What to Include on Your Nonprofit’s Donation Page (And What to Leave Off)
Your donation page is the most consequential page on your website. A visitor who reaches it has already decided they want to give. The question is whether your page helps them complete that decision or introduces enough friction that they leave without giving.
Most nonprofit donation pages do both. They include things that build confidence and things that erode it, often on the same page. This guide covers what research and experience consistently show works, what does not, and what is frequently overlooked.
What to Include
Impact-framed giving amounts. Suggested amounts anchored to specific outcomes (“$50 provides three meals for a family”) consistently outperform generic amounts. Donors want to understand what their gift does, not just what it costs. Four to five suggested amounts with a custom field is the standard. The middle option should represent your target gift size.
Recurring giving as the prominent default. Monthly giving donors have significantly higher lifetime value than one-time donors. Your form should offer recurring giving prominently, not as a small opt-in checkbox buried at the bottom. Consider making monthly the default selection with one-time as the alternative. Every platform handles this differently; your choice of giving platform matters.
A minimal, distraction-free form. Remove your main navigation from the donation page. Remove the footer links. Remove anything that gives a visitor an easy off-ramp before completing the gift. The donation page is a conversion page. It should look and behave like one.
Trust signals. Nonprofit financial transparency matters to donors. Include your Charity Navigator or GuideStar rating if it is strong. Note that donations are tax deductible. A brief statement about how gifts are used reassures first-time donors who do not yet know your organization well.
An immediate, meaningful confirmation. The moment a gift is submitted, the donor should receive visual confirmation on the page and an email receipt within minutes. The receipt should include the donation amount, the date, a transaction number, and a statement that the contribution is tax deductible. It should also thank the donor by name and briefly restate the impact of their gift. Generic receipts are a missed relationship-building opportunity.
Mobile-first form design. More than half of nonprofit donation page visits now happen on mobile devices. The form must be fully functional on a phone: large touch targets, no fields that require zooming, Apple Pay and Google Pay integration where supported. Test your donation page on a real device, not just a browser preview.
WCAG-compliant form accessibility. Donation forms are frequently among the most accessibility-challenged pages on nonprofit websites. Form inputs must have visible, programmatically associated labels. Error messages must describe specifically what went wrong and how to fix it. Color contrast on text and buttons must meet 4.5:1. The form must be fully navigable by keyboard. An inaccessible donation page excludes donors with disabilities from giving.
What to Leave Off
Long organizational history. Your donation page is not the right place for your founding story, a list of your programs, or a mission statement. That content belongs on other pages. Visitors who arrive at the donation page have already done enough research to decide to give. Adding more content to read introduces hesitation.
Multiple competing calls to action. “Give now, or sign up for our newsletter, or share this with a friend, or learn more about our programs.” Choose one. The donation page has one goal. Every additional action you offer reduces the likelihood the donor completes the primary one.
Excessive form fields. Require only what you actually need to process the gift and send a receipt: amount, name, email, and payment information. Every additional required field reduces completion rates. Collect additional information (mailing address, employer matching, communication preferences) in a follow-up sequence, not at the point of the initial gift.
Confusing or inconsistent suggested amounts. A common mistake is offering amounts that do not scale logically ($10, $50, $1,000) or are so large that they intimidate new donors. Anchor your amounts to realistic giving capacity for your primary donor audience. Test them.
Slow page load time. Donation pages with heavy images, multiple tracking scripts, or unoptimized third-party embeds load slowly. Every second of load time reduces conversion rates, particularly on mobile. Run your donation page through Google PageSpeed Insights and address performance issues specifically on this page.
Platform Matters
The donation platform you use shapes what is possible on your donation page. Platforms have different capabilities for recurring giving defaults, suggested impact amounts, Apple Pay and Google Pay integration, accessibility compliance, and CRM integration.
Donorbox, Fundraise Up, Classy, and Give (WordPress plugin) each have different strengths. If your current platform is limiting what your donation page can do, that is worth evaluating as part of a broader website conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
ArcStone designs nonprofit donation pages as part of full website redesigns and as standalone improvements. If your giving page is underperforming, we can assess it and recommend specific improvements.