Add additional donation field to event ticket sale

[Firsthandaid]

It would help us collect extra donations when people are purchasing our fundraising event tickets

[tomven]

Hi @Firsthandaid, this is a good idea! I can absolutely see why this would be helpful. 

At the moment, as far as I know, Square doesn’t support adding an extra field like this directly within checkout. Event tickets are treated as a single non‑physical item, and there isn’t a built‑in way to prompt buyers to add a custom donation amount as part of that same ticket purchase. This would be a feature request rather than something that’s currently possible natively in Square.

That said, there are a couple of practical workarounds you could try.

Add a separate donation item alongside the ticket

If you’re selling tickets through Square Online, you can create a separate donation 'item' and allow customers to add it to their cart at the same time as the ticket.

How this usually looks:

• Create a non‑physical item using the in-built 'donation' item type
• Display both the event and donation items on the same page or category so buyers can add a ticket and a donation to their cart

This keeps everything in one transaction and is the closest experience to an ‘add‑on donation’ right now. Square’s donation item type is designed specifically for this use case and allows flexible amounts up to the donation limit.

Official guide:

• Sell non‑physical items and donation items with Square Online
  https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6873-sell-non-physical-items-in-square-online-store

Use a donation payment link after ticket purchase

Some fundraising Sellers prompt for donations immediately after checkout instead.

For example:

• Confirmation page could say ‘Thank you for purchasing a ticket – would you like to add a donation?’
• Button linking to a Square donation payment link etc

Donation payment links allow supporters to choose their own amount and are quick to set up, especially if you’re also sharing links via email or social media around the event.

Official guide:

• Set up donation payment links with Square
  https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/7184-set-up-donation-goals-with-square-checkout-links

Fixed donation variations (if amounts are preset)

If you’re happy with preset donation amounts (for example $10, $25, $50), another option is:

• Create a ‘Support our cause’ item
• Add variations for each donation amount
• Display it next to the ticket

It’s not as flexible as a custom amount, but it’s simple and works well for many events.

Feature request

You’re definitely not alone in wanting this. I’d encourage posting this as a formal feature request in the Square Community Feedback space, as an optional donation toggle during ticket checkout would be hugely valuable for fundraising Sellers.

Hope this helps!