WP SmartPay is well-suited for nonprofit fundraising and crowdfunding. This guide explains how to set up a donation form with suggested amounts, an open amount field, and a progress bar toward your fundraising goal.

Payment Forms vs Donation Forms

There is no separate "donation form" type in SmartPay — a standard payment form becomes a donation form simply by enabling the Custom Amount pricing type and optionally adding suggested amount cards. The checkout experience feels like a donation form to the visitor, even though it is the same form engine.

Setting Up a Donation Form

  1. Go to SmartPay → Forms → Add New.
  2. Give the form a title such as "Monthly Giving" or "Help Us Reach Our Goal".
  3. In the right sidebar, expand the Pricing panel.
  4. Select Custom Amount as the pricing type.
  5. Click Add Amount to add suggested tiers (e.g., 10, 25, 50, 100).
  6. Set a Minimum Amount (e.g., 5) to prevent $0 or accidental tiny donations.
  7. Mark the most common amount (e.g., 25) as the default — it will be pre-selected at checkout.
  8. Optionally leave a Default Amount in the open input to guide donors who click away from the cards.
  9. Publish the form and embed it on your Donate page using the shortcode.
Screenshot of WP SmartPay new form modal showing template and blank options
Start with a blank form or pick a template — donation templates are available in Pro.

Revenue Goal & Progress Bar (Pro)

With WP SmartPay Pro you can set a revenue goal against a specific form and display a visual progress bar anywhere on your site using a shortcode.

  1. Go to SmartPay → Reports → Goals.
  2. Click Add Goal, select the donation form, set a target amount and a time period (month, year, or lifetime).
  3. Save the goal and copy the progress bar shortcode.
  4. Paste the shortcode on the same page as your donation form — it will update in real time as donations come in.

See the Revenue Goals & Progress Bar article for full configuration details.

Thank-You / Receipt Page

After a successful donation the customer is redirected to the Payment Receipt page. You can customise this page to include a warm thank-you message by editing the page set in SmartPay → Settings → General → Payment Success Page. Add the [smartpay_payment_receipt] shortcode to that page to display the donation amount and details.

Tip: Enabling Test Mode in SmartPay → Settings → Payment Gateways lets you make simulated donations to test the whole flow without processing any real charges.