Donors help
Donors, gifts, receipts, recurring giving and donation forms.
How to
- Adding your donation form to your websiteCopy your form's embed code or open its live page to share the link; on a Sites by 2Labs website, connect Sites and pick the form from a list.Guide
- Billing and changing your planSee your plan, contact usage and invoices in Settings → Billing, and upgrade, downgrade, update your card or cancel; plans are Essential at $50 CAD/month and Standard at $150 CAD/month.GuideAdmins only
- Building a donation formCreate a branded online donation form from the Donation template, set amounts, funds and monthly giving, then publish it.GuideAdmins only
- Connecting Stripe to DonorsLink a Stripe account for your charity so you can accept online donations that settle to your bank.GuideAdmins only
- Correcting a receipt (void and reissue)Fix a mistake on a receipt by voiding it, correcting the gift, and generating a new receipt with a new number.Guide
- Editing a donor and their receipt preferenceUpdate a donor's details, consent and tax receipt preference from their record; a new preference applies to gifts recorded afterwards, not to gifts already saved.Guide
- Emailing donors and using templatesSend an email to one donor or many from Donors, start it from a saved template, and create or edit templates under Communications → Templates.Guide
- Households, relationships and soft creditLink donors into households and to related people or organizations from the Relationships tab, and soft-credit shared gifts without counting revenue twice.Guide
- Importing your contactsBring donors and past gifts in from a spreadsheet; Donors proposes the column mapping, you approve it, then fix any failed rows and resolve duplicates.Guide
- Inviting your teamAdd teammates by email as an Org admin or Member; they sign in with a one-time code, and every plan includes unlimited users.GuideAdmins only
- Issuing a tax receipt for a giftGenerate a numbered receipt for a recorded gift, then send it by email or print it; you can also generate receipts in bulk from the Receipt center.Guide
- Letting donors find a lost receiptPublish a Find a receipt page so donors sign in with an emailed code and re-send or download the tax receipts already issued to them.GuideAdmins only
- Managing a donor's recurring plan as staffOpen a recurring plan to change its amount, frequency or fund, or to pause, resume, skip the next charge, cancel or reactivate it; staff can't touch the donor's card.Guide
- Merging duplicate contactsCombine two records for the same person from People; an Org admin picks the record to keep and which details win, and all history moves across.GuideAdmins only
- Newsletter sign-up forms and email consentPublish a Newsletter signup form that adds people to People as Prospects, tags them Newsletter and turns on their Email opt-in.GuideAdmins only
- Recording a giftLog a gift you received offline, such as a cheque, cash or e-transfer, or set up a recurring gift for an existing donor.Guide
- Restoring an archived donorOrg admins find archived and merged donors in Organization Settings → Data & audit and click Restore to bring one back into People.GuideAdmins only
- Running reports and the accounting exportUse Reports for donor metrics, gifts by fund, top and lapsed donors, and an Accounting Export that sends gifts to your accounting system without double-posting.Guide
- Sending year-end (consolidated) receiptsRoll each donor's receiptable gifts for a tax year into one consolidated receipt, then email them and print the rest from Year-end receipts.GuideAdmins only
- Setting up fundsCreate and manage the list of funds your team picks from on gifts and donation forms, under Gifts → Funds; Org admins add, edit, archive, merge and delete funds.GuideAdmins only
- Setting up recurring (monthly) donationsTurn on monthly giving in your donation form so donors can give each month, with the card charged automatically through Stripe.GuideAdmins only
- Setting up your tax receiptsEnter your charity details, upload an authorized signature, and choose numbering, minimum and auto-receipt amounts in Settings → Receipts.GuideAdmins only
- Setting your organization's brandingUpload your logos and set brand colours, fonts and button styles once in Settings → Branding; they apply to donation forms, supporter emails and tax receipts.GuideAdmins only
- Using tags and segmentsAn Org admin manages the tag list in Settings → Tags; anyone can tag donors and save segments, which are filtered views of People or Gifts built from rules.Guide
- Viewing form submissionsOpen a form's Submissions to read each entry, mark it reviewed or spam, link it to a contact, tag it, add notes and export a CSV.Guide
Fixing problems
- A donor's monthly payment failedA declined charge puts the plan in Past due while Stripe retries; the donor fixes it by updating their card on your Manage giving page.Troubleshooting
