Setting up Your HarmonySite to Accept Donations

For all the set-up instructions below, ensure that you are logged into your HarmonySite with a "Webmaster" level of access.


1.  Set up payment options

There is no "donations module" that needs to be "switched on" in HarmonySite.  It's virtually ready to go - you just need to ensure that you have one or more payment methods set up.


Before donations can be accepted via your HarmonySite, you must select at least one payment method.  If you are already using the Membership Invoicing module, the Merchandise module or the Event Ticketing module in your HarmonySite, then you will most likely have already set up payment methods, and should not need to change them.


The payment methods available are:

  • Credit card via a secure payment gateway.  When a vistor uses this option to pay for their order, they remain on your website for the entire process (unlike PayPal, below).  HarmonySite currently has integrated support for two payment gateways:  Stripe and eWay.  Please refer to our Payment Gateways page for more information.
  • Credit card via PayPal.  Note that your group must have a PayPal account in order to enable this payment method.  These are free to set up, but note that PayPal takes fees on every transaction.
  • Internet Bank Transfer.  Your bank account details are displayed to visitors when they check out.  They make a manual transfer via their own Internet banking system, and when your merchandise manager sees the payment in your group's bank account, they then manually mark the order as paid, and the goods can be shipped.
  • Cheque/Money Order.  Your postal address is displayed to members when they received their invoice.  They post a cheque, and when your merchandise manager receives it, they then manually mark the order as paid, and the goods can be shipped.


To enable the order module and set up payment options...

  1. Click the "cog" icon in the top-right corner of the site
  2. On the Website Setup and Configuration page, click the cog icon next to "HarmonySite"
  3. Click the Configuration tab
  4. Tick the box at the top of the tab called Online Invoices/Orders/Tickets/Donations
  5. Tick the box at the top of the tab called Event Tickets
  6. Click the Payments tab
  7. If you haven't already done so, enter the details of at least one payment method.  For example, the bank account instructions may look something like this...

    Please pay funds into the following account:

    Bank: First Bank of Harmony
    BSB: 123456
    Account name: My Excellent Group Inc.
    Account number: 12345678

    ...while the cheque/money order instructions may look like this...

    Please make cheques payable to My Excellent Group Inc.
    and post to:

    My Excellent Group Inc.
    PO BOX 9876
    Mytown SA 1234
      
  8. If you wish to allow visitors to pay for their donations securely using a credit card, please refer to our Payment Gateways page for more information.  If you wish to use the "Stripe" payment gateway (recommended), then there is a page in your HarmonySite to set this up quickly and easily.  Visit your main Members page, then look for the link called Connect to Stripe Payment Gateway, and follow the instructions there.


2.  Nominate the person/position responsible for handling donations

In most groups, there is one person that is responsible for receiving donations.  In HarmonySite, you must nominate who this person is before donations can be accepted  This is done by selecting the "position" that the person holds, not the person themselves.  That way whenever a new person takes over that position, the system continues to function without modification.


It may be necessary to first create the "position" and assign a member to it.  Check the Officers or Management Team page (or look in the "Positions" database).  If the position doesn't exist, create it.  Ensure that a member is assigned to it.  Then...

  1. Click the "cog" icon in the top-right corner of the site
  2. On the Website Setup and Configuration page, click the cog icon next to "HarmonySite"
  3. Click the People tab
  4. In the Receive donation notifications drop-down list, select the appropriate position
  5. Click Save at the bottom


Next ensure that this person has administration rights over the "donation targets" database (more about what that is below)...

  1. Click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard
  2. Scroll down to the Members heading, and click on Logins in the far-right Database tables column
  3. On the Logins Administration page, click the button to update the login record of the person holding this role
  4. Ensure that their Access Level is set to at least Data Administration Access
  5. If their Access Level is set to Data Administration Access, then you must ensure that at least the following databases are selected from the set of tickboxes below the drop-down list:
    • Donation Targets
    • Order/invoice/booking/donation items
    • Orders/Invoices/Bookings/Donations
  6. Click Save at the bottom


3.  Set up Donation Targets

HarmonySite can support multiple types of donations - even in the same shopping cart.  For example, you may wish to accept one type of donation for your group's own funds, and also accept donations on behalf of your favourite charity, or disaster-relief campaign, etc.  Each one of these can be set up as a separate "donation target".


