Charitable Documentation

Learn how to make the most of Charitable with clear, step-by-step instructions.

Charitable Newsletter Connect

With Charitable Newsletter Connect, your donors can opt-in to join your newsletter when they make their donation. Compatible with MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, MailerLite, Mailster and MailPoet (including MailPoet 3).

Installation

Installing Charitable Newsletter Connect is the same as installing any other Charitable extension. If you’re not sure how to do that, we recommend first reading our guide to installing Charitable extensions.

General Setup

After activating Newsletter Connect, you can click on the Settings link to set up the plugin. (Note: You can also get to the plugin settings by going to Charitable > Settings > Extensions.

plugin-setup

On the settings page you will see a list of all available providers.

If you’re using a WordPress newsletter plugin like MailPoet or Mailster, all you need to do is make sure that MailPoet/Mailster is activated. No further configuration is required.

Providers like MailChimp, MailerLite and Campaign Monitor need an API key or other settings in order to be connected.

Screenshot showing how providers are activated & configured.

Set up MailChimp

On the Extensions settings page, click the “Configure” button for MailChimp.

Screenshot of MailChimp configuration

There are two settings you can configure:

  • Your API Key: Find this in your MailChimp account by going to your account page > ExtrasAPI keys. (For more information about MailChimp API keys, read this).
  • Double Opt-in: Set this to “Yes” if you want subscribers to confirm their email address before being added to your newsletter list.

Configure Campaign Monitor

On the Extensions settings page, click the “Configure” button for Campaign Monitor.

Configure Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor requires an API key and a Client ID. You can find both of these by logging into your Campaign Monitor account and going to Account settings > API keys.

Set up MailerLite

On the Extensions settings page, click the “Configure” button for MailerLite.

MailerLite just needs an API key, which you can find in your MailerLite dashboard. Once you have this, copy it into the API key field in the Charitable settings.

Set default settings

After activating or configuring the newsletter providers you want to use, you should configure the default settings for your website. These will be applied to all campaigns, but you can override them on a per-campaign basis.

  • Default List: This is the list that donors will be subscribed to when they opt-in. It will show any available lists from your providers.
  • Default Opt-in Mode: There are three opt-in modes to choose from:
    1. An opt-in checkbox in the donation form which isn’t checked by default.
    2. An opt-in checkbox in the donation form which is checked by default.
    3. Automatic opt-in means that donors do not see a checkbox but are automatically subscribed when they donate.
  • Default Label: The label that will be shown alongside the opt-in checkbox in your donation form.

 

Screenshot showing the default settings for Newsletter Connect.

Sync lists from a provider

Charitable avoids checking for new lists with providers like MailChimp, MailerLite and Campaign Monitor. This improves performance, but it does mean that new lists you create in your provider’s account will not automatically appear as an option in your WordPress dashboard.

To fetch all your lists from a provider, you can use the Sync Lists button.

Screenshot showing how lists can be fetched from a provider like MailChimp or Campaign Monitor in WordPress with Charitable Newsletter Connect.

Setting up per-campaign configurations

You can also configure newsletter signup options on a per-campaign basis. When you edit a campaign, open the Newsletter tab.

Screenshot showing campaign newsletter settings for MailChimp, Campaign Monitor and MailPoet in WordPress.

There are three settings to configure:

  • Disable newsletter signup: Tick this to remove the opt-in for this campaign.
  • Mode: Choose how donors will opt in to your newsletter.
  • Label: Change this to a label you’d prefer instead of the default label you provided.
  • List(s): Select all the lists that you would like your donors to be subscribed to if they opt-in.

Still have questions? We’re here to help!

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GiveWP Migrations New

White Glove Migration Service for GiveWP

Thinking about switching your fundraising platform from GiveWP to Charitable, but don’t want to risk losing your data or handle a complex technical setup yourself? Charitable’s White Glove Migration Service features:

👥 Flawless Donor Mapping: Safely transfer your entire supporter database with zero data loss.

📊 Complete Financial History: Meticulously preserve every historical transaction for continuous, accurate reporting.

🔄 Seamless Recurring Giving: Safely transfer active sustaining subscriptions without disrupting your incoming revenue or requiring your donors to update their information.

💳 Zero Gateway Disruptions: Keep using Stripe, PayPal, or any other GiveWP-compatible processor you already love.

🚀 Expert Technical Setup: Relax while our team handles the heavy lifting to install and configure your forms—plus, qualifying users get a full year of Charitable Pro completely free.

