Use preview mode to demo online donations
When you're exploring donation systems, it can be extremely valuable to see the system in action before deciding whether it's a good fit for your organization. To see what online donations look like in Giving before you make it live for your congregation, use preview mode.
Preview mode allows Giving administrators and bookkeepers to submit test donations on Church Center, view reports with test donations, and send statements with test donations in a sandbox environment, all without any money involved. Preview mode is turned on automatically when you skip the step to connect Planning Center Payments while setting up Giving.
Important
If you've been using Planning Center, but not Giving, make sure the Give page in Publishing is published before you try to use preview mode. Preview mode doesn't work if the Give page is unpublished.
Submit test donations
Once preview mode is turned on, you're ready to try out Giving! To get started, create a few funds and then head to the Manage page.
Warning
Funds must be set to Listed in order for preview mode to work on Church Center. If you're seeing a We're not quite ready for online donations yet error on the donation form, check your funds' visibility settings.
Select the Manage page in the top navigation in Giving.
Select Donation form on the left.
Select Submit a test donation in the preview mode banner to head to the online donation form on Church Center.
On the preview mode donation form:
Enter a test donation amount.
Choose a frequency to see what a recurring donation looks like.
Choose Card or Bank account to test each payment method. If you choose Card, select a card type from the dropdown and then copy and paste the test card details into the form. If you choose Bank account, select Test (Non-OAuth) and follow the prompts in the popup to connect a test bank account.
Select Give [amount] TEST to submit the test donation.
Test donations submitted on Church Center will appear in Giving on reports and donor profiles with a TEST badge.
Tip
Looking to see what batched donations and in-kind donations look like in Giving? Using your own profile, add donations to a batch and add an in-kind donation. When you're ready to launch Giving to your congregation, delete the test donations manually. Donations entered into batches and in-kind donations submitted while in preview mode will not have a TEST badge.
Explore Giving in preview mode
To take preview mode even further, explore reports, donor profiles, statements, and a donor's My giving page on Church Center.
Reports
After submitting a few test donations, spend time checking out the many reports available in Giving. Giving reports provides an overview of each one.
Test donations submitted on Church Center will appear in Giving on reports and donor profiles with a TEST badge.
Donor profiles
Head to your profile in Giving to see what donations look like on a donor profile. Select a donation to view available editing options.
Test donations submitted on Church Center will appear in Giving on reports and donor profiles with a TEST badge.
Statements
Follow along with Create and share donor statements to see how statements are created in Giving and what they look like with test donations. Statements created in preview mode will not be deleted when preview mode is turned off.
My giving
Log in to Church Center to see donation information from a donor's perspective. Manage your giving information explains each part of the My giving page on Church Center.
Turn off preview mode
After spending time getting familiar with Giving in preview mode, you're ready to turn it off and make your donation form live for your congregation. The easiest way to turn off preview mode is to set up Planning Center Payments in Account settings. Once setup is complete, preview mode will be disabled, and all test donations will be deleted. To delete a test statement, contact the Planning Center support team.
Any settings you adjust while preview mode is on will be preserved when you turn it off. This includes funds, online donation form settings, and payment sources.
If you decide not to process online donations with Giving but still plan to use it to track batch donations, contact the Planning Center support team to request that preview mode be disabled and test donations deleted.