12 Best WordPress Donation and Fundraising Plugins for 2024

Online donations are growing rapidly. According to Giving USA, online giving increased by 12.1% in 2021, totaling $49.54 billion. This upward trend is projected to continue over the coming years.

As a webmaster with over 15 years of experience, I have helped countless non-profits and charities set up online fundraising platforms. In this comprehensive guide, I will share my expert picks for the top 12 WordPress plugins for accepting secure donations.

Choosing the Right Donation Plugin

With so many options, selecting the best donation plugin for your website can be overwhelming. Here are some key factors you should keep in mind:

Payment Integration – The plugin must work seamlessly with your preferred payment gateway like Stripe or PayPal for credit card transactions. Smooth integration leads to higher conversion rates.

Conversion Optimization – The donation form must be mobile-friendly, minimal, and designed to convert visitors into donors. Improvements in form conversion can increase donations by up to 42%.

Donor Experience – Donors should receive professional looking receipts and thank you emails. This leads to 18% higher repeat donation rates according to Classy.

Security – As a webmaster, security of donor financial information is my top priority. The plugin must use encryption and other security best practices.

Support & Maintenance – Having access to timely support and regular updates provides peace of mind. Lack of maintenance can lead to vulnerabilities.

Affordability – For small non-profits, the cost of the plugin and transaction fees is crucial. Some plugins charge monthly fees while others are one-time purchases.

By keeping the above factors in mind, you can zero in on the right plugin for your specific needs. Let‘s look at my top recommendations.

1. WPForms – Best All-in-One Donation Plugin

WPForms is my choice for non-profits who want an easy-to-use form builder with intuitive donation form capabilities.

Key Features:

• Drag & drop form builder for creating clean donation forms in minutes
• Mobile responsive donation forms with two-step payment option for higher conversions
• Integrations with Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net for accepting credit card payments
• Send customizable receipts and thank you emails to donors
• CRM integrations with MailChimp, Constant Contact, HubSpot etc. for managing donor communication
• 75% discount for non-profits making it affordable at $99/year

WPForms provides the complete package for donation forms, email marketing, donor management, and analytics under one roof.

Their form analytics integration gives you insights into donation metrics like conversion rates and helps you optimize your forms for better results.

The only downside is WPForms lacks some advanced fundraising features needed for large capital campaigns that GiveWP (discussed next) provides.

But for most basic to intermediate donation requirements, I strongly recommend WPForms for its ease of use and great value.

2. GiveWP – Most Feature Rich Donation Plugin

In terms of advanced fundraising functionality, GiveWP is hands-down the best WordPress donation plugin available.

Here are some key features that make it stand out:

• Supports one-time and recurring donations for reliable monthly income
• Create powerful fundraising campaigns with customized donation levels
• Tools to drive more donations like goal meters and donor walls
• Deep CRM and email marketing integrations like Salesforce, MailChimp, Constant Contact
• Powerful reporting provides insights into your fundraising efforts
• WooCommerce integration for charity/non-profit stores

Over 50,000 organizations trust GiveWP for their fundraising needs. The level of customization it provides is unparalleled.

The downside is the interface has a steep learning curve. For non-techies, setting up GiveWP requires hiring a developer unless you choose to use their Concierge onboarding.

Pricing starts at $240/year for the Basic package. The Complete GiveWP donation plugin costs $360/year.

In summary, if you want maximum customization and serious fundraising power, invest in the Complete GiveWP plugin. It‘s a bit pricier but provides the tools you need to raise more funds.

3. WP Simple Pay – Best Payment Focused Donation Plugin

WP Simple Pay is focused solely on helping you accept payments and donations.

Here are the key features:

• Optimized payment forms for higher conversion rates
• Native support for Apple Pay, Google Pay donation options
• Zero platform fees or monthly costs (just payment gateway fees)
• 70+ currency options making it great for global non-profits
• International payment options like SEPA, PIX, and more

I like WP Simple Pay because they frequently add support for new payment methods. This ensures your website stays up to date with the latest online payment trends.

The free plugin works for basic one-time donations. For recurring payments, you need to upgrade to the Pro plan at $199/year.

In summary, if you want a donations plugin that keeps up with payments innovation, WP Simple Pay is a superb choice.

4. Formidable Forms – Most Flexible Form Builder

In terms of flexibility and features, Formidable Forms is the most powerful WordPress form builder plugin available.

Some key advantages:

• Build any type of donation form layout with drag and drop ease
• Accept payments via Stripe, PayPal, and other addons
• 100+ integrations with CRMs, email marketing, and webinar tools
• Accept file uploads, eSignatures, and multi-page form workflows
• Entry management and in-depth analytics for form optimization

Formidable Forms integrates with all the tools you need to not only accept donations, but also manage donors and email marketing.

