A Beacon form is a simple yet powerful tool that can be used in a variety of ways to get information from any people that you work with, all hosted by Beacon so you don't have to do any programming or contact your webmaster.
The most common uses for the forms are:
Collecting donations
Setting up memberships
Signing up subscribers
Taking event registrations
It can take less than 10 seconds to set up a default form! (mind: blown 🤯) Let's do it...
Quick start: Make a form
Go to Forms in your sidebar
Click Create form. Give your new form a title, and select which type of form you'd like from the dropdown.
Click Create.
That's it! Your form is already live, and you can view it from the View form button in the top right of the page.
Step by step guides
You will probably want to change a few details from your default form, so we've got step by step guides for setting up each type:
For example:
Take single or recurring general donations for your charity
Make a customised form to display on tablets at an event
Create a highly targeted donation form as part of a particular campaign
For example:
Collect subscriptions or single payments for a variety of membership types
Set up a sponsorship program
Create gift memberships to promote as presents at Christmas
For example:
Collect new supporters as newsletter subscribers
Receive volunteering applications
Run a campaign to collect Gift Aid declarations
Track new beneficiary enquiries
For example:
Sell tickets for a special fundraising event
Register free attendees for a webinar event
Let conference participants select a specific time-slot
For example:
Let supporters see and update their personal details, contact consent and interests
Show donors their current subscriptions and previous donations
Manage complex applications and save answers to complete over time
For some more use cases for forms, see our frequently asked questions at the end of the document.
Features of forms
There are lots of features for forms, so we've created individual documents for each:
Frequently asked questions
How can I add new questions to my form?
For each question, you will first need to create a place for the answer to live! Think of it like a little answer house 🏡
First decide on the record type you would like the answer to be stored in.
For example:
Static information such as a person's date of birth and name are unlikely to change so it's a good idea to store them on the People record type.
More transient information can be stored elsewhere. If you're organising an event and need to collect people's T-shirt size, it may be best to store this info on the Event Attendee record type as the person's T-shirt size may change event to event.
First create a field on the desired record type corresponding to the question. It's best to keep the field label short while still describing the content of the question for the sake of neatness (You can flesh this question out on the form itself). For example, a field recording someone's T shirt size can be labelled "T-shirt size" while the question on the form can read "What is your T-shirt size?"
Think about which field type is appropriate. Do you want the form filler to pick from a drop down list? Or would a short text field be more appropriate?
Once you have the field created, you can reference it as a question in your form by adding it as a form field - job done!
What else can I use forms for?
Whilst forms are mainly used for the options above, the flexibility of Beacon forms means that many of our customers have developed other uses such as to:
Register volunteers for an event
Collect ID details for verification
Submit CVs or presentations
Automatically create new tasks to contact fundraisers for a challenge event
Set up legacy commitments, including assigning executors
Download training and educational resources
Set up 'Sponsor an animal' programs where donors can select a specific animal from a list
Let people enquire about rehoming a dog or cat
Have an interesting usage for Beacon forms? Let us know about it!
Can I embed a form into my website?
Yes. If you'd like a form to run inline on your website rather than as a standalone page, you can embed the form.
Can I add styling to my form?
There are a few ways you can style your forms, with options to bold, italicise or hyperlink your text. You can even add emojis!
Can I add a logo to my form?
Yes, you can add your logo by clicking 'Upload logo'. The maximum image size allowed is 400 x 110 pixels, but if you upload a larger logo we'll scale your image to this size.