- A donor's year-end receipt is missing some giftsGifts are left out when they already have a receipt, aren't receiptable, fall outside the calendar year, or don't fit the run's rules; check the gift and the rules.Troubleshooting
- I can't edit a gift's amount or detailsA gift's fields lock once a receipt is generated, and online or imported gifts are always fixed; void the receipt to edit a hand-entered gift.Troubleshooting
- I can't generate a receiptGenerate receipt only appears on a saved gift that shows Needs receipt; check the gift's receipt status, the donor's preference and your receipt settings.Troubleshooting
- I didn't get my sign-in codeDonors signs you in with a 7-digit code sent to your email; no code arrives if the address isn't on a team, and only the newest code works for 10 minutes.Troubleshooting
- I recorded a gift but the donor's card wasn't chargedA gift recorded by hand never charges a card, and a recurring gift you add by hand stays Pending with no card on file until the donor sets up payment.Troubleshooting
- My donation form won't let donors enter a cardCard payments need Stripe connected with charges enabled; check the Stripe card in Integrations and the error the donor sees.Troubleshooting
- My donation form won't take payments yetStripe is connected but shows Charges off, so live donation forms can't be published until you finish setup on Stripe.TroubleshootingAdmins only
- The same person has two recordsDuplicates usually come from an online gift under a different email or an import row added as new; an Org admin can merge the pair from People.Troubleshooting
Questions
- Are online gifts receipted automatically?They can be. Set an Auto-receipt value in Settings → Receipts, and online gifts at or under it from per-gift donors are receipted and emailed on arrival.FAQ
- Can donors change or cancel their own monthly gift?Yes, if you publish a Manage giving form; donors sign in with an email code and can change, pause or cancel their gift, depending on what you allow.FAQ
- Do I need my own Stripe account?Yes. Connecting Stripe sets up a Stripe account for your charity, so donations go to your charity's account and your charity is the merchant of record.FAQAdmins only
- Do I need to clean my data before importing?No. Donors maps messy columns for you, imports the clean rows, and lets you fix failed rows and resolve duplicates afterwards.FAQ
- Does recording a gift issue a receipt?No. A gift you record by hand gets a receipt status from the donor's preference; you generate and send the receipt yourself.FAQ
- How do I switch between organizations?If you belong to more than one organization, click your organization's name at the top of the sidebar and choose another from Switch organization.FAQ
- How do tasks work, including receipt tasks?Tasks on the Tasks board are sorted into Overdue, Due today and Upcoming; some are created for you, including Create receipt and Send receipt tasks that close on their own.FAQ
- How many users can I add?As many as you like. Every plan includes unlimited users; plans are priced by active contacts, not seats.FAQAdmins only
- What appears on a tax receipt?Your charity's details and registration number, a receipt number, issue date and place, the donor's name and address, the amounts, and your authorized signature.FAQ
- What are Smart nudges, and how do I set them up?Smart nudges automatically create tasks for new-donor thank-yous, failed monthly gifts and lapsed donors; an Org admin sets them in Settings → Automations.FAQAdmins only
- What do Needs review, Ready to send and Failed mean in the Receipt center?Needs review is gifts still waiting for a receipt, Ready to send is receipts issued but not yet delivered, and Failed is not tracked yet, so it always shows zero.FAQ
- What file formats can I import?Excel (.xlsx or .xls) and CSV files up to 10 MB; only the first 5,000 rows of a file are imported.FAQ
- What happens to duplicates when I import?Rows that match an existing donor are flagged as possible duplicates in Import results, and you choose Add as new, Merge or Delete for each one.FAQ
- What happens to gifts and receipts when I merge contacts?Everything moves onto the record you keep and lifetime giving is recalculated; issued receipts move across without being rewritten.FAQ
- What is Needs attention, and what does the bell mean?The bell opens Needs attention, a feed of alerts about receipts, donors, payments, imports and nudges; its red number counts only critical alerts.FAQ
- Where do donations from my form go?Each successful online donation creates a gift in Gifts against the donor matched by email, and the money goes to your charity's Stripe account.FAQ
- Which donors get a year-end receipt?By default, donors set to Consolidated annually whose not-yet-receipted gifts in the calendar year meet the minimum total; you can change the rules before each run.FAQ
- Who holds the donation money?Your charity does. Donations are charged on your charity's own Stripe account and pay out to your bank on Stripe's schedule.FAQ