Most churches handle online giving the same way: a “Give” button on the website that sends donors to a separate website to complete their gift. It works, but it’s not the best experience you can offer. The moment a donor leaves your site, they’ve left your church’s digital presence. The design changes, the branding might shift, and for first-time visitors especially, it can feel like a handoff to somewhere unfamiliar.
There’s a better option. SecureGive lets you embed your church’s online giving experience directly on your website, so donors never have to leave. Your brand stays consistent, the experience feels native, and giving becomes part of your site rather than a detour away from it.
You might be thinking, “why does this even matter?” When you can keep a visitor on your website, they are more likely to continue to engage with your ministry. Keeping them connected on your site could make the difference in whether or not they go ahead and sign up for a small group, register their child for summer camp, or join a volunteer team.
The good news for any church leader reading this: SecureGive handles the technical complexity of creating an embedded giving experience. Getting a giving form onto your site is as simple as copying a code snippet SecureGive provides and pasting it into your website. The biggest thing is deciding how you want giving to display on your site.
First, watch this quick overview. Then, let’s take a deeper dive into four ways to embed giving on your website.
Option 1
A Dedicated Giving Section on Your Giving Page
The most straightforward way to embed online giving on your church website is to give it a dedicated home, its own clearly defined section within your giving page. The giving flow loads directly on the page, and a “Give” link in your navigation takes donors straight to it.
This approach works particularly well because it creates a clear destination. Donors know exactly where to go. You also have space around the form to provide context, a short message about why generosity matters to your church, how funds are used, or information about recurring giving. The form is always visible with no extra interaction required.
The dedicated giving section is the right choice when you want giving to feel like a central feature of your church’s online presence. It’s also the simplest to get started with, making it a natural first step for churches embedding SecureGive for the first time.
Best for: Churches that want a clear, always-visible giving destination on their site.
Effort to set up: Low — paste SecureGive’s embed code into your page and you’re done.
Option 2
A Giving Widget in Your Giving Page Header
This option places the SecureGive widget directly within your giving page’s header section, making it easily accessible. When someone lands on your giving page, everything they need is right in front of them. With SecureGive, it’s just a few clicks and their gift is complete.
This method prioritizes visibility. The more an individual has to hunt for where to give, the less likely they are to follow through. When your giving flow is embedded directly in the header section of your page, they can’t miss it. It’s also a powerful signal to new visitors that generosity is a natural, integrated part of your church community.
This method works best on sites with a relatively clean header design, and your web team will want to make sure it’s tuned to look sharp on mobile as well as desktop. But for churches with the right site design to support it, the header widget delivers one of the most seamless giving experiences available.
Best for: Churches with frequent givers who benefit from giving being one click away, anywhere on the site.
Effort to set up: Low-to-moderate — requires a bit of design coordination to integrate cleanly into your header.
Option 3
A Modal (Pop-Up) Giving Widget
A modal is an overlay panel that opens on top of the current page when someone clicks a button. In practice, this means placing a “Give Now” button anywhere on your site, your homepage, a sermon page, a ministry page, and having the SecureGive giving widget appear instantly when a visitor clicks it. When they’re done, the modal closes and they’re right back where they were. They can continue to engage with your content.
What makes this option especially versatile is that it doesn’t require changing anything about your existing pages. You’re not redesigning your homepage or giving up space you don’t have. You’re simply adding a button that activates the giving experience on demand. That means you can put a giving prompt on pages where it wouldn’t otherwise fit.
For churches that want to activate giving across multiple pages without committing to a full giving section, the modal strikes the right balance: unobtrusive until it’s needed, and then a focused, clean experience when it opens.
Best for: Churches that want giving accessible on multiple pages without reworking existing page layouts.
Effort to set up: Low — add a button and paste SecureGive’s modal embed code. Works on almost any page.
Option 4
Fully Custom Giving with the SecureGive Checkout API
For churches with a web developer on staff or a web agency they work with, SecureGive offers one more option worth knowing about: a fully custom giving experience powered by SecureGive Checkout. This leverages SecureGive’s API, allowing your church to style your giving flow however you want and then feed that information into SecureGive.
Rather than embedding a form, a developer uses SecureGive’s API to power the giving flow behind the scenes while the front-end design is built from scratch to match your church’s brand exactly. The result is a giving experience that looks and feels completely native to your website. No visible iFrame, no design compromises, no element that feels like it came from somewhere else. When it’s time to complete the transaction, a SecureGive popup opens to ensure a secure, fully encrypted transaction.
With this approach, the look, layout, and flow of your giving experience can be tailored however it works best for your church. It keeps the experience simple for donors while giving your team full control over how it’s presented.
This option is a straightforward process for any experienced web developer, and SecureGive’s Checkout API is built to support it. If your church has a strong visual brand and the technical resources to invest in a fully custom experience, this is the path to the highest level of giving integration available.
Best for: Churches with a developer or agency partner who want giving fully woven into their site’s design.
Effort to set up: Requires developer involvement — not a DIY option, but a well-defined process for anyone with web development experience.
Which Option Is Right for Your Church?
Any of these methods will meaningfully improve the giving experience you offer. Here’s a simple way to think about the choice:
If you want giving to have a dedicated home on your giving page, with room for a message, fund descriptions, or context around the form, go with a dedicated section.
If you want the giving widget to be the very first thing donors see when they land on your giving page, no scrolling required, the header widget creates that immediate, can’t-miss experience.
If you want to activate giving across multiple pages on your site without changing any existing layouts, the modal is your most flexible option since it can live anywhere.
And if you have a developer or agency partner and want giving to feel completely indistinguishable from the rest of your site, the Checkout API gives you full control over every design and flow decision.
Many churches end up combining approaches, a dedicated giving page as the primary destination, with modal buttons placed on the homepage and key ministry pages. Every gift made through any embedded option flows into your SecureGive account, so your giving reports, recurring gift management, and donor records stay unified no matter which path donors take.
See How Embedding Works for Your Church
The right embedding method depends on your site, your congregation, and how central you want giving to feel in your church’s digital presence. The SecureGive team works with churches at every stage of this process, from choosing the right approach to walking your team through setup.
Schedule a call with the SecureGive team to see exactly how your church could seamlessly embed online giving into your website.
Frequently Asked Questions About Embedding Online Givng
SecureGive provides a simple iframe code snippet for embedding in your website. Your web administrator or a technically-minded volunteer copies that code and pastes it into the appropriate place on your church's website. Most platforms, WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, and others, support this with no special technical knowledge required.
Yes. When you embed SecureGive, the giving form lives on your page visually, but all payment processing runs through SecureGive's PCI-compliant infrastructure. Your church's website never handles or stores payment data at any point in the transaction. Donors can give with confidence.
Yes. All gifts made through any SecureGive embedding method are processed, recorded, and reported through your SecureGive account. Your giving dashboard, recurring gift management, and donor records reflect every transaction regardless of which embed method was used.
Absolutely. Many churches use a dedicated giving page as the primary destination while also placing modal "Give Now" buttons on high-traffic pages like the homepage or sermon posts. Each method connects to the same SecureGive account, so reporting stays unified.
Linking sends donors off your website to a separate page, often on a different domain, to complete their gift. Embedding keeps donors on your church's website through the entire giving process. Embedded giving builds more trust, especially with new visitors, and creates a more cohesive experience from intent to confirmation.
For the dedicated section, header widget, and modal options, no. SecureGive provides copy-paste code that works on most website platforms without developer involvement. The Checkout API option is the one exception, as it involves building a custom front-end and does require web development experience.