Best WordPress Donation Plugins for Nonprofits and Charities

If you run a charity, NGO or fundraising campaign on WordPress, the donation plugin decides how easy it is for people to give and how much of each gift you keep. This page compares the main WordPress donation plugins on recurring giving, fees, payment gateways and receipts, then suggests one for each kind of organisation.

What to compare before you choose

• Recurring donations. Monthly donors give you predictable income you can plan around. Check whether recurring giving is included or sold as an add-on.
• Fees. Some free plugins add their own fee on each donation, on top of what Stripe or PayPal charges. Check the pricing page for the plan you'd actually use: even a 1.5% platform fee adds up quickly on a busy campaign.
• Payment gateways. Stripe and PayPal cover most countries. If your donors are in one region, check for local gateways such as Paystack or Razorpay.
• Receipts and reports. Tax receipts, donor history and exports your accountant can use.
• Campaigns and goals. A progress bar toward a target gives donors a reason to give now.

The plugins below are ordered roughly from the one that suits most charities to the more specialised options.

GiveWP

GiveWP is one of the most widely used donation plugins, with more than 100,000 active installs on WordPress.org. The free version lets you run several campaigns, each with its own goal, accept offline donations (cheques, cash, bank transfer) and keep a donor database inside WordPress. Recurring donations and annual tax receipts are paid add-ons. GiveWP states that additional fees may apply to Stripe donations taken with the free version; PayPal donations carry no extra GiveWP fee.

Best for: nonprofits that expect to grow and want a proper donor database.

Charitable

Charitable runs multiple campaigns with progress bars, lets donors choose their own amount, and shows donation forms on the page or in a modal pop-up. Forms pick up your theme's styling, and offline donations are included in the free plugin. Recurring donations come from a separate Recurring Donations extension, and a Donation Fee Relief extension lets donors cover the card processing fee.

Best for: small charities that want a free start and a simple upgrade path.

Donorbox

Donorbox is a hosted donation platform; the WordPress plugin embeds its forms on your pages. You get recurring giving, custom form fields and donor management in the Donorbox dashboard rather than in WordPress. Donorbox charges a 1.5% platform fee on donations on its standard plan, on top of Stripe or PayPal's card fees. Some integrations, such as Mailchimp and employer gift matching, cost extra each month.

Best for: organisations that would rather not handle payments inside WordPress at all.

Lifeline Donation Pro

Lifeline Donation Pro is a premium plugin from Webinane, sold as a one-off purchase rather than a subscription. Campaigns are called causes. It supports daily, weekly or monthly recurring gifts, lets donors switch currency on the form, and comes with four prebuilt donation forms you can customise. Webinane lists more than 20 payment gateway extensions, including Stripe and PayPal, plus widgets for recent causes, top donors and urgent appeals. There's no free version to try first: the free Lifeline Donation plugin was closed on WordPress.org in June 2024 for a security issue, so buy the Pro version only from Webinane itself.

Best for: charities that want recurring giving and many gateways in one premium plugin, without a subscription.

Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms is a form builder that can take payments. Start from a template or build your own donation form, add donors to your email list, and send an automatic thank-you email. Stripe payment forms work in the free version, but Formidable adds a transaction fee unless you have a Pro licence.

Best for: sites that already use Formidable for other forms and only need one-off donations.

Accept Donations with PayPal & Stripe

Accept Donations with PayPal & Stripe is the simplest option on this list. You create a donation button in the plugin's settings, then paste the shortcode it gives you wherever the button should appear. The donor picks an amount and pays with PayPal or a card through Stripe. There's no campaign tracking, but it's free and takes a few minutes to set up. Older versions of this post called it "Easy PayPal Button"; it's the same plugin under its current name.

Best for: personal sites, clubs and anyone who just needs a "Donate" button.

Removed from this list

Four plugins from the earlier version of this post are no longer safe choices. Seamless Donations is being sunset by its developer, is no longer maintained, and recommends moving to GiveWP. YITH Donations for WooCommerce was closed on WordPress.org. Smart Donations and Total Donations were both closed on WordPress.org for security issues. If any of them is on your site, plan a move to one of the plugins above.

Which one should you choose?

If you…	Choose
Expect to grow and need a donor database	GiveWP
Want free campaigns with progress bars	Charitable
Prefer a hosted platform outside WordPress	Donorbox
Want a premium plugin with many gateways and no subscription	Lifeline Donation Pro
Already use Formidable for your other forms	Formidable Forms
Just need a donate button	Accept Donations with PayPal & Stripe

Next step

Donors decide in seconds whether a site looks trustworthy, so the theme matters as much as the plugin. See our roundup of charity WordPress themes. If you also sell merchandise or event tickets through WooCommerce, our WooCommerce plugin shortlist covers payments, coupons and email.