About the Form Builder
1. Page Editor
2. Form Editor
Editing an Existing Form
Acknowledgment Emails & Letters
About the Form Builder
With the Neon CRM account and donation form builder, you can create forms to collect constituent information and process online donations. Click here for a guided walkthrough of the form builder.
To find the form builder, navigate to Forms & Pages > Forms.
Then, to create a new form, click the New Form button in the top right corner of the page, and select Account or Donation.
Tip: If you're looking for information about new membership forms, refer to this guide.
Account forms collect constituent information and create a Neon account for that constituent in your system without processing any payment. Donation forms process an online donation and create an account in your system for the donor. After you choose your form type, a window will open with basic settings options for creating your form. These can also be adjusted later in the form builder. Click Create your form to start building your form.
The form builder includes five sections (Page Editor, Form Editor, Theme Editor, Exit Page, and Settings) for editing different parts of your form. You can toggle between these sections by using the icons on the left side of the screen.
1. Page Editor
In the page editor section, you can set the:
- Form Alignment
Select whether the form is aligned left, center, or right within the page.
- Overlay
Choose to have a light, dark, or no overlay. This is the overlay that appears in the header of the form page and as the background of the content box.
- Title and Describe your cause
In these text fields, enter additional content that you’d like to appear on your form page in the content box. - Media
Add one photo or video to the form page. Import media using a URL, browse previously uploaded media in your system or select a free image from the Unsplash library.
2. Form Editor
In the form editor section, choose which fields to add to your account form. Available fields include standard Neon CRM account fields and Account Custom Fields and Donation Custom Fields created in Global Settings. In the left column of the form editor, under Add Fields, scroll down to find a field, or use the search function to find a specific field.
To add a field to the form, you can:
- Click on the field, and then drag and drop it where you’d like it on the form, OR
- Double-click the field in the left-hand list, and this field will be automatically added at the end of the form. Rearrange fields by clicking and dragging them to a new position on the form.
To edit a field added to the form, click on that field section. Then, this field box will expand with additional options.
These options for editing fields include:
- Adjusting the field display name
Type in a new field name. This will be the name constituents will see when filling out the form. Adjusting this display name won’t change the name in the backend of Neon; this backend name is displayed in the top righthand corner of the field box for reference.
- Add a field description
Use this option to add further clarification for how constituents should fill out this field.
- Set Required
Use the Required toggle to mark a field as required on the form. This will be shown on the form with an asterisk.
- Hide the field from the form.
Click the eye icon to hide or unhide a form field section from the frontend form.
- Set Default
Some fields with multiple field options allow you to set which option is populated by default when a constituent fills out the form.
- Remove the field
Use the trashcan icon to remove a field from the form. You can add a field back to the form by searching the Add Fields column on the left side of the screen.
Donation forms have a few additional fields and sections that can be configured:
- Donation Frequency
The Donation Frequency field lets donors choose whether they'd like to make a one-time or recurring donation. Set which option is pre-selected when a donor goes to this form by clicking on the radio button next to either option.
If you'd like to create a donation form that only generates either one-time or recurring donations, you can click into the Donation Frequency Field, and then hover over one of these options, and click the small 'x' that appears to remove the option.
- Donation Amounts
Click on the Donation Amounts section to configure the amounts that appear on your donation form. Click to drag and drop an amount to a new location in the amount list. Click on an amount to edit it.
Click Add Amount to add an additional donation amount, or use the trashcan icon to delete one of the amounts.
Check the Use same amounts for one-time and recurring donations box if you'd like the same donation amount options to appear whether a donor chooses to give once or on a recurring schedule.
- Tribute & Acknowledgment Fields
The tribute section on donation forms is a conditional checkbox field. If a donor clicks the Tribute checkbox, then the field section will expand to show all the fields you've configured to collect tribute information. And if they check the box to send an acknowledgment to someone, this will then also expand the Acknowledgee fields.
In the form builder, click on the Tribute & Acknowledgment section to configure. Add fields to collect information about the tribute that the donor is honoring with their donation, as well as the person who should be acknowledged after the donation is made.
Reference this Support Guide for additional information on reconciling Tribute Donations made online. - Payment Details and Donor Covered Fees
Under Payment Details, click into this section to make additional fields required on your form. If you have the option for donors to donate an additional amount to cover payment processing fees enabled, you will see the standard Donor Covered Fees language automatically added.
3. QR Codes
Typical uses of QR codes include:
- Add a QR code to any printed mail fundraising appeal or communication, so that donors can respond to your communication via an account or donation form online.
