How to Make a Fundraising Page

Whether you're launching a year-end appeal, raising money for a new program, or just want a polished place to send donors, MonkeyPod's fundraising pages have you covered.

Fundraising pages are customizable web pages hosted by MonkeyPod where donors can give securely to your organization. Every gift is recorded in your MonkeyPod automatically: the donor's record is created or updated, a receipt goes out, and the donation lands in your books.

This article covers:

• Before you begin: Setting up Stripe for online transactions
• How do I add a fundraising page in my MonkeyPod?
• Setting up the “Basic Info” for the page
• Configuring the “Visual Design” of your fundraising page
• Setting up the “Giving Options” for your fundraising page
• Choosing what to ask donors (Data Collection)
• Setting up the fundraising page “Tracking & Accounting”
• How do I make the fundraising page go live?
• How can I embed my fundraising page on my website?
• Frequently Asked Questions

Before you begin: Setting up Stripe for online transactions

Stripe is a financial services platform that enables businesses to accept and process online and in-person payments. Stripe supports credit cards, debit cards, and other popular payment methods. Setting up a Stripe account is required to use MonkeyPod's fundraising pages.

If you're setting up your first fundraising page, the Fundraising menu will display an option to Set Up Online Fundraising.

Select that option, and follow the prompts to connect your Stripe account with your MonkeyPod so that you can receive online donations.

When the Stripe integration is complete, you're ready to create your first fundraising page.

How do I add a fundraising page in my MonkeyPod?

Once your Stripe account is connected, the Fundraising menu displays the Online Fundraising tools available to you.

1. Choose Fundraising Pages from the main menu.
2. Select Add a Fundraising Page.
3. Enter the title for the new fundraising page, and click the check mark to save the name and create your page.

That will take you straight to the page editor, which has six tabs for configuring your page. Each one is covered below: Basic Info, Visual Design, Giving Options, Data Collection, Tracking & Accounting, and Embed.

Setting up the "Basic Info" for the page

The Basic Info tab covers the essentials:

• Title: the public name of your fundraising page.
• Description: your appeal, in your own words. The description uses Markdown, so you add bold text, bullets and links by typing a few simple symbols (see Formatting your description below). Select Preview Markdown to see how it will look. The maximum length is 2,500 characters.
• Access URL: the web address for your page. Use Copy link or Copy short link to grab it for emails, social posts or a QR code.
• Goal (optional): a fundraising goal. When you set one, donors see a progress bar showing how close you are.
• Prompt Social Sharing: choose Yes to show a row of share buttons on the page and on the thank-you screen. Donors can share to Facebook, LinkedIn, Bluesky or by email, or copy the link.
• Publication: enter a date and time for the page to go live and begin accepting donations. You may optionally enter a date and time for the campaign to end, after which no further donations will be accepted.

Formatting your description

Your description uses Markdown, a simple way to add formatting by typing symbols around your text. For example, typing **Double your impact**       shows up on your page as Double your impact.

Here are the formatting options you're most likely to use:

When ready, select Next: Add An Image at the bottom of the page to move on to the Visual Design.

Configuring the "Visual Design" of your fundraising page

Which template should I choose?

The template decides how your page looks. All templates use your organization's color and logo, which can be changed by going to My MonkeyPod > Organization Settings.

Every template (with the exception of Old School—see note below) offers the same features, collects the same information, and records gifts the same way, so you can pick whichever suits your campaign best. You can also switch templates later.

• Maui: a standard campaign page. Your story sits beside a giving form that stays in view as donors scroll.
• Hawaiʻi: a brand canvas. Your organization's color fills the page, and everything sits on one white sheet with large, bold type.
• Kauaʻi: an editorial appeal. Your campaign reads more like an elegant letter, followed by the giving form.

Select Preview for any template to see your page in that design before you choose it. The preview uses your real page content and fills in placeholders for anything you haven't added yet (like a banner image or donation options), so you can try out templates before your page is finished.

Adding a video or image

Choose whether to show a YouTube video appeal or a banner image at the top of your story, then add the video link or upload the image.

Thank-you page image

Next, you have the option of choosing a different image for the "Thank You" page that donors see after submitting their donation. You may also choose to show no image, or just show the same banner image as the fundraising page. (You'll be able to customize the thank-you page text when you get to the Giving Options tab.)

Page logo

Optionally upload a logo just for this page. It's used instead of your organization's logo on donation receipts for gifts made through this page. We recommend a logo no more than 300 pixels high.

Other settings

Additional settings, such as page colors and organization logo, can be adjusted using the Organization Settings link provided.

When ready, select Next: Giving Options.

Setting up the "Giving Options" for your fundraising page

Donation options

The first section in the Giving Options tab lists the Donation Options configured for your site.

When you have your donation options ready, choose which should appear on this fundraising page by selecting the + icon. Use the handle to drag your chosen options into the order you'd like donors to see them on your fundraising page.

Letting donors give to more than one option

Turn on Allow donors to select more than one donation option to let donors split a single gift across several options. For example, at your spring gala a donor could give $100 to your scholarship fund and $50 to general operations in one checkout.