Pricing starts at $199/year for the Pro plan. Overall, it offers the greatest flexibility for creating tailored donation forms.

5. GiveWP Lite – Best Free Donations Plugin

If you‘re looking for a free WordPress donations plugin, GiveWP Lite is a great choice.

It allows you to accept one-time donations via Stripe with a simple donation form.

GiveWP Lite provides:

• Free Stripe integration
• Easy donation form creation
• Donor management dashboard
• Basic donor email receipts
• No monthly fees, just Stripe credit card rates

The downside is it lacks advanced features like recurring donations, goal settings, and customizable forms.

But if you‘re just getting started with online fundraising and want a free plugin, GiveWP Lite is quite beginner-friendly. It‘s a good stepping stone before upgrading to paid GiveWP plans.

6. DonorBox – Best Donation Management SaaS

DonorBox takes a different approach than traditional WordPress donations plugins.

It‘s a fully hosted donation management solution. Here‘s how it works:

• You create donation forms and campaigns on DonorBox‘s platform
• Embed the forms on your WordPress site using their plugin
• DonorBox handles the donor data, email receipts, payment processing securely on their infrastructure

As a SaaS platform, DonorBox offers turnkey donation management. Benefits include:

• No need to maintain servers or comply with PCI regulations
• donor management features out of the box like communication and reports
• Regular platform updates and maintenance done by their team

The downside is the extra [platform fee](https://donorbox.org/pricing?plan= nonprofit) of 1.5% on all donations. Still, many non-profits are willing to pay for the convenience and security DonorBox provides.

Their nonprofit plan starts at $99/month making it better suited for established fundraising organizations.

7. Seamless Donations – Best for PayPal Donations

If PayPal is your primary payment gateway, Seamless Donations is a great free choice.

It makes it very easy to accept PayPal donations on WordPress.

Seamless Donations offers:

• Quick setup of PayPal donate buttons
• Options for one-time or recurring PayPal donations
• Let donors allocate funds towards specific campaigns
• Send email receipts and thank you‘s to donors

The free version meets basic needs well. Paid addons ($39 each) are available for further customization.

In summary, Seamless Donations the best free plugin if PayPal will be your primary donation gateway.

8. Charitable – Best for Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Charitable is a unique WordPress fundraising plugin geared towards peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns.

Campaign creators can easily solicit donations from their network of friends, family, and colleagues towards their personalized goal.

Some key features include:

• Crowdfunding style campaigns with individual goals
• Easy campaign creation and management
• Dashboard shows your campaign progress and latest donations
• Integrations with email and CRM tools to access donors
• Accepts all major payment types: PayPal, Stripe, etc.

Pricing starts at $99/year for core features, which is very affordable. Additional functionality requires higher tiers.

If you want to empower your supporters to fundraise on your behalf, Charitable is a great fit.

9. Donation Thermometer – Best for Showing Progress

The Donation Thermometer displays your fundraising progress in a visually appealing thermometer graph.

This social proof motivates visitors to contribute towards your monetary goal through urgency and FOMO.

The Donation Thermometer plugin allows you to:

• Set your fundraising goal amount
• Customize thermometer appearance and colors
• Embed and display real-time progress across your website
• Drive urgency as the thermometer gets filled

Note this plugin only displays donation progress and does not actually collect payments. It‘s meant to be used alongside other donation plugins like GiveWP.

For showing fundraising progress, Donation Thermometer is a wonderful free tool.

10. Cryptocurrency Donations Plugin

Accepting donations in cryptocurrency like Bitcoin is a trending option. The Cryptocurrency Donations plugin by Web3WP enables this.

It allows you to easily accept crypto donations by displaying customizable payment boxes.

Benefits include:

• Accept over 20 major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin etc.
• No need to manage blockchain wallets or addresses

The plugin handles everything behind the scenes providing a seamless crypto donation experience. This simplifies the process greatly for non-profits.

There are no fees to use Cryptocurrency Donations. You only pay the network transaction fee (less than $1 per donation).

Summing Up – Choosing the Best Donation Plugin

The WordPress donation plugins covered in this guide are the top recommended options for accepting online contributions in 2024.

Here are a few closing tips for deciding on the best plugin for your needs:

• GiveWP – Most powerful and customizable for advanced fundraising needs
• WPForms – Best all-in-one plugin for forms, payments, and analytics
• WP Simple Pay – Leading edge payments platform; great for global non-profits
• Seamless Donations – Best free option for accepting PayPal donations
• GiveWP Lite – Best free plugin for basic Stripe donations
• DonorBox – Complete donations management as turnkey SaaS

Take your time, review the pros and cons, and select the plugin that aligns closest with your requirements and budget.

Please let me know in the comments if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to help fellow non-profits and share my experience as a webmaster.