Visit this page to learn more.

automation Improvement

📢 New Feature Alert: Automation Connect 2.0 Is Here! 🚀

Thinking about connecting your fundraising data to tools like Mailchimp, Slack, or Google Sheets, but don’t want to hire a developer or write custom code? Charitalbe’s new automation addon has:

⚡ 17 Event Triggers: Instantly fire webhooks for a donor’s first gift, renewal payments, or reached campaign milestones.

🎯 Smart Conditional Logic: Use powerful AND/OR logic across 11 fields to only send data when it meets your exact criteria, like newsletter opt-ins.

📊 Custom Payload Control: Select from 80+ clean data fields across donor, donation, and campaign metadata so your apps get exactly what they need.

🚀 Pre-Built Platform Templates: Skip the setup from scratch with ready-to-go templates for Zapier, Make.com, n8n, HubSpot, and Slack.

🛡️ Reliable Developer Tools: Power your workflows with signed HMAC-SHA256 payloads, complete WordPress filters, and automatic retry logs.

automation Improvement

🔌 Charitable Meets Zapier: Connect to 7,000+ Apps and Automate Your Fundraising

Tired of manually copying donation data into accounting sheets or tracking down new donor signups? Put your administrative tasks on autopilot. Charitable is now officially on Zapier, giving you a powerful, no-code way to plug your fundraising directly into the rest of your favorite tools.

Every donation, donor signup, and campaign milestone can now trigger an automated workflow seamlessly.

What’s New:

♾️ Connect to 7,000+ Apps: Bridge your Charitable campaigns with everyday software like Google Sheets, QuickBooks, Slack, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Notion, Airtable, and thousands more.

⚡ 12 Powerful Triggers: Build deep workflows using smart automation triggers covering the entire donation lifecycle—including New Donation, New Donor, Subscription Cancelled, and Campaign Goal Reached.

📋 Pre-Built Action Templates: Get started in three minutes or less with our pre-made template combinations, like automatically logging new donations straight into a Google Sheet or firing custom donor welcome emails through Gmail.

🚫 Zero Code Needed: No complex webhooks or custom PHP scripts required. Just pick your trigger, choose your app, map your fields, and let Zapier handle the heavy lifting.

Ready to save hours of admin time? Grab Charitable Pro with the Automation Connect addon today and launch your first Zap!

Improvement Payments

🚀 Introducing PayPal Commerce: One Connection, Six Ways to Donate

Donors expect modern, flexible payment options when they support a cause. If they don’t see their preferred method on your donation form, they often disappear without a word. With PayPal Commerce, we are bringing a completely modernized checkout experience right to your campaigns.

Enjoy a single integration that upgrades your forms, makes giving seamless, and helps you capture every single donation.

What’s New:

🔌 One-Click Connection: Skip messy API keys and developer docs. Simply click “Connect with PayPal,” sign in to your business account, and your modern form is live in under five minutes.

💳 Six Ways to Give: Give your supporters instant access to PayPal balance, Venmo (US), Pay Later financing, major credit/debit cards, Apple Pay (Safari), and Google Pay (Chrome) all from the exact same form.

🔄 Flexible Recurring Giving: Fully supports monthly giving. Choose between the PayPal Subscriptions API (handled automatically on PayPal’s end) or Vault + Cron (handled securely right on your site).

💬 Friendly Error Recovery: No more confusing browser alerts. If a payment is declined, donors see plain-language, inline messages that guide them on how to fix the issue and complete their gift.

Ready for PayPal, modernized? Update to Charitable Pro 1.8.15+ (or Charitable Lite 1.8.11+) and connect your account today!

Campaigns New

⏳ Campaign Countdown: Drive Urgency and Lift Donations

Urgency is one of the most powerful tools in fundraising! Meet Campaign Countdown—a live, real-time timer built to turn procrastination into immediate generosity.

campaign_countdown_animation

What’s New:

⏱️ Live, Real-Time Urgency: Beautifully track days, hours, minutes, and seconds down to your campaign’s deadline w/ live-updating visual countdowns.

🎨 Tailored to Your Look: Choose between Boxed bordered tiles or a clean, single-line Inline display. Match your theme instantly with font and deep color controls.

🛠️ Place it Anywhere: Drop the countdown anywhere you like using the Campaign Builder field, a dedicated Gutenberg block, or a simple shortcode.

🚨 Smart Expiry Actions: Total control over the end state—choose to automatically replace the timer with a custom message, freeze it at zero, and more.