Why this plugin exists
Donor Merchant started with a simple observation from years of building WordPress sites for small organizations: the moment a nonprofit wanted monthly donors - the single most valuable thing in their fundraising - their free donation plugin presented a paywall measured in hundreds of dollars a year.
That always felt backwards. Recurring giving isn't an enterprise luxury; it's the foundation of sustainable fundraising for exactly the organizations least able to pay for software.
So Donor Merchant takes a position: the fundraising basics are free. One-time and recurring gifts, fee recovery, tributes, donor records, receipts, reports - in the box, GPL-licensed, no platform fees. Paid plans will exist for organizations that want hands-on support and advanced tooling, but the free plugin is the product, not the demo.
Principles we build by
- Your donors are yours. Records live in your database; exports are one click; nothing is held hostage.
- Security is not a feature tier. Card data never touches your server, totals are verified server-side, webhooks are signed - for everyone, free.
- Lightweight is a feature. One plugin, no add-on maze, no dashboard ads.
- Honest marketing. Comparisons cite published pricing with dates. If a competitor fits you better, our comparison pages say so.
Who owns and builds it
Donor Merchant is owned, built, and maintained by Matt McWilliam, the developer behind MJM Web Design (mjmwebdesign.com). After years of building and maintaining WordPress sites for small businesses and nonprofits - the kind of organizations this plugin is for - he created Donor Merchant as his own independent product, not on behalf of a client. Both this site (donormerchant.com) and MJM Web Design are his.
The plugin is published on WordPress.org under the account mattmcwilliam, and correspondence is handled at matt@mjmwebdesign.com. That email shares a single owner with donormerchant.com - one person, two projects.
Get in touch - questions, feedback, and rough edges all welcome.