Making Democracy Work
I used PayPal shopping cart to create the button. Must list items and costs and also add as many additional data fields as possible.
Then paste that code into the LEW edit box of the page you want the PayPal form to appear. From the example below, copy/paste the code for the desired additional data fields. Change the names and other variables as you wish. Or you may use a good HTML editor and do all the editing and testing in the editor. When done, copy/paste into LEW.
You must also keep the "onx" and "osx" codes in numerical order 0, 1, 2, etc taking off from where PayPal leaves off. You can paste these lines into your LEW page and not have to change the PayPal button.
When you ADD to Cart, all the entered info will be passed and show up on the description line. When PayPal sends the email for the transaction, the total description is passed so you have all the info needed, just a bit compressed.
The value="xxx" fields (i.e. value="Address") should be kept short as this is what will appear in the shopping cart. The description that appears on the Input form can be long and descriptive (i.e. * Address Including Street, City, State, Zip. You can also set the "maxlength" (default is 200) so someone doesn't send you a novel when all you want is their 5 digit zip code.
I created a new email account on a different server that allows auto forwarding. The PayPal transaction email goes to it and that email automatically forwards the transaction to the Treasurer, Membership Chairman, and Email List manager so all can do their respective jobs with the information. Some providers like AOL do not allow auto-forwarded messages in. So, this needs to be tested. The AOL person may need to get a second email account like one from Gmail or other free ones for the PayPal information to be received. I set up a new email account for myself just to keep these in a different folder for easy management.
The only way to do Donations in a shopping cart (to select one or several specific funds to donate to) is to set the dollar amount for each fund to $1. When the item(s) are added to your cart, change the quantity to equal the dollar amount you wish to donate. This is the only way to allow multiple amounts for various donate funds using a single transaction. I have this set up for the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society that you can view. (http://www.TucsonCactus.org, click on Donations).
I am currently working on AZ State League Donate Shopping Cart to be done the same way for the Education Fund. Will have about 14 different funds that can be donated to (6 AZ leagues and specific funds within some of the leagues).
Following is the sample code showing the variables that can be seen on the LWV Greater Tucson Join Form:
<tr><td><input type="hidden" name="on2" value="Address">* Address Including Street, City, State, Zip</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="text" name="os2" maxlength="100"></td></tr>
<tr><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="hidden" name="on3" value="Phone Numbers">* Phone Number</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="text" name="os3" maxlength="50"></td></tr>
<tr><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="hidden" name="on4" value="Member EMail">* EMail Addresses</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="text" name="os4" maxlength="50"></td></tr>
<tr><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="hidden" name="on5" value="EMAILS">* Member EMail Addresses (enter all you want for Member Notifications)</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="text" name="os5" maxlength="100"></td></tr>
<tr><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="hidden" name="on6" value="AREAS OF INTEREST">Areas of Interest (ie Special Interests, Knowledge or Possible Volunteer Areas, etc.)</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="text" name="os6" maxlength="100"></td></tr>
<tr><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="hidden" name="on7" value="OTHER COMMENTS">Other Comments (if a Gift Membership, please enter givers' name and any message for recipient)</td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="text" name="os7" maxlength="100"></td></tr>
I believe we can save people some time by using the pre-filled HTML variables. These variables will allow us to capture name/address/etc. and also pre-populate the PayPal form for the user. It saves some typing time.
For the email notifications of transactions, I did a similar thing although I used the capabilities of League Easy Web. I defined a new alias for online memberships/donations. I also discovered one can set an email address in the actual form so it will override the account default. This looks useful if one uses a form for special event registration, e.g., luncheons, annual meeting, etc. where there is a coordinator for that specific event.
For testing, my approach so far has been to add a very inexpensive item ($1 lunch) to my form and contribute some change to PayPal and to the League. I removed this option before activating the form.
This is the letter that Joe sent to the local Leagues describing the service. I have added links to the specific pages so you can see the results and done a little minor editing.
To Arizona LWV Leagues,
The PayPal option for making donations to the AZ Education Fund is now active. It resides on the State website (LWVAZ.org). It has its own PayPal account just for the Education Fund donations since they are tax deductible.
The PayPal screen was designed to allow donations to be made and designated for the appropriate fund for each of the Arizona Leagues. There is one category for "Other Fund" that you can use for special Education fund raisers. You need to notify [the LWV Arizona office] prior to using this for a particular fund raiser so she is aware these donations go to that fund. Otherwise, she will just put the donation into your "unrestricted" fund.
You can put a line on your League website donations page to link people directly to the state site. They do not need to find the state site web address if you provide the link on your web site. The code is active on the LWVGT Donation page so you can look at that if you want to see how it works. Fill in some information and click on the "Add to Cart" button to see the check out cart transaction but don't hit the pay option.
You can use this text below with the link address to access the LWVAZ web site PayPal screen. You can change the text portion but be sure the link address stays exactly the same (paste it into your LEW web code).
Donate to AZ Education Fund by using PayPal. You do not need a PayPal account as they also accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express credit cards. "(click here)"<+http://www.lwvaz.org/Donate_Ed_Fund_Online.html>