Online Donation Software: Boost Your Nonprofit's Giving

Online donation software lets nonprofits accept gifts through their website or custom donation pages, automatically generating tax receipts, managing recurring donations, and syncing every gift to your CRM and accounting system. The top platforms in 2026 are Alignmint (no platform fee, integrated with fund accounting), Donorbox (1.75% per transaction), and Classy (~$299+/mo). The three things that increase online giving the most: a mobile-friendly page with minimal form fields, suggested giving amounts anchored to your average gift size, and a prominent recurring giving option.

Online giving has grown every year for the past decade, and donors increasingly expect the same frictionless experience they get from every other online transaction.

Why Online Donation Software Matters

The shift to online giving isn't slowing down. Here's why it matters for your organization:

• Convenience drives giving: Donors who can give in 60 seconds from their phone give more often than donors who have to write a check and mail it
• Recurring giving multiplies impact: A $50/month recurring donor gives $600/year — and recurring donors have significantly higher retention rates than one-time givers
• Data flows automatically: When online gifts sync with your CRM and accounting system, you eliminate manual entry and get real-time visibility into fundraising performance
• Campaign tracking becomes possible: See which emails, social posts, or events drove the most donations — and optimize accordingly

Features to Look For

1. Mobile-Friendly Donation Pages

More than 60% of nonprofit website traffic comes from mobile devices. If your donation page doesn't work perfectly on a phone, you're losing donors at the moment they're most motivated to give.

Look for donation pages that:

• Load fast on mobile (under 3 seconds)
• Have large, tappable buttons and form fields
• Minimize the number of required fields (name, email, amount, payment — that's it)
• Support Apple Pay and Google Pay for one-tap giving

For design tips that increase conversion, see our guide to nonprofit donation page best practices.

2. Suggested Giving Amounts

Pre-set giving amounts reduce decision fatigue and anchor donors to higher gift sizes. The best platforms let you customize suggested amounts for each campaign.

A common approach: set your suggested amounts at 1x, 2x, and 3x your average gift size, with a custom amount option. If your average online gift is $50, suggest $50, $100, and $150.

3. Recurring Gift Management

Recurring donors are the backbone of sustainable fundraising. Your platform should make it easy to:

• Offer monthly, quarterly, or annual recurring options on every donation page
• Let donors manage their own recurring gifts (update payment method, change amount, pause or cancel)
• Automatically retry failed payments before canceling
• Send reminders before each charge
• Track recurring revenue separately in your reports

4. Integration with CRM and Accounting

This is the most important feature — and the one most standalone donation tools get wrong.

When a donor gives online, three things should happen automatically:

1. The gift appears on the donor's CRM profile with date, amount, fund, and method
2. A journal entry is created in your accounting system (debit cash, credit revenue, assigned to the correct fund)
3. A thank-you email with tax receipt is sent to the donor

If any of these require manual work, you're using the wrong tool. An integrated platform handles all three in one step.

5. Secure Payment Processing

Donors trust you with their financial information. Your platform must be:

• PCI-DSS compliant: The industry standard for payment card security
• SSL encrypted: All data transmitted over HTTPS
• Stripe or equivalent: Use a reputable payment processor with fraud detection

Never store credit card numbers on your own servers. Use a platform that tokenizes payment data through Stripe or a similar processor.

6. Customizable Donation Pages

Your donation page should look like your organization — not like a generic payment form. Customize with:

• Your logo and brand colors
• A compelling header image and description
• Campaign-specific messaging
• Fund designation options (let donors choose where their gift goes)
• Social proof (donor count, progress toward a goal)

7. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Let your supporters create their own fundraising pages for events like walks, runs, or birthday campaigns. Peer-to-peer fundraising expands your reach by turning donors into fundraisers.

8. Reporting and Analytics

Track fundraising performance in real time:

Metric	Why It Matters
Total online revenue	Overall fundraising health
Average gift size	Helps set suggested amounts
Conversion rate	Measures donation page effectiveness
Recurring donor count	Predicts sustainable revenue
Donor retention rate	Measures relationship strength
Revenue by campaign	Shows which appeals work
Revenue by channel	Shows where donors come from

Want online donations that connect directly to your fund accounting? Schedule Your Free Setup | Explore Features

The Real Cost of Online Donation Software

Online giving platforms typically charge in two ways: a monthly subscription and a per-transaction fee. Here's how common options compare:

Platform	Monthly Fee	Transaction Fee	Includes CRM?	Includes Accounting?
Alignmint	$0 (Starter)	Stripe fees only (~2.9% + $0.30)	Yes	Yes
Classy	~$300+/mo	~2.9% + $0.30	No	No
Bloomerang	~$99+/mo	~2.9% + $0.30	Yes (basic)	No
GiveWP	~$0-$20/mo	Stripe fees	No	No
Network for Good	~$200+/mo	~3-5%	Basic	No

The key insight: standalone donation tools look cheap until you add the cost of a separate CRM and accounting system. An all-in-one platform that includes online giving, CRM, and accounting is almost always cheaper in total.

Common Online Giving Mistakes

1. Too many form fields: Every additional field reduces conversion. Ask only for what you need: name, email, amount, and payment info. Address and phone can be optional.

2. No recurring option: If you don't prominently offer recurring giving, you're missing your highest-value donors. Make it a default option, not a hidden checkbox.

3. Disconnected from accounting: If online gifts don't automatically create journal entries in your fund accounting system, someone has to enter them manually. That's hours of work per month and a guaranteed source of errors.

4. No fund designation: Donors want to choose where their gift goes. Let them select a fund (general, building, missions, etc.) on the donation page. This increases giving and ensures proper restricted fund tracking.

5. Slow thank-you emails: Donors who receive a thank-you within 48 hours are significantly more likely to give again. Automate your receipts so they send instantly.

How to Choose the Right Platform

1. Start with integration: Does the platform connect to your CRM and accounting? If not, you'll be doing manual data entry forever.

2. Check the total cost: Monthly fee + transaction fees + separate CRM + separate accounting = your real cost. Compare that to an all-in-one platform.

3. Test on mobile: Pull up the donation page on your phone. Is it fast? Easy to use? Would you complete a donation on it?

4. Ask about recurring giving: How does the platform handle failed payments? Can donors self-manage? What's the retention rate for recurring donors on the platform?

5. Look at the donor experience: From the donor's perspective, is the giving experience smooth and trustworthy? Or does it feel clunky and generic?

Schedule Your Free Setup | Explore Features

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Related:

• Donation Management Software — The complete nonprofit guide
• Nonprofit Donation Page Best Practices — Design tips that increase giving
• Donation Tracking Software — Track every gift from receipt to report
• Donor Management Software — Complete guide to nonprofit CRM
• Donor Management — See how Alignmint handles online donations