A form can take a one-off donation, a regular gift or a fixed fee such as a membership. You set this up in the builder’s Money pane by answering three questions: How much?, How often? and How can they pay?

Before you start

  • You need engage:read:forms and engage:write:forms.
  • Card payments go through Stripe. Stripe must be connected and able to take charges before any form with a gift can be published, including one that offers only Direct Debit. Connecting Stripe needs account:admin:team; see Connect Stripe for Engage payments.
  • Direct Debit goes through GoCardless, which must be connected and enabled; see Connect GoCardless. The form must also ask for an email address.

You can set up the gift before Stripe has finished checking your details. The form can’t be published until it has.

Add a gift

  1. Open the form and go to Money.
  2. Choose Take a gift on this form. A payment question is added to the form.

The top of the pane shows whether you’re ready: Card payments — Stripe connected, able to take charges, or You can’t take card payments yet with a Finish Stripe set-up button.

How much?

Choose one:

  • The supporter decides. Under Suggest these amounts, keep or change the suggested amounts (new gifts start with £5, £10 and £20), using Add an amount for more. Set Least they can give (£1 by default) and, if you want, Most they can give (No limit by default). To show what each amount achieves, switch to Gift handles; see Show what a gift achieves with gift handles. Supporters can always choose Other and type their own amount.
  • A fixed amount. Enter The amount, for example a £30 annual membership fee.

Gifts are taken in GBP. The pane doesn’t offer a currency choice.

How often?

Choose Once, Every month or Every year. Tick Let the supporter choose to show both a one-off and a regular option on the form.

How can they pay?

  • Card is on by default. While supporters can choose a one-off gift, card stays switched on and shows Card — locked on, because only card can complete a one-off gift. It’s also locked while it’s the only method ticked.
  • Direct Debit is offered only to supporters choosing a regular gift. If the gift is set to Once, Direct Debit shows as Direct Debit — not available on this form; choose Make it monthly instead if you want it.

If Direct Debit is on but GoCardless isn’t connected, the pane warns you: “Supporters who choose Direct Debit will get an error at the moment they try to give.” Connect GoCardless, or choose Card only for now.

Offer Gift Aid

Tick Offer Gift Aid to add the declaration with the wording HMRC requires. A Gift Aid claim needs the supporter’s home address, so the form must ask for it. If it doesn’t, the Questions pane shows “A Gift Aid declaration needs an address” with an Ask for their address button that adds one.

What happens when a supporter gives

  • Card: the supporter pays on the form. ThirdSectorBee records the gift once Stripe confirms it, using the amount, currency and date Stripe reports. For a regular card gift, the first successful payment completes the submission.
  • Direct Debit: the supporter is taken to GoCardless to set up their mandate. The submission can be processed before they finish, so check the contact’s timeline for Direct Debit sign-up completed or Direct Debit sign-up abandoned. A completed mandate doesn’t mean money has been collected yet.

Submission processing explains the statuses you’ll see.

Before asking a supporter to give again because a record looks missing, check Stripe or GoCardless and the contact’s existing payments. A missing record doesn’t prove they weren’t charged.

Publish

The Publish checks stop a form going live if Stripe can’t take charges, if Direct Debit is offered without GoCardless or an email question, or if Gift Aid is offered without an address question. See Publish checks.