Setup Donations

Modified on 09 January

You can enable donations for your run/walk/ride and customize your donation settings by going to Donations > Setup.

There are 7 tiles that organize existing settings and make setting up donations simple:

  • General Settings
  • Donation Page Customizations
  • Tax Deduction Rules
  • Donation Discounts
  • Corporate Matching Gifts
  • Donation Summary Emails
  • Advanced Settings

Click the tile component to customize the settings.

This blog will go through the settings in each of the above tiles. If you are setting up donations for the first time, you will enter the date when you want to start accepting donations (it will default to today) as well as a description. The description could include your nonprofit’s mission statement or an explanation of the specific cause/program that the funds raised will go towards. Click the blue Enable Donations button once you’ve added your content.

General Settings

End Date and Goal
You can keep donations open indefinitely, or you can add a date when you would like to stop accepting donations. You can enter an optional goal that you would like to raise and display on your race website.

Logo
If you would like your donations page to show a different logo from your race website’s logo, you can upload a unique logo here. Please note that circular or square images work best here (tip: use the image that your use for your nonprofit’s Facebook Profile image).

Donation Levels
Donation levels are optional but recommended. Make the decision to donate easy for your participants, donors, and fundraisers by adding suggested donation levels, along with the option to enter a custom amount.

Set a few levels that represent what donors typically give ($10, $25, $50). Include a tile or 2 for larger amounts greater than $250 to try and push a typical donation to a higher amount. Check out this blog to see some creative ways nonprofits use donation levels: https://runsignup.blog/2019/03/07/donation-levels/

Donation Confirmation Email
At the bottom of the page, you’ll see a reminder to customize your Donation Confirmation Email, with a link to customize the email. It is important to add your tax ID, your nonprofit’s address, and legal nonprofit name so that the confirmation email donors receive can be used for income tax deductions. You can also add a custom thank you message to this email.

Donation Page Customizations

Donation Page Heading and Donation Tab Text
By default your race name shows at the top of your Donation page. You can update to show your nonprofit’s name by adding a Donation Page Heading:

You can change the text of the sticky Donate button on your website by adding new text for Donation Tab Text:

Goal Thermometer
Check this setting to show a goal thermometer on your Donation page. Please note that you should set a Donation Goal for this to work correctly.

Offline Donation Instructions
We recommend adding the physical address that donors can mail checks if they prefer not to donate online. This appears as a button on the Donation page; when clicked, your offline donation instructions will show.

On Behalf Of Options
You can add one or multiple donation dedication settings. This gives donors more flexibility for how they can dedicate their donation when they donate to your cause.

Donor List
You can choose which data your scrolling Donor List displays on your Donation page.

Tax Deduction Rules

You can add Tax Deduction Rules for your donations AND registrations. First, you can add the percent of donations that is tax-deductible; typically, this is 100%.

Some of your registration fee may be tax deductible. Here you can enter the amount that is NOT tax deductible. For example, if your event fee is $25 and the cost of the t-shirt, timing chip, bib, etc. add up to $15, you can enter $15 as the amount that is not tax-deductible. This means that your participants can claim $10 as a tax-deductible amount.

Donation Discounts

Donation discounts are a powerful tool to raise more. Offer your participants an auto-applied discount on their registration when they make a donation of a certain threshold. In this example, if someone signs up for the 10K and makes a $100 donation, they will receive a $15 discount on their registration fee at checkout.

Corporate Matching Gifts

If your nonprofit uses HEPdata for corporate matching gifts, you can set up your approved API Key from HEPdata here.

In 2020, we will be adding another corporate matching gift integration with Double the Donation.

Donation Summary Email

The Donation Summary Email is a tool for your nonprofit’s team. You can set up as many summary emails as you would like. When you add a Donation Summary Email, you’ll be able to choose between Daily or Weekly summaries. You can also add filters based on the amount of donations. Finally, you can add one or multiple recipients.

As an example, some nonprofits use this to set up a Daily summary for donations over $500. That way, they can reach out with a personal email or call to immediately thank their larger donors.

Advanced Settings

Here you will find some additional settings that are not frequently used:

  • Hide Donate button: This setting will hide the sticky Donate button at the top of your race website. This setting is not recommended.
  • Required User Info: You can force all donors to provide their phone number when they make a stand-alone donation.
  • Disable Donations for Events: If you do not want to ask for donations in the registration path when participants sign up, you can select which events you would like to hide donations.
  • Add a Custom Donation Period Closed Message: If you choose to end your donation period, you can add a custom message that shows on the Donate page.

Disabling donations will immediately end the current donation period, and immediately disable all fundraising settings.