Donation websites are amazing, especially if they include gift aid. The pitfalls are their limited customisation, usually they only allow you to add a DONATE button with some wording. You need to somehow collect all the balloon data and contact info (so you can contact the winners). The 1st option below avoids uploading CSVs & describes how to leverage the balloon race software to collect the info and then send your buyers to your donation page.
I have found the best solution is to keep it simple and follow the below instructions:
Building Your Own Forms
You can sell balloons from your favourite platform & upload the information with a CSV. If you’re using your own stripe account you’ll still be paying 20p per transaction +2.5%.
You need to be able to build a form that collects the required fields: Name / Email / Balloon Name / Balloon Colour / Message
BEWARE when trying to use your favourite donation website – you could spend hours building forms, reconciling payments and uploading CSVs to save yourself £30 in banking costs.
Professional charities use these donation websites and they sometimes sell over £1000 of virtual balloons (or Ducks) saving a small fortune in banking costs. But….. they employ professionals who know their way around a CSV and can build online forms to record the required data.
Sometimes it’s better to pay the bank charges and have everything automated. I’m not trying to twist your arm…. but it’s usually me who has to fix the CSV 😊.
Once you’ve collected all the info here’s how to upload the CSV.