Customize Donor Notification Emails

GiveCampus makes it easy to customize different gift notification emails for each form or campaign. The moment after making their gift or managing their gift is an important moment in making the donor feel good about their donation. We recommend you customize these emails to build trust and appropriately steward your donors!

How to Access Email Customization

You can customize email notifications within Giving Forms and Campaigns via Settings > Giving Experience > Gift Confirmation Emails.

Key Email Settings to Customize

Here are 4 important things to customize and best practices in your gift confirmation emails:

1. Email "From Name" and "Reply To"

Customize the name that the emails from 'From' as well as where you will receive replies.

Pro-Tip: These are transactional emails. We recommend using a generic email address (like giving@yourschool.edu) rather than a personal email address to ensure continuity and proper delivery.

2. Email Subject Line

Create compelling subject lines that reflect your institution's voice and confirm the donor's gift.

3. Email Body Content

Personalize the message to thank donors appropriately and include relevant information about their gift's impact.

4. Branding and Visual Elements

With the new rich text editor (available for new and cloned campaigns/forms), you can add:

• Banner imagery
• Custom footers
• Full branding control
• GC Videos for additional stewardship
• HTML editing capabilities

Important Notes About Email Template Customization

Admin Notification Email Order

Admin notification emails display donor information in a preset order. The address fields (Name, Email, Affiliation, Street Address, City, State, Zip, Country) are part of the "$ADDRESS$" merge token and cannot be reordered individually. This is a system limitation that affects how quickly administrators can scan the information.

Common variations of this question:

• How do I change the order of admin notifications?
• Can I rearrange donor information in notification emails?
• Why is my admin email format not logical?

Chargeback Email Notifications

Chargeback emails are automatically sent to all administrators who have enabled donation notifications. These system-generated notifications:

• Cannot be customized or personalized
• Cannot be sent to specific individuals only
• Are sent automatically when chargebacks occur

Common variations of this question:

• Can I customize chargeback emails?
• How do I control who receives chargeback notifications?
• Can I change the format of chargeback alerts?

Email Template Management URL

For admin notification template management, you can access your email templates at: https://www.givecampus.com/schools/[yourschoolname]/admin/administrators/email_templates

Best Practices

• Use clear, institutional branding in your "From" name
• Set up custom templates for both regular gifts and recurring gifts
• Include impactful messaging about how the gift will be used
• Test your templates before launching campaigns
• Keep backup copies of successful email templates for future campaigns

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  School-level tax receipt settings and email templates

  How school-level tax receipt settings interact with your email templates can make tax information appear or disappear from donor emails. Keep these rules and checks in mind when a campaign’s receipts look different than expected.

  • School-level tax receipt setting acts as a master switch under Online Giving > School-Level Settings > Tax Receipts (also shown as Online Giving > School-Level Settings > Tax Receipts).

  • When enabled, default email templates automatically include tax information.

  • Campaign-specific email template customizations override the school-level setting. In other words, if a campaign or form uses a custom Gift Confirmation Email, that template controls whether tax receipt text appears even when the school-level master switch is on.

  • If tax receipts were working previously with custom templates, the school-level setting may have been disabled.

  Steps to diagnose and resolve missing tax receipt content

  1. Verify the school-level master switch:

     • Go to Online Giving > School-Level Settings > Tax Receipts and confirm the master setting is enabled.

  2. Check whether the campaign or form is using a custom template:

     • Open the campaign or giving form and go to Settings > Giving Experience > Gift Confirmation Emails.
     • If the template shows custom content, that custom template is the source of what donors receive.

  3. If the school-level setting is ON but donors still don’t see tax info:

     • Confirm the campaign/form is using the default template (not a custom template). If it uses a custom template, edit that template and add the tax receipt language you need, or switch it back to the default template so the school-level tax content appears.

  4. If tax receipts were appearing previously and suddenly stopped:

     • Re-check Online Giving > School-Level Settings > Tax Receipts — the school-level setting may have been turned off.

  Recommendations and best practices

  • If you rely on school-wide tax wording for consistency, avoid using campaign-specific custom Gift Confirmation Emails or ensure every custom template includes your required tax receipt text.

  • When creating or cloning campaign templates, include a checklist item to confirm tax receipt language is present (or intentionally excluded) so nothing is missed on launch day.

  • Test a live donation flow (or use a saved test template) after changing either the school-level setting or a campaign template to confirm donors receive the expected tax receipt content.

Troubleshooting

Q: Why can't I change the order of fields in admin notifications? A: The address and donor information fields are part of a single merge token ($ADDRESS$) and cannot be individually rearranged.

Q: Can I stop receiving chargeback emails? A: Chargeback emails are sent to all administrators with donation notifications enabled. You cannot opt out of these system notifications specifically.

