Online donations: Encourage your audience to give back this holiday season

Online donations: Encourage your audience to give back this holiday season

Hello fellow form builders,

The holiday season isn't just about shopping and festivities. There's a special zeal to give back to the community as a gesture of gratitude. While donation boxes are still around, many businesses are focused on their online presence. That means you can use online donations and reach a larger audience for more donations. In this post, we'll show you how to design online donation forms and increase the collection amount for your cause. 

Designing an effective donation form

A successful donation form is one that your donation goal. That may be shopping for underprivileged kids during the holidays, or throwing a Christmas party at a retirement home so the seniors don't feel lonely while they're away from their family. To collect more, you need to have an effective form in a place where people notice it. 

Keep it simple

Choose a simplistic design for your donation form, with your cause clearly stated on your form or the page where you host it. If you have a brick and mortar store, you can place the QR code for your form around your store with a call to action to root for your cause and donate. Clear, crisp design and the minimum amount of fields will make the whole experience delightful for your customers.

Put your thank you(s) in place

Set up automated tax receipts and thank you notes for your audience. This can keep them updated about their donations and does away with any hassle that they may face while filing their taxes. Email notification or SMS updates can also help you to give your donors a special note of thanks, along with a receipt for their donation. 

Place online payment option

Configure an online payment field so that your respondents can pay on the go as they fill their form. As more people move to cashless and contactless transactions, having an online payment gateway configured is a huge plus. You can also suggest a donation amount by prefilling the payment field. This can increase your average donation amount, compared to leaving the field empty for donors to choose the amount. 

Sharing your donation forms

People are much more likely to give in public than in private. Having said that, the placement of your donation form plays a major role in how successful your campaign is. If your store gets a lot of foot traffic, you could place a device with the form at check out counters or place the QR code for the form around your store. If you run an online business, you can choose to share your donation form on social media, send it as an email campaign, or even create a donation page and embed your form there. 

Donations are an important part of the holiday season. People love to give as much as they receive. With simple tweaks to the way you collect, you can help your cause even more. This holiday, create stunning online forms and move one step closer to fulfilling your cause. 


If you have any questions or feedback to share, feel free to comment below or drop us an email at support@zohoforms.com
    • Sticky Posts

    • 5 ways to adapt social distancing this holiday season using online forms

      Hello fellow form builders,  Social distancing measures are being woven into the fabric of daily business practices, ending many forms of direct-contact business. To adapt to this, businesses might want to change their business practices, adding necessary
    • Online donations: Encourage your audience to give back this holiday season

      Hello fellow form builders, The holiday season isn't just about shopping and festivities. There's a special zeal to give back to the community as a gesture of gratitude. While donation boxes are still around, many businesses are focused on their online
    • Getting your forms ready for the holidays

      Hello fellow form builders! With the holidays coming up, we've all started to get the hang of the new normal as people get ready for all the festivity around. This year is different from others in the past, which means businesses are trying out new ways
    • 5 Ways to pull off holiday events like a pro using online forms

      Hello fellow form builders, This is the fifth post of the five-part series on "Getting ready for the holiday season with Zoho Forms." This series aims to help you make the best of your forms and grow your business this season. Holiday events are suppose to be fun, and so is hosting them. So if you are overwhelmed and it seems like your event organizing is all over the place, then something has gone wrong. Yet, sweat not - we've got you!   The entire event planning process can be made easy by automating
    • 5 ways to improve your holiday fundraising with online forms

      Hello fellow form builders,  This is part four of our five-part series on "Getting ready for the holiday season with Zoho Forms." This series aims to help you make the best of your forms and grow your business this season. Asking for money isn't easy, yet it's a crucial step for any fundraising group or organization. During this holiday season, make collecting donations fun and more effective with our list of the top five ways to improve your overall fundraising process. Let's dive in. 1. Create
    • Recent Topics

    • Scriptを埋め込みたくてOn User Inputを探しているのですが・・・

      編集モードで、Scriptを埋め込みたい項目を選択し、「項目のプロパティ」パネルで、その下のほうに「フィールドアクション(Field Actions)」という見出しがあると聞いたのですが、そもそも、それが見つかりません。そのために、On User Inputなどのイベントが選べません。 画面の英語を日本語に訳しているためにわけわからん状態になっているのかも知れませんが、わかる方、いらっしゃいますか?
    • Problem with cloud query exceeded

