Donate button (PayPal)

The Donations (PayPal) extension adds a Donate page and button to your public website. The button sends visitors to your own PayPal donation link (or any other donation URL you choose). Card details never touch CartonCrew.

Who this is for: admins who run the public website. The extension is tied to the Donations capability, which an administrator grants on the Users page. The Donate page itself is edited in the Website module.

What it does, and what it does not

It adds Donate to your public site’s navigation, and a Donate callout on the home page.
The button opens your donation URL in a new tab. The payment happens on PayPal’s site.
When the link goes to PayPal, Venmo, Square, Cash App, Stripe, Givebutter or Zeffy, the button shows in that provider’s own colors, with your label beside its name or logo. See The branded button.

The Donate page only appears on your website while the Donations (PayPal) extension is on. Until then it stays hidden, even when it is filled in and Published. The Donate tab of the Website module says so in an amber box at the top: “Your Donate page is hidden from your website. It only appears when the Donations extension is turned on.” An Owner or Admin gets a Turn on Donations link there, which opens Settings → Extensions with the search set to Donations; everyone else is asked to ask an admin. A page that is already Published also shows Published, but not visible on your website yet. under the Published toggle.

It does not record payments in CartonCrew. There is no Donations tab listing PayPal payments, no receipt email from CartonCrew, and no PayPal settings to fill in. Check payments, refunds and fees in PayPal itself.

To record gifts in CartonCrew, including ones that came in through PayPal, use the Gifts tab of Donor Management. See Donor Management.

Setting it up

Settings → Extensions → the Owner enables Donations (PayPal).
Open Website and pick the Donate tab.
Fill in:
- Heading and Body: why people should give.
- Button label: what the button says. Leave it blank for Donate.
- PayPal / donation URL: where the button sends people, for example your PayPal donate link.
- Header image (optional).
Click Save, then turn on Published.
Open /donate on your public site and check that the button goes where you expect.

The branded button

When the PayPal / donation URL is a link on one of these sites, the button takes that provider’s style automatically. There is nothing to switch on.

Link starts with	Button
`https://www.paypal.com`, `https://paypal.me`	PayPal gold with the PayPal logo
`https://venmo.com`	Venmo blue with the Venmo wordmark
`https://square.link`, `https://checkout.square.site`, `https://squareup.com`	Square black with the Square mark
`https://cash.app`	Cash App green with the Cash App mark
`https://donate.stripe.com`, `https://buy.stripe.com`	Stripe purple with the name Stripe
`https://givebutter.com`	Givebutter yellow with the name Givebutter
`https://zeffy.com`	Zeffy purple with the name Zeffy

Any other link keeps your site’s usual button. Under the URL field the editor says which one you will get, for example “Shows as a PayPal button.” It is still a plain link opening in a new tab; nothing from the provider loads on your site. Only https:// links on the provider’s real address are branded: a look-alike such as paypal.com.example.org gets the usual button. The visual editor’s Donate page brands its donate button the same way.

If you switch the Donate page to the visual editor, compose it from blocks instead. See Website → The visual editor.

Common issues

“A donation link hasn’t been set up yet.” shows on the public page. The PayPal / donation URL is empty. Add it and save.
No Donate link in the public navigation, or the Donate page is missing even though it is Published. The Donations (PayPal) extension is not enabled. The amber box at the top of Website → Donate confirms it; an Owner or Admin can press Turn on Donations there.

Last updated: 2026-10-23 · Applies to: CartonCrew v2.126+