How can I test donations on my campaign or giving form?

To test a campaign or giving form on GiveCampus, the form or campaign must be published and live. Here's how to properly test your fundraising pages:

Testing Requirements

Campaign/Form Must Be Live

• The campaign or giving form must be published for testing
• Draft campaigns and forms cannot process test transactions
• All payment processing requires the form to be in live status

How to Test Donations

Step 1: Publish Your Form/Campaign

Complete your campaign or form setup

Change the status from "Draft" to "Live"

Ensure your end date is set appropriately

Step 2: Make Test Donations

Use the live campaign or form URL

Make small test donations (e.g., $1-5) to verify functionality

Test different payment methods (credit card, PayPal, digital wallets)

Test various form fields and designation options

Step 3: Verify Test Results

• Check that donations appear in your admin dashboard
• Verify email confirmations are sent correctly
• Test any matches, challenges, or incentives
• Review reporting and donor information capture

Important Considerations

Test Transactions Count Toward Totals

Warning: Test transactions made while the campaign is live will count toward your overall campaign totals and statistics. These amounts will remain even when you return the campaign to draft status.

Returning to Draft Status

After testing:

You can send the campaign or form back to draft status

Test transactions will remain in the totals

Consider this when setting your campaign goals and planning

Using the GiveCampus sandbox environment

The GiveCampus sandbox lets you test without creating real financial transactions.

Sandbox details:

• Sandbox URL pattern: https://sandbox.givecampus.com/schools/{school_name}/admin/dashboard
• It supports Stripe test cards (see Stripe's testing documentation for card details). No real funds move when using these cards.
• Campaigns and giving forms created in production do not appear in the sandbox. You must build them separately within the sandbox.
• Fake card numbers will generate errors on production forms because Stripe test cards work only in test mode.

Testing on production:

If you need to test a live campaign or form to verify features like branded email confirmations or live payment methods, make a small real gift and track it as a test or refund it afterward. To refund a production gift:

• Go to Online Giving > Manage Gifts
• Open the Donations tab
• Find the gift and click Refund

After a refund, the gift remains visible in your reports with a status of Refunded.

Testing Best Practices

Use Small Amounts

• Make test donations of $1-5 to minimize impact on totals
• Use personal credit cards for testing, not donor payment methods

Test Multiple Scenarios

• Different gift amounts and payment methods
• Various designation selections
• Form field completions and validations
• Mobile and desktop experiences

Clean Up Test Data

• Document test transactions for your records
• Consider test amounts when analyzing final campaign results
• Plan for test transactions when setting campaign goals

Common Questions

Can I remove test donations from my totals?

What if I need to test extensively?

For extensive testing, consider:

• Using very small donation amounts
• Creating a separate test campaign
• Coordinating with your team to track test transactions

Does testing affect my real campaign launch?

No, testing during draft/live cycles won't affect your official campaign launch, but test transactions will remain in your data.