Test mode and sandbox

GiveFlow includes a dedicated test mode so you can preview the full donation flow without processing real payments. Use test mode to verify your forms, emails, receipts, and gateway configuration before accepting live donations.

Organization-wide test mode

You can enable test mode from the Payment gateways tab in GiveFlow settings, in the Test mode card at the top. The toggle is labelled Enable test mode for all forms and applies to your entire organization.

When organization-wide test mode is on:

• No real payments are processed through any gateway.
• The Sandbox gateway becomes available.
• Test donations are created with a test flag.
• Rate limits are relaxed so you can submit multiple test donations quickly.

Turn off organization-wide test mode when you are ready to accept real donations.

Per-form test mode

Individual donation forms can also be set to test mode independently. This lets you test a specific form while your other forms remain live. Open the form in the form builder, open its settings panel, and tick the test mode checkbox under Allowed gateways.

Per-form test mode is useful when you are building a new form or making changes to an existing one. Your live forms continue to accept real donations while you test.

How test mode is resolved

GiveFlow checks for test mode at two levels. If either level has test mode enabled, the form operates in test mode.

1. GiveFlow checks the organization-wide test mode toggle.
2. GiveFlow checks the individual form’s test mode setting.

If the organization-wide toggle is on, all forms run in test mode regardless of their individual settings. If the organization-wide toggle is off, only forms with their own test mode enabled run in test mode.

The Sandbox gateway

The Sandbox gateway is a test-mode-only payment gateway. It simulates the full donation pipeline without connecting to any external payment service.

How it works

• The Sandbox gateway only appears when the organization-wide test mode toggle is on. Per-form test mode flags the resulting donations as tests but does not add the Sandbox gateway to that form.
• It auto-confirms every donation immediately after submission.
• It exercises the complete pipeline: donation creation, status updates, email sending, and receipt generation.
• No real money changes hands.

What you can test

Use the Sandbox gateway to verify:

• Your donation form layout, fields, and validation
• The post-donation confirmation experience
• Email template content and delivery
• PDF receipt generation and formatting
• Fund assignment and campaign attribution
• Redirect and thank-you page behavior

Test donations and reporting

Test donations are excluded from your reports and dashboards. They do not affect your fundraising totals, fund progress, or campaign statistics.

This separation ensures your reporting data stays clean. You can submit as many test donations as you need without worrying about skewing your numbers.

Using test mode to preview the full flow

Follow these steps to test your complete donation flow:

1. Go to the Payment gateways tab in GiveFlow settings and enable test mode.
2. Open your donation form on the front end of your site.
3. Fill in the form with test donor information and submit a donation.
4. The Sandbox gateway auto-confirms the donation immediately.
5. Check your email inbox to verify the receipt email was sent.
6. Go to GiveFlow > Donations and turn on Show test donations to see the test record. The list hides test donations by default, and tells you how many are hidden. Once the toggle is on it stays on for you until you turn it off. Test donations are badged on their reference, so they are easy to pick out of the list.
7. Download or resend the PDF receipt to verify its content and formatting.
8. Disable test mode when you are satisfied with the results.

You can repeat this process as many times as needed. Rate limits are relaxed while organization-wide test mode is on, so you can submit donations in quick succession.