Fundraise Up's Checkout brings the optimizations of the e-commerce checkout to the online giving experience.

Unlike traditional donation forms, Checkout is an overlay that instantly launches on top of your website’s content when a donor selects a donation button. This behavior removes the need to redirect visitors to other web pages and allows for donations to be made from any page on your organization’s website.

Checkout is optimized for desktop and mobile use, and includes adaptive technologies that display device-specific features and payment options.

Basics

Every Checkout is related to a Campaign, and is configured from the Campaigns view in the Dashboard. You can create any number of campaigns to satisfy your fundraising requirements. Often, you will create event-specific or channel-specific campaigns.

When you create a campaign, you can configure and customize its Checkout.

Customizable features

Checkout includes many customizable features that enable you to tailor the checkout experience for specific use cases:

• Payment methods
• Currency
• Frequencies
• Suggested amounts
• Minimum amounts
• Designations
• Tribute
• Comment
• Transaction costs
• Company matching
• Supporter
• Mailing list
• Terms & conditions
• Questions
• Ask
• Thank you screen
• URL
• Localization

Conversion optimization

A fundamental component of Checkout is conversion optimization, which is achieved through a combination of modern web technologies, e-commerce methodologies, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI).

Below, you can learn more about some of the ways in which Fundraise Up achieves conversion optimization at checkout.

Zero redirects

Because Checkout launches as an overlay on your website, it does not require page redirection. In a typical nonprofit scenario, selecting a donation button results in a redirect to an embedded or hosted donation experience. This redirect, and subsequent redirects, can have a negative impact on conversion. By avoiding redirects, Checkout preserves click-to-view conversion.

Suggested donation amounts

Like many online giving solutions, Checkout displays an array of suggested donation amounts. However, a key differentiator for Checkout is the use of AI to personalize each suggested amount for individual website visitors. This personalization has a positive effect on conversion.

Some of the attributes utilized by Fundraise Up AI include user location, browser version, device type, date, and time.

All of the data collected and analyzed to produce donation suggestions is first-party.

Upsells and cross-sells

Checkout includes options for upselling donors from one-time to recurring support, and the ability to cross-sell donors to other fundraising channels.

In some cases, machine learning, a subset of AI, is used to calculate the appropriate conditions for presenting upsell and cross-sell opportunities to donors.

Pre-conversion upsell

The pre-conversion upsell occurs before the point of conversion in Checkout. Typically, this upsell is presented after a donor has selected a one-time donation amount, but before they select a payment method. At this time, the upsell opportunity is an upgrade from a one-time to a monthly donation frequency.

Post-conversion upsell

This upsell occurs after a conversion in Checkout. Therefore, presenting the post-conversion upsell to a donor cannot have a negative impact on conversion, making it an effective way to increase adoption of recurring support. The post-conversion upsell will either position an upgrade to monthly giving or annual giving. The frequency determination is made automatically based on a donor’s behavior at checkout.

Annual tribute upsell

When a donor gives a one-time tribute donation and provides the tributee’s name, they will automatically be given the option to transform their one-time donation into a recurring annual donation. This option will not appear if annual recurring donations are disabled in the Organization Settings.

Address autofill

When Checkout is configured with a prompt for a donor to input their mailing address, address autofill helps reduce the amount of input required by a donor. Autofill results are ranked based on a donor’s location to display the most relevant results first.

To support organizations fundraising outside of the U.S., Fundraise Up implements autofill services that are best fit for a specific locale. This approach accommodates different types of address lookup, such as searches that begin with the postal code instead of the street number.

Adaptive cost coverage

Traditionally, donors have been presented with the option to cover the transaction costs for a donation. Adaptive cost coverage is an enhancement to this functionality that uses AI to determine who to prompt with the ask to cover transaction costs. The result is an increase in conversion and revenue output.

No-code implementation

Checkout is a turnkey solution for accepting donations through your website. When the Fundraise Up installation code is added to your website and an active Stripe account is connected, Checkout is activated. No additional development work is required to activate features or enable payment methods.

Accessibility

Fundraise Up Checkout includes accessibility features that enhance the donation experience.

WCAG 2.1 AA compliance

Checkout is WCAG 2.1 AA compliant and includes features that enhance user experience when assistive devices like screen readers are used.

Color

To ensure compliance with WCAG standards, colors in Checkout are not user-selectable. Fundraise Up has standardized Conversion Blue throughout the checkout experience to balance accessibility needs with conversion optimization

Typography

Fundraise Up has standardized the use of IBM Plex Sans throughout the checkout experience. Users can not enable alternate fonts for Checkout. This standardization ensures that labels, text fields, and other Checkout components are properly rendered across all device types, and that all characters and special symbols can be displayed for all of Fundraise Up’s language localizations.

ARIA attributes

Fundraise Up has standardized the use of Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) attributes throughout Checkout and Elements to increase and enhance accessibility for donors utilizing screen readers for navigation.

Payment methods

Checkout enables you to present virtually any modern payment method to donors during checkout, including noncash methods like crypto and stock. Machine learning is used to determine which payment methods are displayed for each user. Characteristics such as device type and browser determine the display of payment methods for each donor.

Supported payment methods

The following payment methods are supported in Checkout:

Payment method-specific UI

Some payment methods have specialized checkout requirements. To support these payment flows, Fundraise Up has created payment-method specific user interfaces that streamline the checkout process when payment options like crypto or stock are selected.

URL API

Fundraise Up’s URL API can be leveraged to predefine certain Checkout attributes using a URL. This enables you to personalize the checkout experience for individual donors and reduce the number of fields that donors need to fill. Learn more →

UTM parameter tracking

When UTM parameters are included in a Checkout URL, the parameter values are captured and stored on the resulting donation record. Learn more →

JavaScript events

Fundraise Up’s JavaScript API includes three events that can be subscribed to for tracking or integration purposes. Learn more →

Localization

Fundraise Up’s localization features enable Checkout to be translated into over 20 languages. Support for multiple languages ensures that you can provide a donation experience in the preferred languages of your website visitors. Learn more →