Your organization has events coming up and you need a way to manage registration online alongside your online giving but not tax deductible receipting. A customizable, easy to build form that accommodates the registration questions would be nice and let's throw in notification of registration...all at a low cost, if not free right? Well you're in luck! Google has introduced one of it's newest features called forms. Forms allow you to build customizable web forms for anything you can imagine! In this article, Continue to Give is going to teach you where to get Google Forms, how to build a form, how to track sign ups, and how to have them pay if needed for their registration!

Google Forms

Signing up for Google Forms is easy. First you need a google (@gmail.com) email address. If you do not already have a gmail account, you can register for one here (https://www.google.com/gmail/). Once you have a gmail account, you have access to all of Google's free tools including Google Forms! To get to forms you can either just go to Google and click on the boxes in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, or you can go straight to the forms from this link: Google Forms

Chose Event Template

Once you are inside Google Forms there are several templates available. For this article we will demo a women's conference registration, so choose the "Event Registration" template. The editing page of the event displays. Here, simply click on each section to edit the type of question and how the participants are to respond. For example if we need someone to choose their T-Shirt size, we would add a question, "Indicate T-Shirt Size" and create multiple response options such as S; M; L; XL. The participant filling out the form would then select the size required. Note that questions can also be flagged as mandatory if participants are required to provide the information.

Making Events Live

When you have finished your form, it is time to either email it out, put it on your website, or both! To push the form out, click on the "Send" button in the upper right-hand corner to choose the appropriate deploy option. We always recommend completing a test sign-up first to make sure you have the form setup properly. At anytime you can preview your form by clicking on the eye icon in the upper right hand corner.

Track Event Registrations

After deploying your event form, keep track of your registrations as participants respond. On your edit form page you will see a tab called Responses. Select that tab to view results. You can login to Google Forms at any time, view the form to see who has registered for your event and there is an export to excel, as well as general quick reports.

Fundraising Websites Payment Options

If you need your participants to pay for their registration, set up a Continue to Give project and set the project to "Payment" or "Event" depending on your needs. Make sure to either put the pay button below the registration form on your website, or email this payment form to the participant after they register. If you need to learn how to make a Continue to Give project for online giving check out this tutorial: Designated Donations for Online Giving. Then go to your Projects Page on Continue to Give and choose "Website Widget" Create a Badge on the right side of your screen half way down the page. This will give you special pay button options. We would recommend the "Link to a New Page" and then link this to a picture of a Pay for Registration on your website or include this link in the email for collecting payment. For a step by step click here

Other Payment Options : In addition you can customize the thank you popup after the person registers. You will want to add in the thank you page "Please click this link to pay for your registration fees (insert your Continue to Give project's link for payment or popup)". If you need help configuring this option please send us an email and we can help [email protected]

Do you need online, mobile, facebook, or kiosk giving? Continue to Give is the leading provider of fundraising websites and donation apps. Email us at [email protected] to learn more about our software and one of our representatives will be in touch within 24 business hours!