Localization

Go to Settings > Localization to configure your organization's language settings. Only Organization Administrators can change these settings.

Localization settings in the Dashboard

The Default language is your organization's primary language. Fundraise Up uses it as a fallback when a supporter's preferred language can't be detected or isn't enabled in your settings. It also determines the language of donation receipts sent to supporters. In the Dashboard, it controls which language appears first when you edit content.

The UI languages setting controls which languages your campaigns, Elements, Donor Portal, and other supporter-facing parts of the platform can display. Enabling a language here makes it available as an option — you then choose which languages apply to each part individually in its own settings.

When a language is enabled, Fundraise Up automatically translates all interface elements — buttons, field names, labels, and other fixed text — into that language. Your own content works differently: wherever you create or edit content across the Dashboard (campaign titles, messages, thank you screens, and more), you'll find a Localization tab where you can provide translations for each enabled language.

For campaigns, for example, go to Campaigns > [Your campaign] > Settings > Localization to select which of the enabled languages that campaign supports and to add your own translations.

Below the UI languages list, 3 checkboxes let you choose how Fundraise Up detects each supporter's language.

• Determine the supporter's preferred language from their browser settings: Fundraise Up shows the language matching the supporter's browser preference.
• Determine the supporter's preferred language from site URL for Checkout Modal: Enter URLs of pages that should display in a specific language. When a supporter visits a matching URL, the Checkout Modal appears in the assigned language. This doesn't apply to Campaign Pages. For example:

  URL	Language
  https://example.com/es	Spanish
  https://example.com/donate/norway	Norwegian

  If two or more languages are assigned to one URL, the first rule in the list takes precedence.

  URLs must start with https://. The full URL must match exactly — including www and the trailing slash /. For example, https://www.example.com/es/ and https://example.com/es are treated as different addresses. A mismatch means supporters see the wrong language.

  You can use wildcard values (*) to match an entire section of your site. For example, https://example.com/jp* assigned to Japanese applies to any URL starting with that path, including https://example.com/jp/about-us.

• Set language from _lang URL parameter and window._lang JavaScript variable: Two methods are available here.
  • Add ?_lang=(languagecode) to any URL to force a specific language — for example, https://example.com/donate?_lang=es shows Spanish. See the list of available codes below. Language codes are case-sensitive.
  • Set the window._lang JavaScript variable on your page to the desired language code — this requires changes to your website's code.
  This option is enabled by default and can't be turned off.

If multiple methods are active, they are prioritized in this order:

1. _lang URL parameter — overrides everything else.
2. window._lang JavaScript variable, if no URL parameter is present.
3. URL configurations you've added in the Dashboard, applied top to bottom.
4. The supporter's browser language preference.

If no language is detected by any active method — or the detected language isn't enabled in your settings — the supporter sees your organization's default language.

Email languages are configured separately from UI languages. Enabling a language here gives you access to pre-localized default email content for that language.

Email languages settings in the Dashboard

You can use the defaults or provide your own translations at Settings > Emails > Localization.

Unlike UI localization, email localization doesn't support region-specific dialects. For example, you can send emails in French, but not separately in Canadian French and French (France).

Fundraise Up supports 23 language locales for UI localization.

Arabic uses a right-to-left (RTL) layout throughout the donation experience — the entire interface is mirrored, not just the text.

For emails, Fundraise Up supports 18 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.

The Donor Portal is automatically shown in the language the supporter used during checkout. You can override this by adding a ?lang= parameter to your portal URL — it takes priority over all other language detection methods.

For example, to open the Donor Portal in French (Canada):

https://[your-portal-url]/?lang=fr-CA

Supporters can change their preferred language inside the Donor Portal, and that preference is saved to their Supporter record.

PDF receipts are always generated in your organization's default language, regardless of which language the supporter used during checkout. This is to keep receipts compliant with the regulations of the country where they're issued.

In Canada, receipts must be provided in both English and French. For Canadian organizations, Fundraise Up displays the receipt content in both languages automatically.

When you create an export template, you can add a Supporter Language column to show each supporter's language preference. Three formats are available:

• Simple Name: the general language name without dialect — for example, English.
• Name: the language name including dialect — for example, English (USA).
• ISO code: the alpha-2 code and associated country — for example, en-US.

To include multiple formats in the same export, add the Supporter Language column multiple times and change the Format setting for each one.

For integrations that support mapping rules, you can map 3 localization-related values from the donation object to a connected CRM:

• Supporter language ISO code: the alpha-2 code and associated country — for example, en-US.
• Supporter language name: the language name including dialect — for example, English (USA).
• Supporter language simple name: the general language name without dialect — for example, English.

To include multiple values, create multiple mapping rules.