How to Use Giving Levels To Drive Donations

This post was updated on April 2, 2026 to reflect current best practices and examples for using giving levels in nonprofit fundraising.

It’s reasonable to assume that a fill-in-the-blank question allows people some much-desired freedom or flexibility in how they respond. But that’s not always the case when it comes to online fundraising. Setting specific giving levels on your Donate page or within your donation form can be a good thing if these tiers influence (and potentially increase) a supporter’s plan to give.

This doesn’t mean that you should set the default donation amount to $1,000 and hope for the best. Instead, you should focus on creating parameters that tell donors more about the possibilities and potential impact of their gift.

Learn why giving levels and suggested donation amounts are effective tools for your website fundraising efforts, plus see examples of how to pull it off for your organization.

What are Giving Levels?

Giving levels offer donors choices in the form of pre-set amounts. Rather than leaving a blank space for a donor to enter an amount, they provide benchmarks that can influence the actual donation.

For some people, having a set of giving levels to choose from takes away the question of what’s an “appropriate” amount to give. A new donor might be looking to make an entry-level gift that’s not so small that it feels ineffective, while a returning donor could be motivated to increase their commitment but unsure how big of a leap to make in order to make a real difference.

Donation levels also offer a sense of what’s “normal” for people to give to the cause, like a set of benchmarks based on different abilities to give. In this case, different levels are a chance to be inclusive compared to a blank form field that leaves people wondering where they fit in your donor community. And by offering an option to write in an amount, you still leave the door open for supporters who want to go above and beyond the norm!

Setting Your Donation Levels

This can amount to a high/low game. When setting your giving levels, start by looking at your average donation amount, setting aside any unusually large gifts that might skew the number. Use that average as a starting point, then build levels around it. If your average gift is $75, you might offer tiers at $25, $50, $100 and $200. Your goal is obviously to encourage bigger donations, but research from the University of Chicago shows that setting your highest tier too far above what people typically give can actually discourage donors from giving at all.

For more on making donation tiers that are specific to your organization, check out the five steps outlined by Soapbox Engage and tips on gift arrays from NextAfter.

Tell Donors What Their Money Will Support

Your giving levels can serve as a real-time needs statement for your organization. Offering giving levels highlights your nonprofit’s greatest needs and tells donors how donations can help support that. Be specific: include numbers, faces and details behind your ask. Is it medical supplies for a family? A meal for a family of four? A set of textbooks for a classroom of 20 students? 

Much like calls to action elsewhere on your website, the more detailed you can get, the more people can get behind your specific ask. Making the need real can make the request actionable. Your donors will be able to picture in a concrete way the good their money will enable.

Examples of Giving Levels

We’ve rounded up a few examples of nonprofits that use giving levels to enhance the donation process and engage donors by describing the real-world impact.

ASPCA

The ASPCA pairs each of their giving levels with a photo and a specific impact statement. A scrolling gallery cycles through the tiers automatically, showing what each gift will accomplish, from covering an animal’s foster supplies to providing veterinary care. The page also offers one-time, monthly and annual donations, plus a custom amount option.

Feeding America

Feeding America takes a different approach. Rather than tying each level to a unique outcome, they anchor the entire page around one powerful formula: every $1 helps provide at least 10 meals. Select any amount and the page calculates the total meals for you on the spot. The page also supports one-time and monthly giving with separate preset amounts for each.

BirdLife International

BirdLife International pairs images of their conservation work with giving levels and specific impact descriptions. Their “Your impact” section shows four tiers tied to real conservation work, from sending rapid response teams to save a vulture from poisoning to supporting species-saving research into at-risk albatrosses. Pairing a face (or beak) to different tiers helps people better visualize what their donation means in practice.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Southcentral Alaska

Levels that directly correspond to program needs and outcomes are powerful and demonstrate a sense of credibility about what you’re asking for. Boys & Girls Clubs of Southcentral Alaska pairs each giving level with a photo and a program-specific description. Whether it’s STEAM activity supplies at $25 or character and leadership programming at $250, each tier connects the donation to the heart of their work: giving kids great futures.

charity: water

Now for something completely different! Rather than offering preset giving levels, charity: water uses a single amount field with a dynamic impact message. Enter $200 and you’ll see that it serves five people with clean water. Change the amount and the message recalculates instantly. They also share that 100% of public donations will directly fund clean water, with operational costs covered separately. It’s a creative alternative to fixed tiers that still guides donors toward understanding their impact.

Key Takeaways

• Pre-set giving levels reduce decision fatigue and can increase donations. Rather than leaving a blank field, suggested amounts give donors helpful benchmarks for what’s appropriate to give.
• Tie each level to a specific, tangible impact. Donors give more when they can picture exactly what their money supports, whether it’s meals, supplies or program costs.
• Base your levels on actual donor data. Use your average gift amount as a starting point (excluding unusually large gifts) and build tiers that encourage slightly larger donations without feeling unrealistic.
• Always include an option for custom amounts. Pre-set levels work best when donors can still choose their own amount if none of the tiers feel right.

Does your nonprofit use giving levels or donation tiers? Do you have any other examples of websites that use this method to encourage donations? We’d love to hear from you in the comments (and feel free to drop us a link).