Why Donation Form Amount Limits Are Important

A donation form amount limit can help your nonprofit organization protect against fraudulent online donations.
Left: A person counting cash, up close on the wallet. Center: Two folks looking at a tablet. The woman in the forefront is wearing a red blazer and holding a debit or credit card. Right: A person looking at their card and their phone, inputting credit card information

Scammers will try just about anything online, making it important for you to take simple steps now to save time – and money – later. 

Setting donation amount limits on your forms is important because it can help prevent scammers from creating “false donations.” With this scam, someone will fill out your donation form with a large amount and then request a refund. You can get left paying the fees from this large donation, and it can take a lot of time to clean up after a problem donation.

Donation amount limits ensure that people can’t donate large amounts online and must reach out for this type of donation. (Most nonprofits require a check or bank transfer for larger donations for security purposes.)

Here, we’ll outline some things you can do to ensure your donation forms are safe and secure and provide some talking points you can use with your board for why donation form limits are important.

What is a Donation Form Amount Limit?

There are two donation form amount barriers that you can set against scammers:

  1. Set a minimum donation amount
  2. Set a form limit for donations

Setting a minimum donation amount prevents scammers from testing credit card numbers to see if they work by running small amounts, such as $1 or $2. You can eliminate this scam traffic by setting a higher minimum donation of at least $10.

You can also set the maximum amount someone can give using an online form. This prevents scammers from making seemingly large donations only to request a refund later, leaving your organization with paperwork and fees associated with those charges. 

A best practice for your online donation form is to set minimum and maximum donation limits on all your donation forms. While every organization is different, you should set guidelines for your online forms, and consider a range such as $10 to $1,000.

To ensure that donors who want to give more significant gifts can still maximize their impact online, consider adding a pledge campaign for donations over your maximum threshold. This allows these donors and donations to be visible on your website and in campaigns, but the money will be distributed offline. 

Why Donation Limits Are Important

Donation form limits can be beneficial for a number of reasons beyond preventing scams and fraud, although that’s a great reason to use one.

If your team isn’t sure about implementing a strategy that includes online donation form limits, these talking points can help. 

Donation form amount limits help mitigate the risks of money laundering and fraudulent activities. By setting reasonable limits, organizations can reduce the chances of receiving large sums of money that may be associated with illicit sources. This helps protect your organization’s reputation and ensures that funds are obtained and used legally.

By setting donation limits, your organization can better forecast and plan budgets. Estimate expected income and allocate resources accordingly based on past performance with no surprises or additional work or fees due to scam activity. 

Donation form amount limits help promote donor inclusivity. By offering various donation options, organizations cater to donors with different financial capacities. Not everyone can afford large donations, but smaller contributions can still make a significant impact. Setting limits encourages participation from a broader range of supporters and fosters a sense of community involvement.

Donation limits can help your nonprofit avoid becoming overly dependent on a small number of large donors. Relying heavily on a few contributors can create financial vulnerability and potential conflicts of interest. By encouraging a diverse donor base through different giving levels, organizations can reduce their reliance on a handful of individuals or entities.

How to Set a Donation Form Amount Limit

There are a few ways to set donation form limits, depending on the type of GiveWP donation form you are using. 

Custom donation amount fields in Admin view

 

  • Set a maximum donation amount for your online forms. In the options for each donation form, set a donation limit. Note: You must do this for each of your donation forms. 
  • Disable custom donation amounts and set donation values for each form. This way, donors must choose from a preselected donation option and can’t enter large donation amounts online. 
  • Use pledge campaigns so that any large donations are given offline. 

Other Donor Spam/Scams to Be Aware Of

Making large, “false,” donations aren’t the only donor scam or spam that you need to be aware of. It seems that spam donations are becoming a larger concern all the time, and you need to protect your organization. 

In addition to donation form limits, there are some other things you can do to help prevent donor spam. 

  • Install or activate the free Akismet plugin that works with GiveWP. Navigate to “Donations > Settings > Advanced” and ensure that the Akismet SPAM protection is enabled. Don’t forget to save the settings at the bottom of the page.
  • Try the Zero Spam Plugin with GiveWP, and it’s always a great idea to handle spam with a solution that’s different from the Donation Plugin itself. This also gives you another support team (who are experts in spam, specifically) to go to for help!
  • Add reCAPTCHA, if necessary. This option does have some pitfalls but is the ideal level of security for some organizations. GiveWP has a specific snippet and instructions for adding reCAPTCHA. 
  • Use a tool such as Cloudflare or Sucuri to help limit spam at the server level. These are third-party services that help both speed up your website and provide protection against bot attacks and donor spam.

Set Donation Form Amount Limits with GiveWP

More than 100,000 nonprofits are already using WordPress and GiveWP to power their fundraising. GiveWP’s safe and secure tools have everything you need to collect donations online, from single campaigns to recurring contributions. 

Start for free or request a demo today!

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