One donation target has been set up already for you, called Support [MyGroupName].  You can add further donation targets as you need them.  Each one can be marked "active" or "inactive".  Each one has a description field, the contents of which are displayed wherever donations are configured to appear on your website.  Each also has an optional "suggested donation amount" (e.g. $20), to make it even easier for your website visitors to donate to you.


To create, update or delete donation targets, the steps are:

  1. Click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard
  2. Scroll down to the Financials heading, and click on the Donation targets link in the far-right Database tables column
  3. On the Donation Targets Administration Page, you can either:
    1. Create a new donation target.  Simply click the Add new donation target button in the top-right corner, and fill in the blanks
    2. Edit or delete existing donation targets.  In the list of donation targets, locate the relevant donation target, and click either the "update" or "delete" icons


4.  Display a "Donate" box (or page) on your website

The only thing left to do is to decide where you want to display the "Donate" box to your site visitors, so that they can complete the donation process.  You have three choices (you can choose as many of these as you want):

  1. In the "sidebar" of many public-facing pages - in the same part of the page as "Search the site", "Join our Mailing List" and the Facebook wall.
  2. In the "footer" area of many public-facing pages (including the home page) - in the same part of the page as the "Site Map", "Upcoming Events" and "Contact Us" sections.
  3. On a separate page of its own.


Note that in options 1 and 2, only the first active donation target can be used (based on the Ranking field).  So if you have more than one active donation target, only the first one can be displayed in either the site's sidebar or footer.  If you want to present your visitors with options to donate to all of your donation targets, you'll need to use option 3.


Here's how to set up each one...

To set up the Donate box in either the sidebar or footer...

  1. Click the "cog" icon in the top-right corner of the site
  2. On the Website Setup and Configuration page, click the cog icon next to "HarmonySite"
  3. Click the Footer/Sidebar tab
  4. Scroll down to either the Footer or Sidebar section, depending on where you want the Donate box to go
  5. In the Footer items (or Sidebar items) field, you'll see Donations in the right-hand column.  Click on it to move it over to the left-hand column, thus "enabling" it.  You can also drag and drop it to its correct position relative to the other items in the footer (or sidebar)
  6. Click Save at the bottom
  7. Visit any public-facing page that has a footer (or sidebar) to see the result


To enable the Donations page, you simply need to create a link to it.  This can be either a "navigation link" (if you want the link to the new page to appear in the site menu across the top of the page), or a regular link on a page.


If you want to create a new "navigation link" (for the site menu), then this can be done in the normal way that navigation links are created.  The new page is called simply Donate.  If you're not comfortable with the Navigation Links system, then contact us and we'll do it for you.


If you want the link to the new Donate page to be placed on the page of your choice, then create the link in the normal manner.  The address of the new page is

 http://www.YOURGROUPNAME.com/dbpage.php?pg=donatehs


Again, if you're not comfortable setting up such links, contact us and we'll do it for you.


Site visitors can now donate to your target(s) and pay their donations using your built-in shopping cart system.


Viewing Donations that have been made

Your website contains a report for viewing all invoices/orders/bookings/donations in the system - all on the one page. To view this page, proceed as follows:

  1. Log into the Members Area and click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard

  2. Scroll down to the Financials heading, and click on the View the Orders/Invoices/Bookings/Donations link to the right of this in the Admin Pages column  

The page you are taken to will have a section at the bottom for all donations made.  You can easily view the details of each donation (by clicking on the donation ID).  You can also...

  • Update the details of each donation
  • Delete the donation
  • Send out the latest status of the donation to the person that made the donation
  • Mark the donation as "paid".  This is necessary when you receive the payment for an order by cheque or Internet bank transfer.

This report will be enhanced in the near future.