PayPal donations revisited

[Bas]

We have a working "Donate" button on the "Donate to NC WW" page. Last year, we also used the Donation Barometer with the "Donate" options to help track progress.

The nice thing about routing the donations through the Barometer is that the system automatically records who gave what, so Travis doesn't have to manually enter the donations into the system. That should leave him more time for tool shopping!

So, I suggest we update the "Donate to NC WW" page, and remove the Paypal button. Instead, we'd have a link that goes to the Barometer donation page. If you don't remember, this page has a dropdown list where you can select an amount ($5, $10, $25 etc.). After choosing the amount, it takes you to Paypal. This is a pretty simple change to make.

Travis - the Donation Barometer has a few other features you might find useful. The system can automatically do the following:

• Send PM to user after donating
• Send PM to user when donation is confirmed
• Send PM to user when donation is confirmed (manually added donations)
• Send notices to Staff when someone used Donate system (we probably want to change this to be just you)

The subject line and message can be customized for each of these donation events. The boilerplate text that came with the Donation Barometer is very plain, I can take a first pass at making it suitably jockular for our friendly woodworking site.

 

[Travis Porter]

We have a working "Donate" button on the "Donate to NC WW" page. Last year, we also used the Donation Barometer with the "Donate" options to help track progress.

The nice thing about routing the donations through the Barometer is that the system automatically records who gave what, so Travis doesn't have to manually enter the donations into the system. That should leave him more time for tool shopping!

So, I suggest we update the "Donate to NC WW" page, and remove the Paypal button. Instead, we'd have a link that goes to the Barometer donation page. If you don't remember, this page has a dropdown list where you can select an amount ($5, $10, $25 etc.). After choosing the amount, it takes you to Paypal. This is a pretty simple change to make.

Travis - the Donation Barometer has a few other features you might find useful. The system can automatically do the following:

• Send PM to user after donating
• Send PM to user when donation is confirmed
• Send PM to user when donation is confirmed (manually added donations)
• Send notices to Staff when someone used Donate system (we probably want to change this to be just you)

The subject line and message can be customized for each of these donation events. The boilerplate text that came with the Donation Barometer is very plain, I can take a first pass at making it suitably jockular for our friendly woodworking site.

I thought there were issues getting the barometer access restricted to the BOD so I suggested to Jim to just leave it as manual and I would update it. Of the "send" selections, the only one that would really benefit is the send PM to users when donation is confirmed (manually added donations). Reason being is that for all the other scenarios emails are sent to the Donator and I get one in the accounting email box.

Still, if it isn't a lot of trouble, and it is workable, sure do the donate button. If it is a hassle, then we can just do the manual update. I defer to you and Jim to tell me what is the easiest, quickest, and simplest to maintain.

If it makes sense to do the donation barometer with the donation button, have at making the text "appropriately jocular for our woodworking community". :wink_smil

 

[Bas]

I'll get on it. It's not a lot of work (or I would have volunteered Jim for it...:rolf.

 

[froglips]

Hey now, I resemble that!

Jim

I'll get on it. It's not a lot of work (or I would have volunteered Jim for it...:rolf.

 

[Bas]

I updated the Donations page, so it now takes you to the "Barometer form" where you enter the amount. From there, you go to PayPal as normal. I haven't tested it yet though.
Here is the text I propose we use to thank users for their donations. If it's good to go, I'll flip the switch so that when you manually enter a payment, the giver gets a Thank You PM.

Subject: Your donation has been confirmed - thank you!

Dear <username>

Thank you for your donation to North Carolina Woodworker. Your contribution will support the web site and our initiatives to promote woodworking in our community. Knowing you could have spent that money on tools or lumber, the board truly appreciates your gift.

It is our policy to keep donations anonymous, so that others with fewer financial resources do not feel pressured to donate as well. I would appreciate it if you would respect this policy and refrain from advertising your donation in the forums.

Donation date: <date>
Donation amount: <amount>


With Regards,

Travis Porter
Treasurer

 

[Travis Porter]

Made a slight change, but looks good to me.

 

[froglips]

I didn't quite follow what was said on the Conf Call regarding this.

Is something about the donation tool not working? If so, which part?

Right now the "hack" is enabled, but the Donation Bar is not. Not having the Donation Bar turned on may be keeping a feature from showing up.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Bas]

I updated the e-mail text based on Dennis' & Travis' feedback. The Donation Bar is "turned on", but not included on the page, so it's effectively "off", if that makes any sense.
Please try accessing the donations page again. The donations should be visible here -> http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/misc.php?do=donlist

If it's not working, I'll need special dispensation so I can change the permissions to this page and debug the issue. This would take the form of someone from the board replying "Go for it dude" (feel free to improvise the text)

 

[Bas]

Bump - is this working now?

 

[froglips]

We'll find out soon enough?

Tracy asked me to turn the barometer on. He did confirm he could see the now "Hidden" menu and donations details.

For the other part, I think we'll need to hear from the folks in charge.

Jim

 

[Travis Porter]

Are we good to go?

Is the Paypal button right?

 

[Tar Heel]

When I click on the view donations in the "Other Links" section, I get the broken "oops, broken link" message.

 

[Bas]

When I click on the view donations in the "Other Links" section, I get the broken "oops, broken link" message.

What if you go here -> http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/misc.php?do=donlist ?
For some reason, the donation bar is dropping /forums from the URL. The same happens if you select "Donate now" from the dropdown in the bar.

 

[froglips]

I know where to fix those links, give me a few minutes to fix.

Jim

 

[froglips]

Donation Goal -> Donate Now link fixed.

 

[froglips]

I "think" I fixed the Other Links link, let us know.

Jim

 

[Tar Heel]

I can view the donation list by clicking on the link Bas proved, however, I still get "oops, broken link" if I click on "Other Links" and then "View donations". ???

 

[froglips]

Think I got Other Links now.

Please try again.

Jim

 

[Bas]

Think I got Other Links now.

Please try again.

Jim

Jim - for my education..this is in cyb_paypal_donbar, and you simply replaced pre-pended the URLs with $vboptions[bburl]/ ....correct?

 

[froglips]

One was there, yup.

The other was in the Plugin Code Cyb - PayPal Donate - Link

Jim