Slate forms can be used to collect gifts and pledges while processing payments through Slate Payments. These forms may support public-facing online giving pages, embedded giving experiences within portals, or internal gift entry workflows used by advancement staff.

This article outlines the core requirements and basic configuration needed to create gifts and pledges from a form submission. While the examples focus on common online giving scenarios, the same concepts apply to internal forms.

Slate forms are highly flexible and can be customized to support a wide range of giving experiences. Many of the features referenced in this guide — including the Payment Widget, Enabling PalPal and Venmo, conditional logic, and default field values — are covered in greater detail in other documentation.

Prerequisite
This article assumes familiarity with the broader Forms functionality in Slate. If you are new to forms, review the articles in the Forms category before continuing.

Required Information for Creating Gifts and Pledges

1. Person information used to match or create a person record.

2. Gift information used to create the gift record.

Person Information

Every giving form must collect sufficient information for Slate to match the submission to an existing record or create a new record if one does not exist.

At minimum, the following fields should be included:

Additional identifying fields (such as address or phone number) may be included depending on institutional practices, but they are not required for gift creation.

Gift Information

In order for Slate to create a gift record from a form submission, four key fields must be provided:

• Fund

• Amount

• Status

• Type

These required elements are commonly referred to as FAST. If any FAST field is missing, Slate will not create a gift record, even if payment is successfully collected through the payment form widget.

Because these values are required, institutions often configure them in ways that balance data accuracy with a simple donor experience.

For example:

• Fund and Amount are commonly selected by the donor.

• Status and Type are often set automatically.

For external giving forms, it is typically recommended to configure some fields as hidden fields so that they are applied automatically without requiring additional donor or staff input.

Additional Gift Configuration Options

While the FAST fields are required for gift creation, many institutions include additional gift-related fields to support campaign tracking and stewardship.

Common examples include:

• Appeal

• Campaign

• Soft Credits

These values are frequently configured to be hidden fields to simplify the donor experience. For example:

• Appeals or campaigns may be defaulted or passed through query string parameters for use in targeted campaign links.

• Soft credits may be automatically applied to suggested or default records, or intentionally not applied.

Using hidden values allows the form to capture important reporting and attribution data without adding complexity to the giving experience.

Supporting Multiple Gifts on a Single Form

Slate forms can also support multiple gifts within a single submission.

This is typically implemented using Replicate Blocks, which allow donors to add additional gift entries dynamically.

When replicate blocks are used:

• Each entry creates a separate gift record

• Only one payment transaction is processed for the combined amount (if collecting payment on the form)

This approach can significantly improve the donor experience when donors wish to support multiple funds during the same transaction.

Using Conditional Logic

Forms may also include conditional logic to display additional fields based on donor selections.

For example, a form may display additional fields when a donor indicates that a gift is made in honor or memory of someone. In this case, tribute-related fields can appear only when needed.

Conditional logic can also be used to support different giving pathways within the same form, such as allowing the donor to choose between making a gift or creating a pledge.

Pledges on a Form

The same core requirements apply when creating pledges through a form.

For pledge forms, institutions commonly include additional fields that define the installment schedule, such as:

• Number of Installments

• Months Between Installments

• First Installment Date (Date Override)

These fields allow the pledge to be structured as a recurring schedule while still being created through a single form submission.

Collecting Payment

Collecting a payment is not required for a form that creates gifts or pledges. In some cases—such as internal gift entry forms—payments may be collected outside of Slate. However, when a form is intended to collect payment directly from the donor, it must include a Payment Form Widget configured with Slate Payments.

The Payment Form Widget enables donors to submit payment using a credit card or other supported digital payment methods. This widget is commonly used on public online giving forms, where the donor both submits gift information and completes payment in a single transaction.