      When making a call I get this error, It is associated with a function in node that calls external APIs This is the code //tokenConsultar = thisapp.ObtenerToken(); //input.token = tokenConsultar.get("output").toMap().get("token");
    • Showing Total of Funnel Chart Legend (With Values) Items

      Hi, We are using the funnel type chart for displaying our zCRM sales pipeline stages and associated sum of deals in each stage.  We have configured the legend to show the associated value (Deal Amount (Sum)) for each stage adjacent to the legend items (Stages). Is there a way to display the total of the values in the same chart?  For example, at the bottom of the legend or maybe as a #merge placeholder in the legend title?
    • How to Convert VCF Contacts to CSV using Excel

      Many users switch from traditional address books to digital formats like vCard and CSV. These formats allow users to easily manage their contacts. However, a difficulty comes when you need to transfer your contact information to another application or
    • Field authorization for Linking module in Zoho CRM portal

      Hi guys! Currently building a customer portal for one of my clients, and I ran into a bit of a roadblock while using a multi-select lookup field. The issue is that there is no way to hide or define access in the linking module created by this multi-select
    • Kaizen #63 - Layout Rules in Zoho CRM

      Hello and welcome to another week of Kaizen! This week, we will be discussing Layout Rules in Zoho CRM. If you need to modify the layout of a module based on user inputs, or to show or hide sections based on the value of a specific field, we have got
    • Zoho CRM Portals - allow access per account

      Hello all, I am trying to set up a portal for our customer but I seem to be hitting an obstacle and I am not sure if it is my problem or a limitation in the software. So basically the way I understand the portal Contact Email > Each Record or Related
    • Android - Writer não acentua em Português com teclado bluetooth

      Gosto muito do Zoho, tanto o Note quando o Writer. Infelizmente, o Writer sofre de um problema sério: ao usar um teclado bluetooth, forma mais cômoda de lidar com um processador de texto, os acentos (todos!) da Língua Portuguesa não são aceitos. Todos
    • Set File Upload fields as mandatory

      Currently the CRM for some reason lacks the ability to set a file upload field as mandatory So we have an issue We have a requirement that before a Deal stage is set as Deal is Won the member needs to upload a file Now for some weird reason in Zoho I
    • Editing HTML in Zoho CRM Email Template

      I am trying to create a template within the CRM email option, but need to be able to use custom HTML. There does not seem to be a way to do so.
    • Ability to CC on a mass email

      Ability to CC someone on a mass email.
    • How to make attachments mandatory

      I want the user to be unable to mark an opportunity as Closed – Won if it doesn’t have any attachments. I’ve already tried client scripts and functions, but nothing worked.
    • SLA Ticket Report

      From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports Service level agreement (SLA) ticket reports in a help desk system are crucial for ensuring that services are delivered according to established commitments. They help maintain accountability
    • Zoho Backstage - PCI Compliance / Web Security

      I have a couple of questions related to Backstage and payment processing.... 1. my purchasing division is not giving approval to use Backstage yet because of some security issues. In order for us to take payments via a payment gateway like Authorize.net
    • Zoho Tables August 2025 Update: Faster and Smoother

      We’ve been working behind the scenes to make Zoho Tables faster, lighter, and more reliable. Here are the highlights: Faster Response Times Optimised the way responses are generated. Reduced memory consumption by 20–25%, leading to smoother performance
    • Video Upload from app says "unsupported aspect ratio" but is verified to be correct.

      I and my social media person are experiencing a problem where Social will not accept video uploads to Instagram. The error we receive is "unsupported aspect ratio" but looking directly at the file in question we see that the width and ratio both match
    • Disposable Email Addresses

      Dear zMail Team, Can you also bring out a few disposable email addresses for each accounts? That way occasional registrations and imminent spam from them can be largely solved right? ---- Deepak Vasudevan http://thamizhththendral.blogspot.com/
    • Zoho sheet - Zoho expense

      I want to schedule to create an expense using Zoho Sheet and flow. That is the EMI that I pay on a particular date to the bank and should be itemised, like principal and interest on the loan. Can someone help me in this regard??
    • Ability to configure a schedule/shift for each user and/or crew in Zoho FSM

      Hello, In our team of Field Agents, we have different shifts. Some field agent always work from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM while others work the evening shift like 4:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Sometime shift are on weekdays only or on weekend. It would be great to be
    • Free webinar: Streamlining customer service paperwork with the Zoho Sign extension for Zoho Desk

      Hello Everyone! Have you been wondering about bridging the gap between digitised customer service and business paperwork? Join our free webinar to learn how you can do this by connecting Zoho Sign, our digital signature app, with Zoho Desk, our online
    • Zoho Books | Product updates | July 2025

      Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From plan-based trials to the option to mark PDF templates as inactive, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. Introducing Plan Based Trials in Zoho
    • Mail Search should allow grouping by conversation like Gmail.

