation Block

To add a Donation Block:

1. Edit a page or post, click an insert point, and select Donation from the menu. For help, visit Adding blocks.
2. In the block editor, enter a title in the Title box. The title displays on the Donation page and in Thank You emails sent to donors.
3. Enter information about your cause in the Short Description box. The short description displays in the Your Contribution section on the Donation page.
4. Customize the button label text and alignment.
5. Use the Amounts tab to add suggested amounts.
6. Use the Additional tab to add a custom form.
7. Click Apply to save your changes.

Customize the button

Customize the button label text and alignment in the Description tab. 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.

To customize the button:

1. Scroll down and enter a new label in the Custom Button Label box.
2. To change the alignment of the button, select Left, Center, or Right from the Button Alignment drop-down menu.

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.

Add suggested amounts

Edit or add suggested contribution amounts in the Amounts tab. This encourages visitors to donate at specific levels. Visitors can select from the suggested amounts or donate any amount.

Click the + icon 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 hovering over an amount and clicking the trash can icon. If you remove all suggested amounts and leave the Amount column blank, visitors can enter their donation amount without suggested options.

Add a custom form

Add a custom form to your Donation Block in the Additional tab. Donors can use the custom form to give in someone's honor, select a thank you gift, or specify where they want their donation to go.

Site owners, Administrators, and Store Managers can view completed forms in Donations panel.

Click Add Form Field to select a form field to add. To learn more about each form field, see Form fields explained. 

More checkout options

Adjust your checkout settings to streamline the donation experience and collect more information from donors.

In the Home Menu, click Commerce, then click Checkout. Some settings in this panel, like shipping address, won’t affect the donation checkout page. Here’s what applies to donations:

• Checkout on your domain - Donors can make payments from your site’s custom domain.
• Mailing lists - Give donors the option to sign up for a mailing list at checkout.
• Default country in address fields - Set a default country to make checkout quicker.

Next steps

• You'll receive an email notification when someone submits a donation.
• You can manage donations in the Donations panel.
• Style Donate buttons in the Buttons section of Site Styles.
• Style the checkout page.
• Enable Customer Accounts so donors can save their payment information and make donations more quickly in the future.
• Customize the automatic email that donors receive for their donation. This is a great way to thank donors in your own way and follow up with information about how you'll use the funds you've received.