How to Add a Stripe Donation Form to WordPress With the KindLumen Plugin

What the plugin does (and deliberately does not do)

The plugin shows your KindLumen form on WordPress. That is the whole job. In the Stripe setup covered here, donations are processed through KindLumen and Stripe, receipts go out from KindLumen, and donor records live in your KindLumen dashboard. Your WordPress database stores display configuration such as the connected organization and form or campaign, iframe sizing, theme and button settings, attribution options, and fallback behavior—but not the donation itself.

• No card data in WordPress. Donors enter payment details in Stripe's payment interface inside the embedded flow.
• No Stripe keys in WordPress. The connection flow does not ask you to paste secret keys into the plugin.
• No custom donor tables. WordPress remains the presentation layer rather than a second donor database.

If you want a plugin that runs your entire fundraising operation inside WordPress, this is not it. If you want a branded, Stripe-powered form on your existing site without maintaining the payment workflow in WordPress, keep reading.

Step 1: install the plugin and connect

In your WordPress dashboard go to Plugins → Add New, search for KindLumen, then click Install Now and Activate. You can also download it from WordPress.org and upload the zip.

Activation opens Settings → KindLumen, a three-step setup screen. Step one is a single button: Connect with KindLumen.

1. Click it. You are sent to KindLumen.
2. Sign in, or click Create free account if you do not have one yet. KindLumen keeps the WordPress connection context while you finish account setup.
3. Pick the form to show on the site and click Use this form.

You are back in WordPress with the organization and form filled in. No slugs to copy, no form IDs, no API keys. If you ever want to change the form, click Change form on the same screen.

Step 2: connect Stripe and confirm that donations are open

Your form can be on the site before a payment account is ready; it shows "Donations open soon" instead of taking gifts. Step two reads the current status from KindLumen. For the Stripe route in this guide:

• If Stripe is verified and selected for the organization, the step says Stripe is connected and donations are open.
• If no payment provider is ready, the step links to KindLumen's payment settings, where you can complete Stripe onboarding.
• If the organization uses another supported provider, the status names that provider rather than presenting it as Stripe.

After changing payment settings, come back to WordPress and click Check again. For Stripe donations, charges are created in the connected Stripe account and Stripe controls bank-payout timing.

Step 3: put a Donate button on your site

Step three starts with Create a Donate page, which adds a draft page with the form already on it. Preview it, publish it, and add it to your menu.

For everything else there is an embed builder on the same screen. Choose what to show and how, then copy the result:

Shortcodes work in the Classic Editor, the Shortcode block, and page-builder elements that execute WordPress shortcodes. The button and form shortcodes accept a form_id or campaign_id; the campaign shortcode accepts id or campaign_id. Test the published page in your own theme because builders can apply different iframe and script rules.

The block, the menu button, and donate links

The block

In the block editor, add the KindLumen Donation Form block. Its settings panel has two dropdowns: What to show (your connected form, another live form, or a campaign) and How (popup button, form on the page, campaign card, or full campaign page). The editor previews the real form.

A Donate button in your menu

Go to Appearance → Menus. In the KindLumen box on the left, tick Donate button and click Add to Menu. The item appears pre-styled as a button and opens the popup. Block themes: add the class kindlumen-donate-trigger to any Navigation link instead.

Donate links

Already have a button you like in your theme or page builder? Set its link to #kindlumen-donate and it opens the donation popup. Use #kindlumen-donate:campaign:your-campaign to open a specific campaign, or paste the full address (for example https://example.org/#kindlumen-donate) into an email — arriving on the page opens the popup automatically.

Showing a campaign with a progress bar

If you are raising for something specific — a building, a program, a year-end goal — create a campaign in KindLumen with a goal, a story, and a picture, and publish it. The plugin then offers two extra ways to show it:

• Campaign card: a compact card with the picture, the amount raised, the goal, the progress bar, and a Donate button. It sizes itself to fit and updates as gifts come in. Clicking Donate opens the campaign over the page.
• Full campaign page: the whole campaign — story, highlights, goal meter, and the form — embedded on a WordPress page of its own.

The picker lists up to 50 active campaigns returned by KindLumen. Status results are cached for about five minutes, so use Check again after publishing when a new campaign is not visible yet.

Troubleshooting

• The form says "Donations open soon". No verified payment connection is ready for the organization. Open Settings → KindLumen; step two shows the status and links to payment settings.
• Nothing shows on the page. Logged-in administrators see a short setup message where the form would be; visitors see nothing until the plugin is connected. Open Settings → KindLumen and check step one.
• My page builder strips the shortcode. Use the builder's shortcode or text element rather than a heading element, or use a #kindlumen-donate link on one of the builder's own buttons.
• I want a different form on one page. Copy that form's shortcode from KindLumen (Add to website → WordPress); it names the form explicitly.

What this guide was checked against

This guide was reviewed on September 3, 2026 against version 1.1.3 of the KindLumen – Free Stripe Donation Forms plugin, including its public readme, connection flow, shortcode renderer, block and menu integration, provider-aware status handling, and automated security and rendering tests. The current WordPress.org listing is the public source for the released plugin version and installation details.

The plugin and KindLumen application can change after this review date. If the live interface or released plugin documentation differs from this article, follow the current product and report the mismatch through the editorial correction process.