One page, one job
Your donation page has a single job: let a person who already decided to give, finish giving. Every extra element — sidebars, news feeds, photo carousels, navigation temptations — is a chance to lose them. The high-converting pattern is ruthless:
- A headline that names the impact, not the transaction ("Keep the food bank stocked this winter" — not "Donate")
- Two or three sentences of why, in human language
- The form
- Nothing else above the fold
Suggested amounts do the steering
Donors anchor on the options you show. Practical rules:
- Three to five options plus "Other." More choices slow decisions.
- Put your target gift second. The first amount frames, the second converts.
- Don't start too low. A $5 first option drags averages down; $25 as the floor is typical for organizational giving.
- Attach impact: "$50 — school supplies for one child" turns numbers into outcomes.
In Donor Merchant, set these under Settings → General → Suggested amounts.
Lead with monthly
If you want recurring donors (you do — here's why), frequency belongs at the top of the form with monthly presented confidently, and the button should restate the commitment: "Donate $15/month." Ambiguity kills recurring signups.
Trust signals donors actually check
- The padlock. HTTPS, always.
- Recognizable payment methods. Card brands, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal — familiarity is trust.
- A security line. One quiet sentence ("Your payment details are encrypted and never stored on this site") near the button answers the question donors won't ask out loud.
- Fee transparency. A fee recovery checkbox signals you steward money carefully.
Mobile is the main event
For most organizations, half or more of donation traffic is phones. Test on a real phone: Is the form one column? Do amount buttons hit easily with a thumb? Does Apple Pay appear? Can you finish in under a minute? If any answer is no, fix that before spending a dollar on promotion.
The thank-you moment
The seconds after payment are your highest-attention moment ever with this donor. Use a warm confirmation (or a dedicated thank-you page — Donor Merchant supports redirecting to one), restate impact, and make sure the receipt email sounds like a person, not a terminal.
Mistakes that quietly kill conversion
- Donate buttons that lead to a PDF, a contact form, or instructions to mail a check
- Required fields you'll never use (mailing address for a digital receipt?)
- Redirecting to a third-party domain mid-payment — donors flinch
- Five paragraphs of organizational history above the form
- No recurring option anywhere