Currency Switcher
The Currency Switcher add-on allows donors to choose their preferred currency when giving. It supports automatic exchange rates, geolocation-based defaults, and flexible settings for supported payment gateways.
This is a great tool for international organizations or campaigns that receive donations from multiple countries.
Getting Started
To use the Currency Switcher add-on, you’ll need to install and activate it on your WordPress site. See How to Install and Activate GiveWP Add-ons for step-by-step instructions.
Configuring Global Settings
There are three main sections to be familiar with.
- General— this is where Multiple Currency Support is configured.
- Geolocation — setting the form’s primary currency based on your donor’s location.
- Payment Gateways — enabling/disabling currency switching per payment gateway.
Using Currency Switcher with the Visual Donation Form Builder
Once activated, the Currency Switcher is enabled by default for all of your forms. Forms are also automatically set to the Currency Switcher’s Global Settings by default in GiveWP > Settings > Currency Switcher.
If you want a different setting for a form, you can go to the form you want to edit and navigate to the Settings tab. In the Currency Switcher settings, choose Customize.
Once you select Customize, you will be presented with various options to set in the Currency Switcher settings that will only be applicable to this particular form.
These options are already available in the global Currency Switcher settings, but setting them here gives you more control over your forms.
Global Settings
General
This screen allows you to enable Currency Switcher globally, and configure what currencies you will support. Here’s an overview of the General settings:
Currency Switcher
Settings Type: Radio buttons
Options: Enabled | Disabled
Default: Disabled
Enable this to enable Currency Switcher globally.
Currency Switcher Message
Settings Type: Text field
Default: The current exchange rate is 1.00 {base_currency} equals {new_currency_rate} {new_currency}.
This is the message that will dynamically appear below the amount field when your alternate currencies are chosen. The phrases in brackets ( i.e. {} ) are dynamic information and must be used exactly as-is.
Supported Currencies
Settings Type: Multi-check list
Options: All GiveWP-supported currencies. See our full list here.
Default: Your site’s global currency setting found in GiveWP > Settings > General > Currency
Check as many currencies as you’d like to support for your donors.
Exchange Rates
Settings Type: Table matrix of settings
Columns: Currency, Exchange Rate, Set Manually, Rate Markup
As you select currencies in the “Supported Currencies” section, they will populate in this table for you to configure them individually. Here are the configuration options:
- Currency — the currency you are configuring
- Exchange Rate — this field is locked by default. You can either set this rate manually by checking the checkbox in the “Set Manually” column, or click the button below the table that says “Fetch Exchange Rates”. That button is only available if you have configured your Exchange Rate API in the “Exchange Rate APIs” section.
- Set Manually — select this to set your own exchange rate for any given currency.
- Rate Markup — you can add an additional flat amount to your exchange rates here.
Note: the decimal settings found in the Exchange Rates section of the Currency Switcher are NOT for the donation amount in the front end form, but for how many decimals of the exchange rate should be displayed to inform the user.
As an example, if you set the decimals to be 6, GiveWP will display 6 decimal places for the user.
This setting will generate the following information on the front end:
The amount will still show only two decimal places.
Geolocation
This setting allows you to set the default currency of your form dynamically according to the donor’s location. Here are the settings:
Geolocation
Settings Type: Radio buttons
Options: Enabled | Disabled
Default: Disabled
Enable this to enable the Geolocation feature globally.
Base Currency (if fails)
Settings Type: Select field
Options: Dynamic based on the currencies you enabled in the “Supported Currencies” section
If your site is unable to determine the location of a donor, this will be the default currency the donor is shown.
Payment Gateways
You can enable or disable any currency based on each payment gateway that you have enabled.
Payment Gateways
Settings Type: Multi-select search field
Options: Dynamically populated based on your settings in GiveWP > Settings > General > Payment Gateways.
Next to each gateway listed in the table, click into the text field to search for any of your supported currencies. Click the “x” next to any currency already populated in the text field to remove it.
Missing Payment Gateways
If you are not seeing all of the payment gateways you’ve enabled on your donation form, or you are seeing a message Payment options are not available :
To solve this, navigate to the Enabled Gateways section and make sure all the payment gateways have been added to each Currency section that is enabled.
Note: The Authorize.Net payment gateway does not support multiple currencies on a single account. Because of this limitation, the Currency Switcher add-on is not compatible with Authorize.Net.