      Having switched from gmail I have found the search function hard to use. Mostly because mail is not grouped by conversation in search. If I search for a word when looking for a conversation had with someone then sometimes 10 emails will come up from the
    • Improve Zoho Learn updated article notifications

      I noticed today while updating an article, that the notification users get says "[User Name] has published article [Article Name]..." My feedback to the product team is that it would be really helpful for an end user, if the system notification differentiated
    • Safari Support

      Safari, the world's second largest browser, zoho desk does not officially or fully support. That needs to change.
    • Can I get images from an "Image Upload" field in a webhook?

      I want to send images from 2 "image upload" fields via a webhook. Is this possible?
    • Ticket closure notification - all contacts cc'd on email thread

      Hello, If a client sends an email to our service desk and cc's in other people that work at the same company - so that they are in the loop of the service request. When the we close the ticket, only the ticket owner (person who emailed us - which created
    • Inactive account cleanup policy for Zoho Sign

      Zoho Sign reserves the right to delete accounts that are license free and inactive for more than 120 days. The account deletion will be initiated only after the user receives prior email notice about possible data deletion and how to backup the data.
    • Missde API documentation for Sales Receipt

      Hi! I noticed that the Sales Receipt endpoint is not currently listed in your API documentation (https://www.zoho.com/books/api/v3/introduction/). Could you please provide any available temporary documentation for this endpoint, along with a detailed
    • Multi-currency in Zoho CRM Forecast and Reports

      As a company we have branches in 4 different countries with as many different currencies. Our Sales Teams would like to work with their local currency as much as possible. The Forecast module using only 1 currency is practically usable only by the sales
    • How to select from pricebook when creating a salesorder or quote

      I am creating a sales order and when selecting the Products I do not see any where to select from pricebooks. How do i associate this to my orders?
    • Proposal for Creating a Unique "Address" Entity in Zoho FSM

      The "Address" entity is one of the most critical components for a service-oriented company. While homeowners may change and servicing companies may vary, the address itself remains constant. This constancy is essential for subsequent services, as it provides
    • I cannot find my older documents from 2024 and 2023

      I cannot find my older documents from 2024 and 2023.
    • System default SLA descriptions can't be modified

      The system default SLAs have identical descriptions for all SLA levels, but their settings differ. However, I am facing an issue where I cannot modify these descriptions and save the changes. The content of the description box can be edited but the changes
    • Customising Help Center

      Hi I don't think it is possible to add custom pages to help center? We'd like to use this as a customer portal with support tickets, FAQ/Guides, Billing and contracts. Is there any plans to add a feature like this or an alternative way to do it other
    • Replies sometimes creating separate ticket

      Sometimes when a customer responds to an email coming from Zoho Desk, instead of adding a reply to the original ticket, a separate ticket is created. This happens even though the response subject line contained the ticket number, and the person responding
    • Ticket Approvals - External Users

      The ticket approval option - we need to be able to select external users (Contacts) for approvals. Sometimes we are working with an end user and their boss needs to approve a purchase. For example, working with a cashier on a broken cash register and
    • Force Users to Ask Answer Bot a question... First

      End users will always skip talking to a bot. It would be nice if Zoho adopted the standard and forced users to first ask a question to answer bot (or zia in some fashion) and then pass to the agent if it wasn't answered. Options to force the user to speak
    • View Answer Bot conversations?

      We are trialing Zia and are experimenting with Answer Bot on our knowledge base. So far so good! Management asks me if it is possible to view Answer Bot conversations, the purpose being to look over its shoulder and confirm that it is working as des
    • Mass Email an Account

      It would be nice to mass email an account stating there is an outage at their business or something specific to an account is needed to be mass communicated. Even if it makes a ticket for every Email Out to every contact in the Account. Think: the customer
    • Multiple Topics assigned to a single Campaign

      Hello, is it possible to assign multiple Topics to a single Campaign? We frequently write a content to our subscribers that spans multiple Topics and we would like to send it to all Contacts that are subscribed to at least one of the Topics. But it looks
    • Next Page