Q: My custom email isn't sending - what's wrong? A: Check that you've saved your changes and that the campaign/form is live. Also verify your "Reply To" email address is valid.

Updating Gift Receipts

Correcting Donor Information on Receipts

FAQ — Donor name appears twice in admin notification or confirmation emails

Q: Why does the donor name sometimes appear twice (for example, "John Doe John Doe") in the email notifications?

A: The donor name in both admin notifications and donor confirmation emails comes directly from the value captured at checkout. If a donor enters their full name in a field intended for a first or preferred name, the system records a doubled name that appears in all notifications.

• The $DONOR_NAME$ merge token pulls this stored value, which is why you see the name repeated in both the greeting and the separate "Donor Name:" field.
• Additionally, if a donor enters their full name in one field and again in a separate field, the emails may display the name in two different locations.

To correct a doubled donor name:

Contact GiveCampus Support so that a support team member can update the donor name on the gift record. After the correction, resend the gift receipt from the donation detail page to update the recipient's confirmation email.

Why this occurs:

It happens when the name collection fields are not used as intended. For example, if a giving form expects only a first name but a donor enters their full name, the system ends up combining entries and displaying the name twice.

If a donor's name or information needs to be corrected on their tax receipt:

1. Backend updates: Contact support to update the gift record with correct donor information if it can't be updated in your end.

2. Resend receipt: Once the backend is updated, you can resend the corrected tax receipt to the donor

3. Name discrepancies: Common when donors use different names during checkout but want formal receipts addressed differently

When to Update Gift Records

• Donor requests formal name on receipt (vs. nickname used during donation)
• Spelling corrections needed
• Title preferences (Dr., Professor, etc.)

Common variations of this question:

• "How to correct name on tax receipt"
• "Update donor information on receipt"
• "Resend corrected gift receipt"
• "Change receipt addressee name"

Incentive Field Display Limitations

Understanding the Three-Option Display

Incentive fields are designed as opt-in selections and always display three options:

1. The incentive option (e.g., "Yes, I want the socks")

2. Decline option (e.g., "No, I don't want the incentive")

3. No selection (allows donors to skip choosing if the field isn't required)

Why You Can't Change to Yes/No Only

The incentive system is built to:

• Be donor-friendly by not forcing a choice
• Allow donors to opt-in rather than opt-out
• Maintain consistency across all campaigns

Alternative Solutions for Simplified Options

If donors are confused by the incentive dropdown:

Option 1: Lock the incentive

• Prevent new donors from selecting the incentive
• Use reporting to track who previously earned it
• Add a custom checkbox for "opt out of socks" instead

Option 2: Custom field approach

• Create a simple custom field with clear yes/no language
• Use this instead of the formal incentive system
• Manage fulfillment through custom field reporting
• You'd need to make sure to remove the field once fulfilled

Advanced Designation Merge Tokens

When customizing email notifications, you can use specific designation merge tokens that may not appear in the merge token dropdown but are supported:

Available designation tokens:

• $DESIGNATION_NAME$ - The designation name without amounts
• $DESIGNATION_WITH_AMOUNT$ - Designation name with the gift amount
• $DESIGNATION_WITH_BACKEND$ - Designation name with backend identifier (internal reference code)
• $DESIGNATION$ - Standard designation display

How to use these tokens:

1. Select the token from the merge token menu
2. Test the email to confirm proper token replacement

These tokens work in all email templates including recurring gift notifications.

Incentive merge token: $INCENTIVE$

Include the donor's selected incentive in your email templates using the $INCENTIVE$ merge token. This token inserts the incentive name chosen during checkout (for example, "Personalized Thank You Note!") so that both donor confirmations and admin alerts display the selected perk.

Where to add it

1. Open your email templates at: https://www.givecampus.com/schools/{yourschoolname}/admin/administrators/email_templates
2. Select the template to edit (for instance, an admin notification or donor confirmation email).
3. In the editor, open the merge token dropdown and choose the $INCENTIVE$ token.
4. Save your changes.

Supported templates

• Admin notification emails: Use $INCENTIVE$ to aid fulfillment and tracking.
• Donor confirmation emails: Use $INCENTIVE$ to confirm the selected incentive and enhance stewardship messaging.

Testing and best practices

• After saving, send a test email or process a test donation with an incentive selection to verify the token renders correctly.
• Clearly reference the incentive in donor emails (for example, "You selected: $INCENTIVE$").
• For multiple templates, add $INCENTIVE$ where incentive details are needed, as changes do not propagate automatically.

