Run a speed test on a typical charity site and the homepage usually does fine. Then test the donate page. It is common to find it several times heavier than anything else on the site, and noticeably slower to become usable on a phone.
That matters because the person on that page has already decided to give. Every second they spend waiting is a second in which they can change their mind, get distracted or lose signal on the train.
Where the weight comes from
- An embedded third-party form loaded in an iframe, bringing its own scripts and styles
- Payment provider scripts loaded on page load rather than when they are needed
- Tag managers carrying analytics, advertising and heatmap scripts that were added years ago
- Address lookup, chat widgets and cookie banners competing for the same moment
- A redirect to a separate donation domain, adding another full page load
Each of these is reasonable on its own. Together they create a page where the form appears late, jumps around as things load, and responds slowly to the first tap.
Audit the scripts, then remove most of them
Start with a list of every third-party script that loads on the donate page, and who asked for it. Heatmap tools added for a project that ended, retargeting pixels for a campaign that finished, and duplicate analytics tags are all common. If nobody can say what decision a script informs, it should go.
The fastest script is the one you stop loading.
Load what is left at the right time
Payment scripts are needed when someone reaches the payment step, not the moment they arrive on the page. Address lookup is needed when they start typing an address. Deferring these keeps the form itself fast to appear and fast to respond, which is what the supporter actually notices.
Consider owning the form
Embedded forms and redirects exist for good reasons: they reduce the compliance burden of handling payments and let fundraising teams change forms without developers. But a form built into your own site, with payment fields provided securely by your payment provider, can be both compliant and much lighter. It also puts the Gift Aid declaration and consent capture where you control them.
Measure on the devices your supporters use
Test on a mid-range phone over a mobile connection, not on an office laptop over fibre. Watch real completion rates alongside speed. A faster form is only a better form if more people finish it, so track both before and after every change.