When this setting is on:

• Donors check each option they want to support and enter an amount for each one.
• The gift can only use a frequency (one-time, monthly or annual) that every checked option offers.
• Donors can choose only one membership level per gift.
• Send Payment Offline isn't offered once a donor has checked two or more options.

Offline Pledges

Along with online gifts, you can let donors pledge to pay offline (by check, for example). Choose Yes, provide an option for donors to pledge offline support, and donors will see a Send Payment Offline option on the page. Offline pledges are only available for one-time gifts, not monthly or annual ones.

Processing Fees

There are credit card processing fees involved when supporters donate online. Research shows that donors are more likely to cover these fees when they're given the option, so MonkeyPod gives you a few ways to present it:

• Donor pays fees by default, but may opt out (Recommended!): the box to cover fees is already checked, and donors can uncheck it.
• Organization pays fees by default, but donor may opt in to cover them: the box is there but unchecked.
• Organization always pays processing fees: donors don't see anything about fees.
• Donor always pays processing fees: the fee is added to every gift, and donors see the amount.

Receipts

Donors need receipts for their tax-deductible gifts, so MonkeyPod automatically emails a tax receipt to every donor right after they give online.

You can configure who (among your team's MonkeyPod users) should show up as the sender on those emails and also enter a brief message to include at the beginning of the receipt.

• Receipts Sent From: choose which member of your team the receipt comes from.
• Donation Receipt Intro Text: add a short message to the top of the receipt. Markdown is supported, and you can select Preview a Receipt to see it. Use Save this as a boilerplate to reuse the text on other pages, or Use saved text to pull in boilerplate text you've already saved.

To learn more, see How Donation Receipts Work in MonkeyPod.

Other settings

These settings control what happens right after a donation:

• How Can Donors Contact You?: Enter contact information or instructions so donors can reach you with questions.
• Thank-you Message (Optional):  write your own thank-you note, shown to donors right after they give (or pledge) in place of MonkeyPod's standard thank-you paragraph. Leave it blank to use the standard message. Markdown formatting works here just like in your description (see "Formatting your description" above), and you can select Preview Markdown to check it. The maximum length is 2,500 characters.
• Redirect After a Donation is Made? (Optional): If you'd rather redirect donors to another web page when their donation is complete, enter the URL for that page under Redirect After a Donation is Made? If you use this, make sure that page stays available and up to date.

When you're ready, select Next: Data Collection.

Choosing what to ask donors (Data Collection)

The Data Collection tab is where you decide what questions are asked of donors, and what information is required.

Donor information

For each field, choose whether to Ask for it? and whether it's Required?

• Email: always asked and always required, since it's how MonkeyPod sends the receipt.
• First Name and Last Name: always asked. You choose whether each is required.
• Phone, Company / Organization and Address: you choose whether to ask, and whether to require them. The address (street, city, state, postal code and country) is treated as one option.
• Optional Note: you choose whether to offer it. It's never required. Donors see it as Add an optional note when they choose their gift, and the note appears as the memo on the donation in your MonkeyPod.

Additional questions

You can also ask donors questions and have their answers saved straight to their records as custom attributes, like program interests, how they heard about you, or their paddle number at a live event. Before adding a question, you'll want to have the corresponding custom attribute already configured (see How to Use Custom Attributes for Relationship Data). To add the question to your fundraising page:

1. Select Add A Question.
2. Choose the custom attribute you'd like to ask about.
3. Edit the question text if you'd like it to read differently from the attribute's name.
4. Check Required if donors must answer this question.
5. Use the handle to drag the questions into the order you'd like.

Questions appear after the fundraising page asks for the donor's contact details. Answers are saved to the donor's record only when the gift (or pledge) is completed. If the donor is already in your MonkeyPod, here's how their answers are saved:

• Blank answers: never erase information you already have.
• Questions with several choices (like checkboxes): new choices are added to the ones already on the record.
• Questions with one answer (like a paddle number): the new answer replaces the old one. The old value is noted in the interaction, so nothing is lost.

Each set of answers is also logged as an interaction on the donor's record and included in the new donation notification.

When you're ready to move on, select Next: Tracking & Accounting.

Setting up the fundraising page "Tracking & Accounting"

The Tracking & Accounting tab lists options for how a fundraising page's donations are tracked in your books. To learn more about how fundraising page gifts are recorded generally, see How to Account for Donations Made Through Fundraising Pages.

Subscribers

Under the "Subscribers" heading, choose which members of your organization should receive email notifications about new donations to this page. You may choose multiple people from the list.

Classify Donations

Classes, while mostly used for tracking expenses, can also be used to track income. This can be helpful, for example, when comparing year-over-year progress toward a specific goal like how much the annual gala brought in this year compared to last year. See How to Use Classes to learn more.

To set the accounting class applied to all donations received through this fundraising page, select from the available options under "Classify Donations".

