Building a fundraising website used to be a complex task, you had to use multiple tools and make them work together. It required some workarounds and technical knowledge + more time.
But now, this process has been enhanced by StellarSites – a complete platform that allows you to easily create and customize a donation WordPress site without coding skills, and I’ll show you how to do it in 1 day or less.
I particularly like their user interface, how smooth and fast the platform runs and how easy it is to generate and setup your content and design using Kadence WP site builder.
Things you’ll need
- Domain name
- Hosting
- WordPress site builder
- Fundraising plugin
- Security plugin
- Backup plugin
- Payment platform (Paypal, Stripe, etc.)
You can buy most of these tools separately (it will cost you more) and set them up, or you can get them with StellarSites – they offer hosting, website builder, donation plugin, built-in security, backups & many more.
Here is the breakdown of what you need and what you get with StellarSites:
| Item | Item name | Provider |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | .com, .org, .net, etc. | Buy separately |
| Hosting | StellarSites | Included in StellarSites |
| WordPress site builder | Kadence WP | Included in StellarSites |
| Fundraising plugin | GiveWP | Included in StellarSites |
| Security plugin | SolidWP | Included in StellarSites |
| Backup plugin | SolidWP | Included in StellarSites |
| Payment platform | Paypal, Stripe, etc. | Register separately |
The only thing you’ll need to buy separately is a domain name, and also create a Paypal account if you don’t have one (or other supported payment platform), to be able to receive payments.
How much will it cost you to build a fundraising WordPress site?
A fully functional fundraising website will cost you about $354.
StellarSites starts at $29 / month, billed annually or $39 / month, billed monthly. That’s a great value for money. Add about $ 6-10 for a domain name and the total price would be: $29 x 12 months + 6$ = $354.
Here is what you get with the cheapest plan:
| Essential plan |
|---|
| Price: $29 / month (yearly), $39 / month (monthly) |
| Storage: 15GB |
| Bandwidth: 2TB |
| SSL certificate |
| Built-in performance & caching |
| Daily backups |
| Backups storage: 30 days |
| Built-in security: SolidWP |
| Built-in site builder: Kadence WP |
| Fundraising plugin: GiveWP |
| Customer support via email and chat |
The Essential plan should be good for most users, but if you need some more storage and features, 2 more advanced plans are available: Plus and Ultimate.
How to create a donation WordPress website (step by step)
1. Get a domain name
Choose a domain name and buy it from Namecheap (or elsewhere).
2. Get a StellarSites plan
Select any StellarSites Fundraising plan and purchase it.
Choose a server location on the checkout page (US or EU).
3. Connect your domain name with your hosting
Login to your StellarSites account here stellarwp.com/my-account
Go to Sites – Domain tab.
Paste your domain name under the Custom domain submission instructions.
Choose EASY under Domain configuration options.
Copy the following nameservers:
ns1.stellarwp.site
ns2.stellarwp.site
ns3.stellarwp.site
ns4.stellarwp.site
Login to your Namecehap account (or your other domain name provider).
Go to Dashboard – Manage – Nameservers. Select the Custom DNS option and paste the nameservers you copied earlier.
Here is a tutorial on how to connect a Namecheap domain name (use it as a reference for other domain name providers).
Go back to your StellarSites account – Sites – Domain and click on Submit.
Wait up to 48 hours (usually much faster) for your new domain name to be functional.
4. Create and design your website
Go to your StellarSites account.
Navigate to Sites section and click on Create a Site.
Go through the AI Site Wizard to create your website. Include your brand name, description, add images, etc.. The process is easy and smooth. It’s powered by Kadence AI.
Alternatively, login to your WordPress admin, go to Site Assist – Set up site AI profile and go through the wizard.
I’ve previously described the Kadence AI builder and how to use it. The AI will basically create your whole website including new pages, colors, styles. You can later customize it in your WordPress dashboard.
5. Create your first donation campaign
Now that you have your site designed you can start creating donation campaigns.
Login to your WordPress admin. Go to yoursitename.com/wp-admin/ or go to your StellarSites account – Sites and click on Log in.
Go to Site Assist and run the GiveWP setup wizard.
Alternatively, install the GiveWP fundraising plugin directly in your WordPress dashboard (Plugins – Add plugins, search for GiveWP and click on Install now).
Run the GiveWP setup wizard (optional) or Skip it. If you decide to skip, you’ll need to create a new campaign.
Go to Campaigns and click on Create campaign.
Name your campaign, add a description and a cover image. Choose your campaign goal:
- Amount raise
- Number of donations
- Number of donations
Include the final amount or number to be reached.
Go to Forms tab and click on Edit if you want to customize your form. You can change its appearance, add more fields, add new elements or custom amounts for donation. Click on Publish to save changes.
Note: you can have multiple forms in the same campaign. This is useful if you want to add a donation form on different pages or even articles.
Go to Overview and click on Edit campaign page and click on Publish.
Your campaign is live. If you want to display all the campaign on one page, use the built-in Campaign Grid block provided by GiveWP.
6. Connect a payment gateway
Go to GiveWP – Settings – Payment Gateways – Gateways. Enable available gateways, for example Paypal. Click on Save changes.
Go to Paypal tab and connect your Paypal account. Click on Save changes. Do the same for other payment gateways if required.
Go back to Settings – Payment Gateways – Gateways and disable the Test Mode. Click on Save changes.
That’s it, you now have an appealing and functional fundraising website powered by WordPress and StellarSites. Add more campaigns or forms if required and further customize your emails, notifications and many more.
I hope this is useful and please let me know if I can help in any way or if you have questions.
