Do It Yourself Online Forms

Tip: Templates for DIY forms are responsive. When website visitors view your pages that use responsive templates, the page adjusts to respect the size of the visitor's device. This makes it easier for visitors to use the form from tablets and smart phones. However, existing DIY pages created before the 7.12 release (on September 14, 2014) are not automatically responsive. To make an older DIY page responsive, republish the page. If the DIY form is embedded in another website, republish the page, copy the updated embed code, and use the code to update your website. For best results, your website should also be responsive. Templates with custom skins are not responsive. We recommend you use embeddable templates instead.

You can create and edit Do It Yourself (DIY) Online Forms to use for online giving, event registrations, volunteer registrations, membership, and email sign-ups.

You can create several types of DIY forms and publish them yourself.

  • Online Giving Page: This form allows your page visitors to make one-time and recurring donations.

  • Event Registration Page: This form allows your page visitors to register for an event.

  • Membership Sign-up Page: This form allows your page visitors to purchase memberships.

  • Contact Page: This form allows your page visitors to sign up to receive regular communications from you. This form cannot accept payments.

  • Volunteer Page: This form allows your page visitors to register to volunteer with your organization. This form cannot accept payments.

You can access the DIY forms page from Management. On the My Online Forms page, you can see all of your existing forms, their statuses, and relevant statistics.

For an overview of DIY forms, including how to set up your payment processor, confirmation email template, and other form elements, refer to the Getting Started with Do-It-Yourself Forms guide.

Note: If your organization uses the Advanced Security module, you can only edit forms assigned to sites you have access to.

Forms with a status of "draft" have not been published. After you publish a form, the status changes to "live."

Note: By default, only users in the Admin security group have access to online forms. To grant rights to online forms to other users, your administrator can change the permissions in their security group. For information about how to change security permissions, refer to Create a security group.

You can use online forms to create new pages to fit your organization's needs. To help you design professional pages, use pre-configured templates to get started. You can edit these templates to better match your website's colors, fonts, and images. Using the editing options, you can usually create a design that resembles the look and feel of your website, even if it is not an exact match.

Note: Contact Blackbaud design services if you want your page to match your current website exactly, or you have any additional needs that cannot be accommodated by the standard online forms.

Consider the capabilities of online forms when deciding if they will work for you.

Capability Online Forms Custom Forms
Accept donations, event registrations, and membership payments Yes Yes
Design can be customized by users to resemble your website Yes No
Design can be customized by Blackbaud to resemble your website No Yes
Design can be customized to match your website exactly No Yes
Content (parts, fields, etc.) can be edited and published without assistance from Blackbaud Yes No
Design (colors, fonts, etc.) can be edited and published without assistance from Blackbaud Yes No
Pre-configured templates and parts Yes No
Can perform more than one action, such as online giving and event registration on the same form No Yes
Allow hidden values, such as tracking different form versions for comparison purposes or adding an advanced security code Yes Yes
Custom styles available on request Yes Yes