Donation Contest Widget
Donation Contest Widget is a plugin which allows you to add donation contest box to any widgetized area of your website.
Consider an alternative
Donation Contest Widget shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 15 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 14 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 3.2 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Donation Contest Widget stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| donation | >100 |
| paypal | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About Donation Contest Widget
From the official readme · v1.30Description
Donation Contest Widget is a plugin which allows you to add donation contest box to any widgetized area of your website. You can get donations via PayPal.
Front End
- The widget can be easily inserted into any widgetized area of website like any standard WordPress widget (drag and drop).
- Once added users can see donation contest box. This box displays three group of donors in rotating mode. The first group is the TOP X (X is defined in WordPress admin area) donors for the last 30 days starting from now. The second group is the TOP X donors for last year starting from now. And third group displays TOP X donors for all the time.
- User can click “Donate” button and make donation. Once donation done, user’s name will be stored in database and if donated amount is high enough his/her name appears in TOP X donors list. You can try it on this page: Donation Contest Widget.
Back end
- The plugin is installed like any other standard WordPress plugin.
- Once installed, it will create a configuration page in the admin section where the admin can do required setting such as PayPal ID, currency, “thank you” message, number of TOP X donors to be displayed, custom “donate” button, widget stylesheet etc.
- The plugin also adds new widget into widgets list. So you can easily drag it and drop into any widget area.
Plugin requires PHP version 5 or higher installed on your server.
For more details please visit Donation Contest Widget page.
Installation
This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working.
- Upload folder “donation-contest-widget” (and its content) into your WordPress plugin folder (normally it is /wp-content/plugins/).
- Go to WordPress admin area and activate the plugin in plugins section (like you do for any other plugins).
Changelog
Deactivate plugin. Upload new plugin files. Activate plugin.
1.30
- Fixed the problem with PayPal IPN handler for non-USD donations.
1.29
- Currency list added. Now you can use the following currencies: USD, AUD, BRL, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HKD, HUF, ILS, JPY, MXN, MYR, NOK, NZD, PHP, PLN, SEK, SGD, THB, TRY, TWD.
- Minor bugs fixed.
1.28
This is the first version of Donation Contest Widget.
For developers
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Best Donation Contest Widget alternatives
All donation plugins →
FAQ
Donation Contest Widget: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 8, 2026
Is Donation Contest Widget free?
Yes. Donation Contest Widget is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Donation Contest Widget safe to use in 2026?
Donation Contest Widget shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 15 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Donation Contest Widget?
Donation Contest Widget is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 2,979 times since it launched in June 2011. It was downloaded 57 times in the last 30 days.
Does Donation Contest Widget work with WordPress 7.1?
Donation Contest Widget is officially tested up to WordPress 3.2.1, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Donation Contest Widget last updated?
The latest version, 1.30, was released on October 28, 2011 (15 years ago).
Who makes Donation Contest Widget?
Donation Contest Widget is developed and maintained by Ivan Churakov.
What are the best alternatives to Donation Contest Widget?
The most popular alternatives to Donation Contest Widget are GiveWP (100K+ installs), Donations via PayPal (20K+ installs) and Charitable (10K+ installs).
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