Where to edit
Open Donor Merchant → Settings → Email. It lists every email the plugin sends, with its status and recipients. Click Manage on one to switch it on or off, change its subject, heading and message, choose HTML or plain text, and show or hide the donation details table.
| Sent to | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Donation receipt | Donor | After a one-time gift or the first payment of a recurring gift |
| Recurring gift receipt | Donor | Each time a recurring gift renews |
| Offline gift instructions | Donor | When they choose to give by check or bank transfer |
| New donation | You (one or more addresses) | When a gift comes in. Reply to reach the donor. |
| Donor portal sign-in link | Donor | When they ask for a link to their giving history (always on) |
| Monthly summary | You (one or more addresses) | On the first of each month, skipped if there were no donations |
Every screen has a live preview (desktop or mobile) and a Send a test email button. Both use your unsaved changes.
Template
The Email template section sets your logo, header alignment, font, footer text and five colors. It starts with your form's accent color and button shape.
Placeholders
Use these in the subject, heading or message of the receipt emails (the Insert menu on each screen adds them for you). The monthly summary has its own: {month}, {total_raised} and {donation_count}.
| Placeholder | Output |
|---|---|
{donor_name} | Full name (e.g. "Maria Alvarez") |
{first_name} | First name only |
{amount} | Total charged, with currency symbol |
{donation_amount} | Gift before fee recovery |
{frequency} | One-time, Weekly, Every 2 weeks, Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly |
{date} | Donation date (your site's date format) |
{transaction_id} | Gateway reference (useful for donor inquiries) |
{designation} | The fund the donor chose, if any |
{receipt_link} | Link to the printable receipt |
{organization} | Your organization name from settings |
{site_title} | Your site title |
Sender details
Set the "From" name, "From" address and an optional "Reply-to" address in the Sender section of Settings → Email. Left empty, they use the organization name and email address from Settings → General. Use an address on your own domain for the best deliverability.
A receipt message that works
The details table already lists the amount, frequency, date and transaction ID, plus the fund, campaign, dedication, employer match and Gift Aid when they apply, so the message can stay personal:
Dear {first_name},
Thank you for your generous donation of {amount}
to {organization}.
Your support funds [one concrete thing]. We couldn't do it
without you.
With gratitude,
[Real person's name]
{organization}Recurring gifts
The first payment gets the donation receipt. Each renewal gets the Recurring gift receipt ("Thank you for your continued support"), so a donor's tenth receipt doesn't read like their first. Renewals need the Stripe webhook or the PayPal webhook ID. Receipts are sent exactly once per payment - no duplicates.
Printable receipts
Every receipt email links to a printable receipt the donor can save as a PDF. Add your tax ID / EIN, address and statement text under Printable receipts on the same tab. They also appear on annual giving statements. Receipts and statements are dated by when the gift was received.
For developers
Filter the receipt before it sends, or use donor_merchant_email to filter any of the plugin's emails (see developer hooks):
add_filter( 'donor_merchant_receipt_email', function( $email, $donation, $donor ) {
$email['subject'] = 'Custom subject';
return $email;
}, 10, 3 );