Understand Give Lively's different generations of payment forms

Give Lively is rolling out a second-generation payment form built to work with our upgraded system, which has been in development since 2021. The system allows us to add many nonprofit-requested capabilities and operate more efficiently behind the scenes. For now, though, both the first- and second-generation payment forms are in use and serve equally well. There is no reason a nonprofit should favor one payment form over another. 

Who sees which form?

Which generation payment form a donor sees is guided by a nonprofit’s choice of features. 

Any nonprofit that enables the specific set of features outlined in the “Nonprofit eligibility” section below may see the second-generation payment form. Any combination of features beyond those detailed on the eligibility list will see use of the first-generation payment form. Over time, the second-generation form will become the standard for all Give Lively-powered fundraising pages.

Nonprofits will see a “New Payment Form” announcement in the Nonprofit Admin Portal as soon as the second-generation form can be applied to any of their fundraising pages:

Note that an eligible nonprofit could see the payment form switch back and forth over time. This may be due to changes in the nonprofit’s choice of features and/or Give Lively updates to the list of eligible features. An example of this could be when a nonprofit eligible for the second-generation form enables a feature not supported by it. That nonprofit would see a switch to the first-generation form. But once Give Lively adds that feature to the second-generation eligibility list, the nonprofit could be automatically transitioned back to the new form on all relevant fundraising pages. 

Nonprofit eligibility

First-generation payment form

The first-generation payment form is active for all nonprofits using any of the following features: 

• Ability to collect donor’s mailing address (in beta)
• Ability to add additional questions (in beta)

Additionally, only the first-generation payment form is available on the following products:

• Event Ticketing pages
• Team Fundraising pages

Finally, ACH transactions are handled by different services, depending on which generation payment form is used. While the donor is guided through a very similar giving experience, the first-generation form uses Plaid and the second-generation form relies on Stripe Financial Connections.

Second-generation payment form

The second-generation payment form is activated for nonprofits that are using some or all of the following features only (and no others):  

• Ability to give in honor or in memory of someone‍
• A text code associated with the Core Profile
• Impact stories
• Saved payment methods for donors logged in to a Give Lively account
• Several payment methods:
  + ACH/direct debit (the second-generation form uses Stripe Financial Connections to process ACH payments)
  + Card
  + Digital Wallets: Apple Pay and Google Pay
  + PayPal
• Custom donation amount ($1-100,000)
• Custom suggested donation amounts (beyond the default amounts)
• Suggested donation amounts (only the default amounts of $25, $50, $100, $250)
• Sorted suggested donation amounts (high to low)
• Default donation frequency (one-time or monthly)‍
• Anonymous donations
• Donors can opt to cover payment processing fees for:
  + Card
  + Bank
  + PayPal
• ‍Salesforce integration
• Double the Donation integration
• Automatic receipts:
  + Tax receipts automatically emailed to donors
  + Optional custom "thank-you" message included in tax receipts
  + Pending donation emails sent to donors when their ACH payment begins processing
  + Monthly recurring tax receipt email (in beta)

At present, the second-generation payment form appears only on:

• Core Profile fundraising pages
• Campaign Pages
• Simple Donation Widgets
• Branded Donation Widgets
• Peer-to-Peer Fundraising pages

New features in the second-generation payment form

Login button

Donors can quickly log in to a Give Lively account to take advantage of saved payment methods.

Donation selection

• Suggested amounts: When donors choose a suggested amount, it is displayed in the form’s buttons (“Donate” or “Pay”).
• Custom amounts: When donors select a suggested amount, it is reaffirmed in the custom amount field as well. Donors can instead input a custom amount – with cents. A custom amount displays in the form’s buttons (“Donate” or “Pay”).

Navigation and breadcrumbs

• Browser refresh before checkout:
  ‍+ When donors refresh while on the Amount or Payment Method page, they remain on the same page of the payment form, and their donation amount or selected payment method (bank or card) is retained. 
  + When donors refresh on the Payment Details page, no data is retained (to avoid storing any card or bank information) and donors are navigated back to the Payment Method page.‍
• Browser refresh after checkout:
  ‍+ When donors refresh their Payment Summary page while they are logged in to an existing Give Lively account, the Payment Summary remains in view, with the payment details. For added security, only the last four digits of the selected bank account or card number display on the post-checkout page.
  + When donors refresh their Payment Summary page while they are NOT logged in to an existing Give Lively account, they are redirected to a page advising that they have already completed their checkout and may choose to "Make a New Donation."‍
• “Back” button: When donors select their browser’s “Back” button before they check out, they navigate to the previous page of the payment form where their earlier choices (donation amount or selected payment method) are retained.‍
• Copy/paste web link with cart ID: When donors wish to complete the donation process in a different browser, they copy and paste the web link into a new browser window where their selected donation amount, frequency and/or payment method are retained.‍
• Breadcrumbs: Donors can navigate through the three pre-checkout payment form pages by selecting breadcrumb links displayed above the payment form headers. Breadcrumbs for the current page are not displayed. Donation amount, frequency and/or payment method are retained.

Fee coverage

• When donors choose to pay by card (debit or credit), they see estimated payment processing fees for American Express in addition to Visa/Mastercard cards.
• When donors choose to pay by ACH/bank transfer or PayPal, they will see estimated payment processing fees during the donation process.
• There is new language explaining about fee coverage: “Add <fee amount> to your tax-deductible donation to help cover our payment processing fees for this transaction.”

• When donors elect to cover a payment processing fee and enter their card details, the “Pay" button on the Payment Details page displays the total of the donation plus the fees. An updated total appears immediately when paying by bank.

Thank-you screen

‍When donors complete a transaction, they land on a thank-you page displaying a “Payment Summary” where:

• Donation details include subtotals (donation amount and the covered payment processing fees if the donor elects to cover fees), the total of the payment, the payment frequency (one-time or monthly), the payment method and the last four digits of the bank account or card number. 
• Monthly donors see the date the recurring payment will be processed each month and a link to an article about how to cancel a monthly payment. 

• The donor’s name and email address are detailed at the bottom of the page. Donors who choose to remain anonymous are reminded that “Your name will not be displayed in public.” 

“Pay Free Forward” voluntary contributions

On some second-generation payment forms, Give Lively has introduced the ability for donors to make a voluntary contribution (not tax-deductible) to Give Lively and join forces with our founder-funders in supporting the nonprofit community. We call this donor-powered generosity “pay free forward” because donor contributions to Give Lively extend the reach and capability of our free products and services, thus helping the nonprofit community direct millions of dollars to their critical work, not digital fundraising software. Learn more about voluntary contributions.