Custom Leaderboards for Campaigns

Leaderboards create friendly competition and highlight top-performing segments in your community. Use them to show which class years, teams, or designations are most active and motivate supporters to rally around shared goals.

Quick access — where to find and create custom leaderboards

In your campaign settings, go to the Leaderboards section and click Manage Custom Leaderboards, then Add Leaderboard.

This opens the interface to create custom leaderboards for friendly competition.

Quick capability summary:

Create leaderboards for affiliations or designations.
Display donor counts and optionally hide dollar totals.
Set up separate leaderboards for different groups (e.g., class years or named groups).

Steps to create a custom leaderboard:

Open the campaign you want to edit and access its management area.
Navigate to the Leaderboards section and click Manage Custom Leaderboards, then Add Leaderboard.
Configure the leaderboard by choosing the type and selecting the rows you want to display (for example, specific class years or named groups).

Practical tips:

To display a leaderboard on a specific tier or team page, open that tier’s campaign page and use its Custom Leaderboards section. Leaderboards created on one tier won’t appear on others.
Use the "Hide Dollars Raised" option to emphasize donor counts over fundraising totals.
For head-to-head or house-style competitions, consider creating separate leaderboards or distinct rows within one leaderboard to show each group’s donor count and dollar total side-by-side.

With Custom Leaderboards, you can create multiple leaderboards tailored to your campaign strategy.

Getting Started

Navigate to your campaign settings: Motivation & Sharing > Leaderboards > Manage Custom Leaderboards > Add Leaderboard

Configure Your Leaderboard

Basic Settings

Choose your configuration:

Leaderboard type: Designation, Affiliation, or Designation filtered by Affiliation
Leaderboard name: What donors will see on the page
Header and text colors: Use hex codes to match your campaign branding
Display format: Choose how data appears (dollars, donors, or both)

Setting Up Class Year Leaderboards

To create a leaderboard showing class participation:

Select "Affiliation" as the leaderboard type

Choose the specific class years you want to display (like Class of 1996, 1997, etc.)

When you get to the "add rows" section, you'll see an "Add All" option for your class years

Note: The "Add All" option only appears after you've configured the other settings first

Managing Leaderboard Rows

When adding rows to your leaderboard:

For cleaner display: Remove non-class year affiliations (Alumni, Faculty/Staff, Friends, Parents, Students) from class-specific leaderboards
Create separate leaderboards: Consider making different leaderboards for class years vs. general affiliations
Customize appearance: Adjust header colors to match your school branding (default colors can be reset if needed)

Leaderboard Types Explained

Affiliation-Based Leaderboards

Show competition between different donor groups (Alumni, Parents, Faculty, etc.)
Can be filtered by specific class years
Perfect for reunion campaigns or class challenges

Designation-Based Leaderboards

Display which funds or programs are receiving the most support
Help donors see popular giving areas
Encourage giving to underperforming designations

Common Leaderboard Setup Issues

Why Affiliations Show Over 100%

There are several reasons your affiliation percentages might exceed 100%:

Donors without affiliations: If donors don't select an affiliation, the total will be higher than individual affiliation sums

Multiple affiliations per donor: Donors can select multiple affiliations, adding their gift to multiple categories while only counting once in the total

Challenge gifts: Challenge amounts count toward affiliation numerators but not denominators, inflating percentages

Common variations of this question:

Why don't my leaderboard percentages add up to 100%?
My affiliation breakdown is over 100% - is this a bug?
How are leaderboard percentages calculated?

Best Practices

Design Tips

Use your school colors for leaderboard headers
Keep leaderboard names short and clear
Consider your audience when choosing what to display

Strategic Usage

Create urgency by highlighting close competitions
Use multiple leaderboards to engage different segments
Update leaderboard settings as your campaign evolves

Troubleshooting Setup

Missing "Add All" option? Complete the basic settings first
Colors not displaying correctly? Check your hex codes and save changes
Leaderboard not updating? Ensure your campaign is live and gifts are being processed

Technical Details

How Counts Are Calculated

Donor counts: Unique individuals giving to each category
Dollar amounts: Total funds raised for each category
Percentages: Category performance relative to overall campaign

Data Refresh

Leaderboards update in near real-time
Live campaigns show updates within 20 minutes
Completed campaigns may have delayed updates

Troubleshooting

Q: I don't see the "Add All" option for class years. What's wrong? A: Complete all the basic settings (leaderboard type, name, colors) first. The "Add All" option only appears after the initial configuration is done.

Q: My leaderboard shows the wrong colors. How do I fix it? A: Go back to your leaderboard settings and update the header color using the correct hex code. Make sure to save your changes.

Q: Should I include all affiliations in my class leaderboard? A: For cleaner display, remove non-class affiliations (Alumni, Faculty/Staff, Friends, Parents, Students) from class-specific leaderboards. Consider creating separate leaderboards for different affiliation types.

Q: Why are my affiliation percentages over 100%? A: This happens when donors select multiple affiliations or when some donors don't select any affiliation. It's normal behavior, not an error.

Troubleshooting Tiered Landing Page Issues

Wrong Designation Pre-populating

If your tiered landing pages are pre-populating a designation that doesn't match the settings:

Most Common Cause: Browser Cache

This is usually a cache issue from testing your other pages
Try viewing in a private/incognito browser window
This shows the actual donor experience
Clear your browser cache and cookies

Other Potential Causes:

Same designation used in multiple groups or tiers
System tracks by designation ID, not group name
If designation appears in multiple groups, it may affect all related tier pages

Quick Fixes

1. Test in Incognito Mode: Open your campaign in a private browser window

2. Clear Cache: Clear browser cache and refresh the page

3. Check Designation Setup: Ensure each tier uses unique designations

4. Create Unique Designations: Use specific names like 'Athletics - General' or 'Academics - Other'

Common variations of this question

Tiered pages showing wrong designation
Landing page pre-populating incorrect fund
Give now button wrong designation
Tiered campaign designation problems

Customizing Leaderboard Display Options

Removing Dollar Amount Columns

Currently, the dollar amount ("$ Raised") column cannot be removed from custom leaderboards. This column is a standard part of the leaderboard display.

Available customization options:

Leaderboard name and header text
Display colors using hex codes
Number of entries shown
Sorting criteria

Geographic/Map Leaderboards on Tier 2 Pages

Map leaderboards are currently only available on the main campaign landing page and cannot be displayed on Tier 2 (tiered landing) pages.