- Include the QR code on your organization's marketing collateral.
- Use the QR code at In-Person events so constituents can quickly fill out a survey or make a donation online.
At any point while editing your form, click the QR code image at the top of the Form Editor.
4. Theme Editor
In the theme editor section, you can select which theme you'd like to apply to your form. This controls the general colors, header links, footer, background color and images, and font of your form. Click on one of the pre-made System Themes or one of your own themes from the My Themes section to set this theme for the form. Under My Themes, click New Theme to create a new theme for the form. Or, select the three-dot action menu under a theme to navigate to edit or copy an existing theme.
Note that changes to an existing theme will apply to all forms using that theme.
View this Support Guide on Themes for detailed instructions on creating a new theme.
5. Exit Page
After a constituent submits your form, they land on an exit page. You have two options for creating your exit page:
- Standard Exit Page
With the Standard Exit Page, you can add a custom message. You can use the {{Constituent First Name}}, {{Constituent Last Name}}, {{Constituent Name}}, and {{Constituent Email}} tokens to populate data that the constituent entered on the form to further personalize the exit page.
Add buttons if you’d like to link your constituents to external pages. The buttons will automatically alternate light and dark backgrounds based on your theme colors.
Enable Allow for social sharing from the exit page to add social media icon links that will make it easy for constituents to share the form to their social media pages.
- Custom Exit Page
To direct constituents to your own web page after they complete the form, you can paste the link to an external web page in the Custom Exit Page URL section.
6. Settings
Form settings include:
- Form URL
You can customize the end of the URL path to be specific to your form.
- Campaign, Fund & Purpose
For donation forms, you can allocate donations from a form to one specific Campaign, or you can allow your constituents to select a Campaign they'd like to donate to. If you only select one Campaign for the form, all donations will go to that Campaign automatically. If you select multiple Campaigns, this will generate a dropdown field on the form where the donor can choose a Campaign.
Toggling to allow donors to choose a Fund or Purpose on the form will add dropdown menus to the form, where donors can choose from any of the Funds and/or Purposes you've configured in your Global Settings.
- Constituent Login & Type
Select whether the form will create individual or company accounts, or whether the constituent will able to select whether they are filling out the form as an individual or on behalf of a company. If Individual & Company is selected, a checkbox will appear on the form.
Constituents can check this box to create a company account or leave this unchecked if they are filling out the form as an individual.
Choose whether to allow or require constituents to log into the Constituent Login Portal before filling out a form. When constituent login is enabled, a Login button will be added in the top right corner of the form page. When login is required, a login prompt window will appear, and constituents will have to log in before proceeding with the form.
For forms where login is allowed but not required, you can also choose to add the Login Prompt to your form, and constituents will having the option of closing the prompt window if they wish to proceed without logging in. Note that this first needs to be enabled in your Global Settings.
- Payment Settings
In this section for donation forms, select the payment methods (Card and ACH/E-Check) that you'd like to allow constituents to pay with.
Also, you can select if you'd like to allow constituents to be able to choose Pay Later on the form -- for example, if you'd like them to be able to submit your form online but mail their payment as a check.
- Publishing Your Form
Once you have completed creating your form, click the Publish button in the top right corner of the page to publish the form and save your final changes. A pop-up box will appear where you can copy your form URL.
Editing An Existing Form
To edit an existing form created with this Form Builder, navigate back to Forms & Pages > Forms. The forms list page will show the list of account and donation forms built with this form builder. You can filter by date created, type (Donation or Account), and status (Published or Unpublished) to view only certain forms. You can also save these filters if you'd like to see certain forms by default on this page (for example, published forms).
Configure the columns shown on this list page by clicking the pencil icon in the top right corner of the page. Toggle between the compact and comfortable page view to adjust the amount of detail shown.
Next to each form, click the three-dot action menu to view the form, edit the form, duplicate the form, or unpublish the form.
To copy the link for an existing form, click the name of the form from the list, and you will be directed to the detail page for that form. From the detail page, you can view the form, copy the form URL, edit the form, and see/search all form submissions.
Form Acknowledgments
Constituents filling out an Account Form can automatically receive your Account Registration System Email and/or Letter the first time they create an account. Donors will receive a Donation Appreciation System Email or Letter based on your settings.
Learn more about creating and enabling these acknowledgments:
Additionally, view the following support guide for tips on how to encourage constituents and donors to create a login name & password so that they can access the Constituent Login Portal:
How do I encourage people in the database to create a login name & password?