Fundraising Thermometer

Our free fundraising thermometer generator lets you make a beautiful progress thermometer in seconds, with no account and no watermark. Set your goal, enter how much you have raised so far, pick a style and color, and your thermometer updates instantly. When it looks the way you want, you can download it as an image or PDF to print or post on social media, or copy a snippet to embed it directly on your own website.

Use the tool above to get started. Everything happens in your browser, your settings save automatically, and the thermometer is completely free to use and share.

What you can do with this fundraising thermometer

This is more than a static picture. The generator gives you several ways to use your thermometer, depending on where your supporters will see it:

Download it as an image to share on Facebook and Instagram, attach to emails, or print as a poster for your event. Embed it on your website so visitors see your progress without leaving your page. Connect it to a Google Sheet so the thermometer updates everywhere automatically every time you log a new donation. Add it to a livestream as an overlay if you are running a telethon or charity stream.

Because it works as both a downloadable graphic and a live website widget, the same tool covers a fundraising progress bar for your homepage, a printable charity thermometer for your event hall, and a social graphic for your campaign — all from one place.

Choose a thermometer style

Pick the look that fits your campaign:

• Classic thermometer is the iconic mercury thermometer everyone recognizes, perfect for schools, churches, and community drives.
• Realistic thermometer has a polished, true-to-life look with tick marks and a glossy bulb.
• Modern bar is a clean, minimal fundraising progress bar that suits modern websites and brand pages.
• Money jar is a warm, friendly jar that fills up as donations come in — popular with charity and community causes.
• Mountain climb shows your campaign climbing toward the summit, great for goal-driven and team campaigns.

You can change the fill color to match your brand using the preset colors or the custom color picker, so your charity thermometer always looks like it belongs to your organization.

Add a donation tracker with a donor list

Turn the thermometer into a full donation tracker with a donor list. When you switch this on, you can add each supporter’s name and the amount they gave, and the list appears right under the thermometer. It is a simple way to recognize donors publicly and encourage others to give. You can mark gifts as anonymous, and the donor list is included when you download the image or PDF.

If you would rather show momentum than individual gifts, you can instead display a donor count — the total number of people who have given — which works well for larger campaigns.

Embed a live fundraising thermometer on your website

Most free tools only give you a picture that is out of date the moment your total changes. This one lets you embed a live thermometer that updates itself.

For a fixed thermometer, copy the standard embed code and paste it into your site — the current total is baked in. For a thermometer that updates on its own, use the Google Sheets option: publish a simple sheet with your goal and your current total, paste the link into the tool, and copy the live embed code. From then on, every time you update that one cell in your sheet, the thermometer refreshes everywhere it appears — your website, a partner’s site, anywhere the code is pasted. You never have to touch the code again.

Make a thermometer chart for Google Sheets

If you track donations in a spreadsheet, you can also build a thermometer chart for Google Sheets so your progress visual lives right next to your data. Put your goal and your running total in two cells, publish the sheet, and connect it to the live embed above — the published sheet becomes the data source that drives your thermometer. This keeps your numbers and your visual in one place and removes the manual step of editing an image every time someone donates.

Use it for social media and print

The download options are sized for the places you actually post. Choose a square image for Facebook and Instagram posts, a tall image for Instagram and Facebook Stories, a wide image for Facebook link shares and blog headers, or a letter and A4 size for printing posters. The image keeps its quality at every size, and the SVG download scales to any size with no blur — ideal for large printed thermometers at your venue. That makes it easy to create a fundraising thermometer for Facebook, a poster for your event, and a website widget without redesigning anything.

Prefer a spreadsheet? Use our Excel and Google Sheets templates

If you would rather keep everything in a spreadsheet, we also offer free fundraising thermometer templates for Excel and Google Sheets. These are editable files where you type your goal and your total and the thermometer fills automatically. They are a good fit if you are comfortable in spreadsheets and want a file you can save and reuse. The online tool above is the faster option if you want to download a graphic or embed a thermometer on your site, but both are free and you can use whichever suits your campaign.

Tips for a fundraising thermometer that works

Set a clear, specific goal so supporters know exactly what they are working toward. Update your total often — visible momentum encourages more giving. Add milestone markers so donors can see how close each quarter of the goal is. Share the thermometer everywhere your supporters are, and keep the embedded version live so nobody sees an old number. A thermometer that visibly moves is one of the simplest and most effective ways to keep a campaign feeling alive.

Download the Excel fundraiser thermometer

Free Google Sheets / MS Excel fundraising thermometer that updates automatically. It is easy to use and no software is required.

Our free fundraising thermometer will show you where you stand with your fundraising goals at any stage. It is a great visual tool to show your campaign’s success. All you need to do is to enter your goal and the thermometer colors itself automatically each time you add money to the donation tracker.

If you use the Google Sheets fundraiser thermometer, then donors can add their donations to the spreadsheet and see the thermometer update instantly. You can then follow up with donors to collect their donations.

There are two versions: one with the donors’ names for donor recognition and one without names. Use the version that best meets your needs.

You can create fundraising thermometers in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. If you want to share them easily, then use Google Sheets.

How to use the fundraiser thermometer

1. Download the fundraising thermometer template.
2. Open the thermometer fundraiser file. You can open it in Excel or Google Sheets.
3. Add your fundraising goal in the Green box.
4. Each time you raise more money add the total to the fundraising goal tracker section. The thermometer will automatically color itself. The total raised and percentage of the goal reached will also update automatically. If you use Google Sheets, then people can add their donations to the sheet and see it update immediately. Share it on social media during your campaign to keep your followers updated on your progress.

How to create an image of the fundraising thermometer

Once you have created the fundraising goal tracker with your goals and progress, you might want to make a copy of the thermometer image. These instructions will help you if you are not sure how to create it.

1. Open the goal chart in Excel and click on the View tab.
2. If “Gridlines” is selected then unselect it. That will remove the gridlines around the thermometer image.
3. Click on print screen to make a screenshot of your page.
4. If you don’t have any graphic software, then paste the image into a Powerpoint file.  Right-click on your mouse and paste.
5. Click on the image.
6. Right-click on your mouse.
7. Select Crop.
8. Crop the image.
9. Right-click on the image and select “Save as Picture”.

Where to use the fundraising goal tracker

This free tool can be used by nonprofits, companies, or organizations to track progress made toward a fundraising campaign.

1. Share it on social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc).
2. Add it to email campaigns. Don’t forget to add a donate button to your newsletter to make it easy for your subscribers to donate. In each email, send an updated version of the donation thermometer.
3. Add it to a poster or flyer.
4. Add your organization’s logo to the file.
5. Add it to your website. If you add it to your website, then please give this site credit somewhere on the page.

See also goal thermometer