GC Outreach Basics: What to Configure Before Your First Email

Setting up GC Outreach

Whether you are just getting started with GC Outreach, or you are already sending emails and want to tighten your setup, there are a few settings that affect deliverability, branding, permissions, and compliance.

Permissions and Access to GC Outreach

Access to GC Outreach is limited by permissions controlled in GC Outreach and other core solutions like Online Giving and Events.

If you cannot access GC Outreach, ask a team member with Outreach Superadmin permissions to grant you access.

They can follow these steps:

• Go to GC Outreach in the left navigation.
• Full role definitions are available on the Roles page.

Outreach roles (high level)

1. Outreach Superadmin
   • Can take all actions and grant access to others.
2. Outreach Admin
   • Can manage outreach, recipients, and reporting.
   • Cannot add others or adjust permissions.
3. Outreach Content Manager
   • Can manage email content only.
   • Cannot manage recipients or reporting.
4. Outreach Reporting Admin
   • Can manage reporting actions (for example, exporting unsubscribes, uploading recipient lists).

Access from other GiveCampus tools

Since GC Outreach is a platform-wide capability, some roles outside of Outreach also have the ability to create and send emails:

• GC Events: Events superadmins can create and manage outreaches from the Events tool to pre-built event segments.
• Online Giving: The following roles can create, send, and manage outreach content from the campaigns and giving forms they have access to:
  • Superadmins (note: Superadmins can also manage all outreach from the GC Outreach tab)
  • Advanced Campaign Admins
  • Advanced Form Admins
  • Communications Admins

Domain Validation

Validate your school’s domain so emails can come from your institution (for example, @[yourschool.edu] instead of outreach@outreach.givecampus.com.

How to validate your domain

1. Go to School Dashboard → Settings → Email Domains.
2. Enter your base domain (example: yourschool.edu) and start validation.
3. GiveCampus will generate CNAME records.
4. Copy and share those CNAME records with your IT team to add to your DNS settings.
5. After IT confirms the records are added, return to GiveCampus and complete validation to confirm everything is connected correctly.

Once your domain is validated, you can set sender email addresses to use that domain. After domain validation, your emails will look more credible to recipients. Learn more about domain validation.

 

Google Font Import

You can import your institution’s Google Fonts so they are available in the GC Outreach email builder.

How to import fonts

1. Visit the Google Fonts page.
2. Select the font families you want to use, then copy the Google Fonts URL for those selections.
3. Paste that URL into GiveCampus.
4. Confirm the fonts appear in the list and are available in the GC Outreach email builder.

Important note about font families

Not all email providers support custom fonts. If a recipient’s email provider does not support the font you chose, it will fall back to a default font. If you want a list of widely supported email fonts, see this SendGrid guide.

 

Solicit Code Mapping

To suppress people you should not email, you can map imported solicit codes (sometimes called restrictions or communication preferences) to GC Outreach. This step should be taken after you import constituent data with solicit codes or a separate solicit code filie.

Where to configure

Go to School Dashboard → Settings.

Under the Restrictions section, select Administrator Management.

• This works with solicit codes imported through the Data Importer

How it works

If a person has any email address with a solicit code that is mapped to GC Outreach suppression, they will be automatically removed from the recipients list.

Migrating historical opt‑outs from another platform

If you're moving to GC Outreach and have a CSV of addresses that previously unsubscribed, you have two options:

1) Migrate the opt‑out as a solicit code and map it to GC Outreach suppression

• During the constituent import using the School Level Data Importer, include a solicit code (such as LEGACY_CODE) in the appropriate column.
• After import, map the solicit code to suppression by navigating to School Dashboard → Settings, opening the Restrictions section, and selecting Administrator Management. Check the GC Outreach column next to the code and save your changes.
• Once mapped, any constituent with that solicit code on any email address is automatically excluded from GC Outreach sends.

Notes for the solicit‑code approach:

• This method applies suppression school‑wide, not just for a single unsubscribe topic.
• The solicit code must already be included in the constituent record during the upload; mapping alone does not add the code.

2) Save opt‑outs as a segment and manually exclude them per send

• Upload the legacy opt‑out addresses as a saved segment in the Segments area under Outreach > Outreach.
• For each outreach where this exclusion is needed, add the saved segment on the Recipients step to prevent those addresses from receiving the email.

Notes for the segment‑exclusion approach:

• This method requires adding the exclusion to each outreach individually. It does not enforce permanent suppression in GC Outreach.

Additional migration considerations

• You cannot directly import addresses into a GC Outreach Unsubscribe Topic. Unsubscribe Topic entries are generated only when recipients click the unsubscribe link in an email.
• Manage Unsubscribe Topics via Outreach > Unsubscribe Topics. (Note: Default topics cannot be edited.)
• Expect higher bounce and invalid‑address rates on your first campaign after migration. Clean your legacy CSV if possible and review the article on Sending Email in GC Outreach: Failures, Retries, and What to Do About Bounces if issues arise.

School Address for Email Footer

All emails include a footer with your institution’s address information and required unsubscribe links.

Where to set this

Online Giving → School-Level Settings → Other

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: How do I handle "do not email" records in my data upload? Should I remove them first?

FAQ: How GC Outreach handles restriction codes from your CRM

Q: Do "Do Not Email" or "Do Not Text" restrictions from my CRM automatically prevent outreach to those recipients?

A: Yes, but only if you have properly mapped the solicit codes in your GC Outreach settings. GC Outreach will automatically exclude recipients with mapped restriction codes during the upload and recipient processing steps.

Key requirements:

• The restriction codes must be imported through the School Level Data Importer
• The codes must be mapped to GC Outreach suppression in School Dashboard > Settings > General Settings
• Once properly mapped, recipients with these codes are automatically excluded from both email and text outreach

What this means: You don't need to manually remove restricted constituents before uploading your lists—GC Outreach filters them out automatically when the codes are properly mapped.

A: No — you don't need to remove them manually. Any records marked as "do not email" (such as those with an unsubscribe status or a mapped solicit code) will be automatically excluded from email outreach during upload and recipient processing.