diff --git a/app/views/shared/_right_sections.html.haml b/app/views/shared/_right_sections.html.haml
index 6906e7ca0..fc2066823 100644
--- a/app/views/shared/_right_sections.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/shared/_right_sections.html.haml
@@ -69,13 +69,14 @@
   .content
     != t('bookmarklet.explanation', :link => link_to(t('bookmarklet.explanation_link_text'), bookmarklet))
 
-.section
-  .title
-    = image_tag('/images/icons/coffee.png')
-    %h5
-      = t('aspects.index.donate')
-  .content
-    = t('aspects.index.keep_us_running', :pod => URI.parse(AppConfig[:pod_url]).host)
-    %br
-    = render 'shared/donate'
+- if ! AppConfig['do_not_request_donations']
+  .section
+    .title
+      = image_tag('/images/icons/coffee.png')
+      %h5
+        = t('aspects.index.donate')
+    .content
+      = t('aspects.index.keep_us_running', :pod => URI.parse(AppConfig[:pod_url]).host)
+      %br
+      = render 'shared/donate'
 
diff --git a/config/application.yml.example b/config/application.yml.example
index c2817d5ce..0f65c2e1d 100644
--- a/config/application.yml.example
+++ b/config/application.yml.example
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ defaults: &defaults
   # Email to send spotlight suggestions to
   spotlight_suggest_email: ''
 
+  # Set this to true to remove the donation request form in the right sidebar
+  do_not_request_donations: false
+
   # List of users who have admin privileges
   # (expressed as an array of local usernames)
   admins:
@@ -183,10 +186,10 @@ defaults: &defaults
 
   # The location of your redis cache.
   # IMPORTANT: DO NOT CHANGE THIS IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
-  # 
+  #
   # Leave this blank to use the same Redis database
   # that your Resque workers use (happy path).
-  # 
+  #
   # This takes an ip (or DNS record).  It assumes that your Redis database
   # is running on the default Redis port.
   redis_location: ''