Whatever stage you are in on the journey of building your website, a little financial support can go a long way. And while it may seem like asking for donations is too small to make a difference, they really can help.
One of the easiest ways to accept donations is to create a PayPal donation button on your site, even if it’s just covering basic costs like money, a domain name, and other tools.
Below, we explore the benefits of creating a PayPal donation button in WordPress, break down the associated costs, and show you two ways to do it.
Why add a PayPal donation button?
There are many that can help you collect and manage donations, but they tend to be very complicated. Sometimes all you want to do is add a simple donate button to your site. With this approach, you can add it to any text area or widget on your WordPress site.
Users can click this button and make a donation through PayPal using their balance or credit card. Since PayPal is a popular payment processor, your visitors will know that your link is secure.
PayPal donation fees
Before you continue, there are some processing fees you should be aware of.
There is no cost to place a donation button on your site. But, to process the transaction, PayPal charges USD 0.30 plus 2.9% of the total transaction. Your donor will not be charged, as this percentage will come out of the donation amount.
With that figured out, it’s time to show you how to create a PayPal donate button on your website.
How to create a PayPal donation button in WordPress?
There are two ways to add a PayPal donation button to a WordPress site:
- Generate a button on the PayPal website and embed it on your site.
- Use a WordPress plugin to connect to your PayPal account and insert a button with a WordPress shortcode or widget.
Both approaches will lead to the same result, so it’s up to you to choose an option.
Create a button to donate through PayPal
With this method, you’ll create a button on PayPal’s site and then copy and paste the generated code onto your website. Let’s see how to do it:
1. Sign up for a PayPal account
If you don’t have a PayPal account, you’ll need to create one first. Go to and click the “Create Account” button.
Decide if you need a Personal or Business account and complete the required fields.
After you have set up your account, you can create your own donation button.
2. Generate your donation button
With your account already created, go to and click on the link that says «Get information to create a donation button«.
Then click on the link that says “Create a button«.
On the next screen below, you can start creating your button. In the dropdown box, select the option “donations«.
Type the name of your organization, then click «Customize text or appearance«. The default button looks pretty good, but you can customize it to fit your site design if needed.
Your next decision is to choose whether you want donors to give a fixed amount, or whatever amount they want.
Finally, select whether you want to use your primary email address or use a secure merchant account ID. This last option will keep your email address hidden.
Now, click on Step 2 and check the box that says “Save button in PayPal«. This will save the button for later use and keep you safe from fraudulent charges.
Step 3 is optional, but there are some features you may want to enable such as:
- Let your client add a special message or thank you note for your work.
- Allow donors to include their shipping address if you are sending them a physical gift.
- Specify a redirect URL to send the visitor to after they complete the donation.
Upon completion of all these steps, select «create button» at the bottom of the page.
3. Add the button code to your site
With the donation button created, you will now have the code that you need to copy and paste into your site.
Click on «select code«, then copy the code.
Now open your WordPress dashboard and paste that code in any area of your site where you want the button to appear.
For this example we are going to paste the code into a separate donation page:
You can also paste the code into any section of your website, such as a page, post, or widget area.
Create a donate button with a WordPress plugin
If you don’t want to get involved with code and prefer , then this method is for you. Here’s how to create a donation button on your site with a plugin:
1. Download the PayPal donations plugin
There are many PayPal donation plugins that you can use. But one of the easiest to use is the .
This plugin is currently rated 5 stars, with over 50,000 installs, so it’s reliable and high-quality.
To install this plugin, go to Plugins > Add New and write “Donations via PayPal» in the search bar. Look for the plugin shown in the image below:
Click on «Install Now» and then in «Activate» once the button changes.
2. Configure the plugin
To configure the plugin, go to Settings > PayPal Donations from your WordPress dashboard.
Enter your account email address in the PayPal Account field. Technically, this is the only field you need to enter to continue. But you can also change things like currency, page style, and return page.
Changing return page gives you the ability to send donors to another page once they have completed the transaction.
In the Default Values section, you can tell your visitors about the purpose of the donation or specify the amount that people usually give.
Finally, you can choose how you want the donation button to display, or you can enter the URL of a custom button.
3. Add it to your site through a Widget
The first way to add the donation button to your site is through a widget.
To do this, go to Appearance > . On the left side, you will see the PayPal Donations widget.
Drag this to the section of your site where you want the widget to appear. It could be your footer, header, or any other widget area of your site.
Customizing the widget is easy. Just add a title, text, purpose and reference. Feel free to leave any of the fields blank if you only want a PayPal button to appear.
4. Add it to your site via a shortcode
The second method of adding a PayPal donation button is with a shortcode. Simply copy and paste this shortcode into a text field. This is what it would look like on a separate donation web page:
You can even add the shortcode to a plain text widget if you want the donation button to appear without any additional text.
To do this, create a text widget and copy your shortcode into the text field, and click «Save«.
conclusion
Now you know how to create a PayPal donation button on your WordPress site. No matter what approach you’ve taken, your site is now ready to receive donations from your loyal readers.
Before we go, some final tips:
- Adding an explanation of ‘why’ you are asking for a donation can help motivate donations.
- Customizing the appearance of your button can help you integrate it with your existing site design.
- Consider adding a redirect page after users donate, to thank them or offer a free gift.
If you’re trying to maximize donations on your site, experiment with the elements just mentioned. If not, you’re all set and your site is set up to receive donations.
Still have questions about the best way to integrate PayPal donations into your WordPress site? Please share in the comments below.
Gustavo is passionate about creating websites. He focuses on the application of SEO strategies at for Spain and Latin America, as well as the creation of high-level content. When he is not applying new WordPress tricks you can find him playing the guitar, traveling or taking an online course.
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