Allow Offline Gifts

The primary purpose of the fundraising page is to collect donations online. But what happens if someone hands you a check or cash in person as part of the same campaign? If you choose the option here to allow offline gifts for this fundraising campaign, then any donations that you manually enter in your MonkeyPod and tag with this campaign will be credited to the fundraising campaign associated with this page. The specific tag used for this campaign is displayed at the bottom of the Tracking & Accounting section.

Also Tag Gifts With

Every gift received through a fundraising page automatically gets tagged with the name of the page so you know which campaign the donation is associated with. Here you may also choose any other tags you'd like applied to every gift made through this page, such as "Year-End 2026" or "Board Challenge." You can pick existing tags or create a new one right here. Check out How to Use Tags to learn more.

How do I make the fundraising page go live?

When you've got settings configured as you'd like, be sure to preview your page using the View Page button in the lower right of any tab.

You'll be alerted to any missing elements with a banner above the row of tabs. If all the required settings are configured, you'll see an option there to publish the page:

Select Publish to make the fundraising page active. If you have set a Go Live On date (under the Publication section of the Basic Info tab), MonkeyPod will wait until that date before making the page live.  

How can I embed my fundraising page on my website?

A published MonkeyPod fundraising page is a standalone page with its own URL, not part of your website. If you'd like to embed the page into your site, you just need to copy some "embed" code and paste it into the correct location on your site. The embed can fill the whole page, or act as a sidebar or a smaller form—however you choose to work it into your website design.

On the Embed tab, select Copy Embed Code and paste the code into your website wherever you'd like the giving form to appear.

When it's embedded, donors see the page's title, its progress and the giving form. If you have a web designer, they can also fine-tune how the embedded form looks to match your site.

For the full details, see How to Embed a Fundraising Page on Your Website and How to Customize Fundraising Pages to Match Your Website.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I set up options for recurring monthly or annual giving?

This is covered by the donation options. See How to Use Donation Options.

Can I set a minimum gift amount?

Yes, on the donation option itself. Donors see the minimum below the amount field. See How to Use Donation Options.

Can donors give "in honor of" or "in memory of" someone?

Yes, they can! This is an organization-wide setting. Choose My MonkeyPod > Organization Settings, select the Relationships tab, and turn on the options for honorary or memorial gifts. See How to Work with Memorial Gifts and How to Work with Honorary Gifts for more details.

What payment methods do MonkeyPod fundraising pages accept?

MonkeyPod's fundraising pages accept credit or debit cards, ACH payments, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Apple Pay and Google Pay only show up on supported browsers and devices: Apple Pay needs an Apple device with Apple Pay set up and a supported browser like Safari, and Google Pay needs the donor to be signed in to their Google account in Chrome.

Can I change my page's template after it's live?

Yes. Choose a different template on the Visual Design tab at any time. Your content, donation options and settings carry over. Use Preview first to see how your page will look.

Can I use text styles and other formatting in the description of my campaign?

Yes! When you are describing your campaign, you can use basic Markdown to add formatting to your descriptions. CommonMark's Markdown guide lists the formatting options you can use.

What happens if someone donates who isn't in my MonkeyPod already?

No problem: MonkeyPod creates a new record for them automatically.

Will a returning donor end up with a duplicate record?

Not as long as they use the same email address. MonkeyPod matches donors by email, so when a returning donor gives, the gift (and any answers to your questions) is added to the record you already have. If the email doesn't match anyone in your MonkeyPod, a new record is created automatically.

If a donor gives with a different email address than the one on file, a new record is created. You can merge the two records later using the tools in How to Clean Up Duplicate Relationships.

Is there an option for donors to cover the credit card processing fee?

Yes, there is! Research shows that donors are more likely to cover the credit card processing fees if you give them the option, so MonkeyPod gives you a few ways to present it. See Processing Fees above for the choices.

Can I see how many people start giving but don't finish?

Yes! MonkeyPod tracks how many visitors view your page, choose an amount, enter their details and complete their gift in the Online Conversion report. See Learn About Conversion Tracking for Fundraising Pages.

Can I link to a fundraising page from my email campaigns?

Yes! In your email campaign, select the text you want to turn into a link, then select the link icon. In the Insert/Edit Link window, choose Special Links and Link to a Fundraising Page, then pick your page.

How do I account for all of this?

MonkeyPod takes care of it. Each gift is recorded automatically using the income accounts on your donation options, along with any class and tags you've set on the page. See How to Account for Donations Made Through Fundraising Pages for the details.

If part of a gift is non-deductible (for example, because the donor receives something of value in return), you'll choose an earned income account for that portion. See How to Use Donation Options for details.

Can I change what donors see after they give?

Yes! You can customize the thank-you screen in a few ways:

• Image: choose a different image, the same banner as your page, or no image on the Visual Design tab.
• Message: write your own thank-you note under Thank-you Message on the Giving Options tab.
• Contact information: add how donors can reach you under How Can Donors Contact You? on the Giving Options tab.
• Your own page: send donors to a page on your website instead, using Redirect After a Donation is Made? on the Giving Options tab.