How to receive donations online without posting your card number
To receive donations online, add a flexible-amount donation button to your page. Whoever donates writes in how much they're giving — never less than the minimum you set — and pays by card right there, without ever seeing your account number.
Renata rescues dogs in Gómez Palacio, Durango. She has 34 of them on a plot of land someone lends her, and she keeps them going with whatever people chip in. Every time she posts a photo of a newly rescued dog on Facebook, the post ends the same way: “Any help is appreciated,” followed by the 16 digits of her personal card. That post gets shared by neighborhood and buy-and-sell groups she’s never even heard of.
And every Sunday she sits down to match transfers labeled “puppies” against screenshots that come in over WhatsApp. If you also want to receive donations online, you don’t need another post with your card number. You need a button where each person can type in how much they’re giving.
How do you receive donations online without posting your card number?
With a flexible-amount donation button on your own page. Whoever’s donating taps it, types in how much they want to give, and pays by card right there — your account number never has to appear anywhere.
A flexible-amount donation is a charge where the person paying sets the amount, instead of paying a fixed price. You only decide the minimum. The money follows the same path as any card sale on your page and lands in your bank account along with your regular sales deposits.
It works just as well for a parish fundraiser, a pay-what-you-can yoga class in the park, or a folk band that plays “for whatever you feel like giving.”
What does the donor see?
A window that says “Choose the amount,” with an “Amount” field that already shows your minimum pre-filled, and below it, “Minimum $50.” They can raise it to whatever they want. Below that, the “Pay” button won’t activate.
It doesn’t ask them to create an account. If they’re not signed in, that same window asks for their email and moves straight into the card payment. From the link someone shared on Facebook to the payment itself — no “send me your receipt” in between.
How much should the minimum donation be?
The lowest amount that’s still worth receiving after the fee. Every card payment carries a percentage plus a fixed amount, and that fixed amount eats up far more of a $20 donation than a $200 one. Check your rate before you decide.
Here’s one thing to watch: the minimum is also the number people see already filled in, and it’s easy to just leave it as is. Renata saw this happen in the first month. Of 41 donations, 27 came in at exactly $50 — the minimum she’d set.
What doesn’t exist are those little suggested-amount buttons ($100, $200, $500). The way to suggest amounts is with line items, since each line item has its own minimum. Renata set up three:
| Line item | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Open donation | $50 |
| Multi-vaccine shot for one dog | $400 |
| 20 kg bag of dog food | $700 |
Whoever wants to give “something” taps the first one. Whoever wants to know exactly where their money is going taps the vaccine, and nothing stops them from typing $1,000. Since each line item shows its minimum just like it would a price, write right next to them: “starting at $50, you decide how much.”
What if you don’t take card payments?
The button uses your page’s main payment method: card if you have it turned on, and if not, whichever method you have enabled first. If you only accept bank transfers, the donor leaves their name and phone number, taps “Place order,” and sees your instructions for making the deposit.
That’s the one time your account number shows up again, but only to someone who has already decided to donate — not in every post that gets shared. The donation sits in your dashboard as “Awaiting transfer” until you see it land in your bank account and click “Record payment.”
How do you keep track of the donations?
Every donation lands in your dashboard as an order, with the line item’s name and the amount, and each one triggers a “New order” email. No more matching screenshots against deposits — your page keeps the list for you.
That’s why the line item’s name matters. “Multi-vaccine shot for one dog” is self-explanatory in your order list; “Product 1” isn’t.
In September, Renata asked for $6,000 to vaccinate 15 dogs. Before, a campaign like that ended whenever she figured, roughly, that she’d hit the target. This time she added up the orders on Tuesday, saw she was at $4,850, and posted exactly that: “$1,150 to go.” By Thursday she’d hit the goal, and on Friday she posted that she no longer needed anything more for the vaccines.
Is the donation tax-deductible?
Only if your organization is an authorized donee with the SAT and you give the donor their tax receipt (CFDI) for the donation. Your page doesn’t issue it. Proyecta doesn’t generate invoices, so you still have to produce that receipt separately, just like you do now.
Renata isn’t an authorized donee, and she says so right next to the button: “Your donation is not tax-deductible.” A woman had once asked her for a receipt for her accountant after donating $1,500. Now the answer is written out before the payment happens, instead of in an awkward message afterward.
What your page doesn’t do with donations
- It doesn’t say “donation” to the donor. The email they get is an order confirmation: “Thanks for your purchase!” and that the shelter “is now preparing your order.” One donor wrote back to Renata: “Purchase of what?” The real thank-you — with a photo of the vaccinated dog — is something you send yourself.
- It doesn’t have suggested-amount buttons. You solve that with line items, one per minimum.
- It doesn’t issue tax-deductible receipts. That’s handled separately.
- There’s no “flexible amount” toggle in your dashboard. You ask Proyecta for it when you describe your page, or later, with something like “let people write in how much they’re donating.” What you can change in your dashboard is the price of each line item, which is its minimum.
Where do I start today?
Open your banking app and jot down last month’s donations. Whichever amount comes up most tells you where to set the minimum. And if someone sent you money for something specific — a vaccine, a bag of food, a dog’s surgery — that’s your second line item.
To receive donations online with your own page, describe it to Proyecta just like this: “a page for my dog shelter in Gómez Palacio, with photos of dogs looking for a home and a button for people to donate whatever they want, $50 minimum”.
Before you share the link, make the first donation yourself. That way you’ll see the window, the payment, and the email your people will receive. Get started at proyecta.dev.