How to add a donate button to Google Sites

Google Sites cannot take payments, so donations on a Google Site always happen on a page it links to.

Short answerGoogle's Sites help describes no payment or donation feature. Add a Button (Insert > Button) or a menu link that sends donors to a page that can take money: a PayPal donation page, a Stripe Payment Link, or your own donation page. A PayPal or Stripe link is enough for simple giving. If you need donor records, receipts and recurring gifts donors can manage, link to a separate donation page instead.

Donor Merchant is a WordPress plugin, so it cannot be installed on Google Sites. This guide covers what you can do from Google Sites, and how to link it to a donation page that runs Donor Merchant.

Can Google Sites take donations by itself?

No. Google's help center for Sites covers text, images, buttons, Google Docs, Sheets, Forms and other files, maps, videos and embedded content, but nothing for payments. Any fee for taking donations comes from the payment service you link to.

What can a Google Sites Donate button link to?

A PayPal donation page

PayPal's Donate button gives you a hosted donation page with its own link. PayPal says donors "can choose to automatically give a monthly donation", and that "there are no monthly or set-up fees with donation button payments", only processing fees, with a discounted rate for confirmed charities. Donations and donor details stay in your PayPal account.

A Stripe Payment Link

Stripe Payment Links are hosted payment pages you create in the Stripe dashboard without code. Stripe says you can use them to "sell a product, a subscription, or accept a donation". A "Customer chooses price" link lets donors type their own amount, but Stripe says those pay-what-you-want prices "don't support recurring payments", so a monthly gift needs a separate subscription link at a set amount.

Your own donation page

A small WordPress site running Donor Merchant on a subdomain such as give.yourdomain.org. This is more setup, and it is covered below.

How do I add a Donate button in Google Sites?

  1. Open your site in Google Sites.
  2. On the right, click Insert > Button.
  3. Enter a name, such as "Donate". This appears on the button.
  4. Paste the URL of your donation page and click Insert.
  5. Click Publish at the top right.

Click the button later to change its style (Filled, Outlined or Text), alignment, name or URL.

To put Donate in the site menu as well: click Pages on the right, point to Add, click New link, enter "Donate" and the web address, then click Done and publish.

When is a PayPal or Stripe link enough?

For a club, class, small congregation or one-off appeal that wants a way to give and is happy to see payments in PayPal or Stripe, a link is enough. There is nothing extra to host or update, and both services handle the card details and their own emails.

When do you need more?

  • Donor records in one place: giving history per donor across PayPal, Stripe and checks, with campaign totals.
  • Tax receipts and annual statements. In the US, a gift of $250 or more needs a written acknowledgment stating the amount and whether goods or services were provided. Payment-service emails are not written for that.
  • Recurring gifts at an amount the donor chooses, weekly to yearly; Stripe donors can update their card or cancel themselves.
  • One form with every payment method: cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, bank debit and PayPal.
  • Fee recovery, offline gifts such as checks, and Gift Aid for UK charities.

How do I set up a separate donation page for a Google Site?

Google Sites only hosts Google Sites, so the donation page lives with a WordPress host on its own subdomain. Our guide to adding a donation page to any website builder explains each step in plain words.

  1. Use a domain you control. If your Google Site uses a custom domain, Google's help says it is connected through a third-party domain registrar under Settings > Custom domains. Add the give subdomain at that same registrar, pointing at your WordPress host. If your site only has a sites.google.com address, you need a domain for the donation page anyway.
  2. Install WordPress and Donor Merchant with HTTPS on, then connect Stripe or PayPal (Getting started).
  3. Create a Donate page with the Donation Form block or [donor_merchant].
  4. Match your colors. In Google Sites, a custom theme (Themes, then Create theme and Customize colors) sets your button and link colors. Use the same hex code in Donor Merchant under Settings > Forms > Form style, and choose a button shape (pill, rounded or sharp) close to your Google Sites buttons.
  5. Point your Donate button and menu link at the new page's full address, and publish.

If you use Google Sites through a work or school account, Google says custom web addresses are set up by your Google Workspace administrator.

Can I embed the donation form in Google Sites instead?

Google Sites has Insert > Embed, which takes a URL or code, and a Full page embed. Google's own tip is that "some websites won't let you add their content to your site". We recommend a link, for three reasons:

  • A payment form framed from another domain loses Apple Pay unless the frame allows payments and both domains are registered with Stripe.
  • PayPal opens a popup window, which a frame can block.
  • Safari and some other browsers block third-party cookies inside frames.

A link to your donation page avoids all three. Donors see your logo and colors there, so the jump does not feel like leaving your site.

What does the separate page give you?

One-time and recurring gifts on Stripe and PayPal, including Apple Pay, Google Pay and US bank debit, on one form. Printable receipts with your tax ID and your own statement, and annual statements. A donor portal where donors see their history and, for Stripe gifts, update a card or cancel. Campaigns with goal thermometers, designations, fee recovery, offline gifts and Gift Aid for UK charities. Every feature is free. For recurring gifts, set up webhooks so renewals are recorded.

Checked against Google's Sites Help documentation in October 2026. Google Sites' menus change over time; if a label differs in yours, look for the equivalent option.

Sources

Get Donor Merchant

Free from WordPress.org, with recurring giving included.

Download Donor Merchant free Or try the demo first.