Swft Donations
Add a donation widget to Swft Checkout with optional HMRC-compliant Gift Aid declarations. Donations are collected at checkout, stored in a dedicated database table, and exportable to Charities Online for HMRC submission.
Swft Donations is free.
What it does
Section titled “What it does”A donation widget appears on the Swft Checkout payment step. Shoppers can:
- Pick a preset donation amount (you configure the presets — e.g. £1 / £5 / £10).
- Enter a custom amount.
- Opt in to Gift Aid by ticking a box and confirming their name and postcode (UK only).
Donations are added to the order total and processed by the same payment method as the rest of the cart. Gift Aid declarations are logged separately for HMRC reporting.
Prerequisites
Section titled “Prerequisites”- WordPress 6.0+
- WooCommerce 8.0+
- PHP 7.4+
- Swft Checkout active
- For Gift Aid: a registered UK charity with an HMRC charity reference number
Installation
Section titled “Installation”- Install the Swft Donations plugin from your Swft dashboard’s downloads section.
- Activate it.
- Go to WooCommerce → Swft Donations.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enable donations | Master toggle. |
| Charity name | Displayed in the widget header (e.g. “Support Macmillan Cancer Support”). |
| Preset amounts | Comma-separated list of suggested amounts (e.g. 1,5,10,25). |
| Enable Gift Aid | Shows the Gift Aid opt-in checkbox + name/postcode fields. |
| HMRC reference | Your charity’s HMRC reference number. Required for Gift Aid claims. |
| Widget title / description | Custom copy shown above the donation amount picker. |
Customer experience
Section titled “Customer experience”The widget shows:
- The charity name and description.
- Preset donation buttons + a “Custom amount” input.
- A Gift Aid checkbox (if enabled).
- If Gift Aid is ticked, name and postcode inputs appear inline.
When the shopper completes payment, the donation amount is added as an order line and the Gift Aid declaration (if applicable) is logged.
Managing declarations
Section titled “Managing declarations”In WooCommerce → Swft Donations → Declarations you can:
- View every Gift Aid declaration: donor name, postcode, donation amount, order ID, timestamp.
- Export to CSV for upload to Charities Online.
- Mark periods as Claimed once you’ve submitted them to HMRC — this acts as a manual audit trail and prevents accidental re-submission.
How it works under the hood
Section titled “How it works under the hood”On activation, the plugin creates a swft_donations table with columns: declaration_id, order_id, donor_name, donor_postcode, amount, claimed, created_at.
The widget is injected into Swft Checkout via the swft_session_extensions filter. When the shopper submits, the declaration is written to the table; the donation amount is included as a line item on the resulting WooCommerce order with _swft_donation_amount meta.
The admin page reads the table to render the declarations list and CSV export.
Gotchas
Section titled “Gotchas”- Gift Aid is UK only. Don’t enable it if you’re a non-UK charity — the declaration format is HMRC-specific.
- HMRC has strict eligibility rules. Your donor must be a UK taxpayer who’s paid enough Income Tax / Capital Gains Tax in the year to cover the Gift Aid. Make sure your widget copy reflects this.
- Submissions to Charities Online are manual — Swft Donations doesn’t push to HMRC for you. You export CSV, you upload.
- The donation appears as an order line, so it counts toward your WooCommerce gross revenue. Reconcile separately in your accounting.