Troubleshooting

If the $INCENTIVE$ token does not appear in the merge token dropdown, ensure you are editing the template from the Email Templates page and that the associated form or campaign collects an incentive. If it still isn’t available, add a test incentive on a draft form and check the editor again.

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Bulk receipt customization limitations

Bulk edits to email receipts are not currently supported in GiveCampus. Custom field data like 'in memory of' or 'in honor of' information cannot be automatically added to all receipts globally. Each email template must be customized individually per form or campaign.

What this means in practice:

• If you want an "In Memory Of" or "In Honor Of" mention to appear in receipts, you must first collect that field on the specific giving form or campaign where donors enter it. Custom field merge tokens can be added to individual email templates if the fields exist on the form.
• After the custom field exists on a form, open that form or campaign's Settings > Giving Experience > Gift Confirmation Emails and edit the template for that form/campaign to insert the appropriate merge token(s) and wording.
• Repeat the template edit for every form or campaign where you want the custom field to appear — there is no shortcut to apply the change across all templates at once.

Step-by-step for adding a custom field value to a single receipt template

1. Add the custom field to the giving form or campaign so donors can enter the information at checkout (for example, an "In Memory Of" short answer field).
2. Open the form or campaign and go to Settings > Giving Experience > Gift Confirmation Emails.
3. Edit the gift confirmation template for that form/campaign and insert the custom field's merge token (the merge token becomes available once the field exists on the form). Test the template to confirm the token populates as expected.
4. Save the template. The updated template will be used for future receipts from that specific form or campaign.

Retroactive changes and existing receipts

For retroactive changes to existing gift receipts, contact support for assistance. Keep in mind that because templates are managed per form/campaign and bulk edits are not available, updating receipts after the fact is an administrative action rather than a single, system-wide template change.

Best practices to avoid heavy manual work

• Add the donor-facing custom fields you plan to use (for example, In Memory Of / In Honor Of) to all active forms before major campaigns so you can rely on a single template edit per form as needed.
• Maintain a short list of tested template snippets that include your custom-field merge tokens so you can paste the same wording into multiple templates quickly.
• When planning a giving day or large appeal, pilot the field + template on one form first to confirm merge token behavior and email layout before copying the approach to other forms and campaigns.

Personal video upload & approval workflow

GiveCampus supports short, user-submitted personal videos from advocates. These videos are not published automatically; instead, they go through an approval workflow so schools control what appears on campaign pages.

what happens after a personal video is uploaded

• Videos remain hidden on campaign pages until an administrator approves them. They do not appear on the advocate’s card or become shareable until approved.
• Administrators reviewing videos can either approve or reject them. Once approved, the video becomes visible on the advocate’s card.
• Rejected videos can be deleted, allowing the advocate or an administrator to submit a new upload.

why approval is required

Approval prevents inappropriate or off-brand content from appearing on public campaign pages, helping you maintain institutional standards.

who receives video upload notifications

Administrators with personal video approval notifications enabled receive an email when a new video is submitted. Your school controls these notifications through the administrator notification settings.

managing rejected videos

If a video is rejected, an administrator can delete the file and allow for a replacement upload. This ensures that only approved content appears on the campaign page.

what approved videos look like

Once approved, a personal video appears on the advocate’s card. Donors or site visitors can click the “Watch Video” button to view it and share it using the provided link.

FAQ – common scenarios

• Q: A supporter says they uploaded a video but it isn’t live. Why? A: Videos require administrator approval before they appear. Check notification settings to ensure someone received the alert.

• Q: Can I remove a rejected video so it never appears publicly? A: Yes. Administrators can delete rejected videos and allow a replacement upload.

• Q: Who can approve videos? A: Only administrators with personal video approval notifications enabled can approve uploads.

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recurring gift setup notifications vs. recurring gift receipts

• admin label change: The recurring gift template now appears as “Recurring Gift Set Up Notification” (previously “Recurring Gift Receipt”). This label is visible on your email templates management page: https://www.givecampus.com/schools/[yourschoolname]/admin/administrators/email_templates.

• what the setup notification contains: The default recurring gift setup notification no longer includes the sentence "Below, you will also find a tax receipt." or the $TAX_RECEIPT$ merge token. It still contains the contact line: "If you have any questions, please email $SCHOOL_CONTACT_EMAIL$."

• why this changed: This notification confirms a donor’s enrollment in a recurring gift plan before any installment processes, rather than serving as a payment-based tax receipt.

• where actual recurring gift receipts come from: Once an installment processes, receipts are sent using the "Recurring Gift Updated" template (internal name: recurring_subscription_updated). Customize that template if you want tax receipt language in processed payments.

• existing custom templates remain intact: Your previously saved custom or partner templates remain unchanged. If your custom recurring template used the $TAX_RECEIPT$ token, update its content as needed.