GC Events - Soliciting Gifts (How-to)

Offer your constituents the opportunity to make additional donations during registration or from the event page.

Quick start — enable the donation button during registration

1. Open the event in admin and navigate to the Gifts section in event settings.
2. Select a Social Fundraising campaign or Giving Form for the event. This association is required for both gift solicitation options.
3. To display a donation ask within the registration checkout, check Gift Solicitation in Registration Flow, configure the designation and donation text options, and then click Save & Next.
4. To display a donation button on the event landing page and registration overview page, check Additional Gifts, set the Donation Text Header and Button Text, and then click Save & Next. The button directs constituents to the associated campaign or giving form.

Quick notes:

• The Donation Text Header in the registration flow (max 100 characters) appears above the donation ask, and the Include suggested giving amounts option adds up to three suggested amounts.
• For Additional Gifts, the Button Text (max 25 characters) appears on the button, while the Donation Text Header (max 60 characters) appears above it on the overview page.
• To disable gift solicitation, open the Gifts section and click Save & Next without selecting a campaign or giving form.

How it works:

Keep in mind: 

• Event registrants who make a gift within the registration flow will see their event costs broken out separately from their donation but will only need to complete their payment information once. 
• For gifts made during the registration flow, event revenue and donations will be processed as two separate transactions and event registrants who choose to make a gift during the registration process will receive a separate donation receipt in addition to the event confirmation email. 
• If desired, administrators can configure a separate Stripe or PayPal account for event revenue; outright donations will always be deposited into the primary Stripe / PayPal account for online giving. 

How to enable gift solicitation: 

• Gift solicitation can be enabled on an event-by-event basis via the Gifts section of your event settings.
• To enable gift solicitation, select a campaign or giving form to which the gifts will be attributed.
  • If you choose to attribute donations to a Social Fundraising campaign, any gifts coming in from your event to that campaign will be treated like any other gift to that campaign. The donor’s gift will count toward campaign goals, the donor’s name will show up on the donor roll and in leaderboards, and the donation will count toward your GC Social Fundraising subscription. 
  • If you choose to attribute donations to a Giving Form, the gift will count toward your GC Giving Form subscription. If you have a prepaid payment processing bundle, the donation will count toward that bundle.

• Gift Solicitation in Registration Flow: Check this box to enable gift solicitation in the registration flow.
  • Registrants adding a gift to their event registration costs will only have to enter their payment information once, while two separate transactions occur in the background: one for the event costs, one for the gift. 
  • In addition to the event confirmation email, registrants who add a gift as part of the registration flow will also receive the active email template for the giving form or social fundraising campaign selected.
  • Designation Settings: 
    • Select a single designation for this event: All gifts made during the registration flow will be assigned the same designation selected in this field. Donors cannot view the designation selected, change the designation selected, or add additional designations.
    • Allow donors to designate gifts themselves: Donors will see the designations available within this event’s associated social fundraising campaign or giving form and can split their gift as many ways as the associated campaign or giving form allows. 
    • Do not designate gifts made in the registration flow: Donors will not be shown the option to designate their gift and no designation will be assigned to gifts made during the registration flow.
  • Donation text header: This text appears beneath the event purchase summary.
  • Include suggested giving amounts: Check this box to display up to three ask amount buttons.

• Additional Gifts: Check this box to solicit additional gifts via the event landing page and registration overview pages.
  • Define the donation text header and button text in the fields provided.
  • The donation text header will only appear above the button on the overview page shown to event registrants after their registration is submitted.
  • Constituents who click this button will be brought directly to the giving form or social fundraising campaign associated with this event.

Creating Event-Specific vs. General Giving Forms

When to Create Event-Specific Forms

Large, high-profile events often benefit from dedicated giving forms:

• Reunions: Custom forms with class year appeal codes
• Homecoming: Dedicated forms highlighting specific fundraising goals
• Galas: Forms emphasizing the event's mission and impact

When to Use Existing General Forms

Smaller events can effectively use existing forms:

• Happy hours and networking events: Link to main giving form or alumni association form
• Casual gatherings: Use general unrestricted giving forms
• Departmental events: Link to relevant school/department giving forms

Appeal Code Strategy

While you cannot directly link an appeal code to an event, you can track event donations through:

• Event ID column: Available in donation reporting to track gifts made through event pages
• Unique appeal codes: Create event-specific appeal codes for your giving forms
• Campaign tracking: Use campaign-specific giving forms with unique appeal codes

Best Practices by Event Size

• Create dedicated giving forms
• Use unique appeal codes
• Customize messaging for the event

• Consider event-specific forms for annual events
• Use existing forms with event-specific appeal codes

• Link to existing relevant giving forms
• Focus on stewardship over solicitation

Changing the event's associated campaign or giving form after creation

You can update an event’s associated campaign or giving form even after the event is created. Launch your event without a campaign and add one later through the Gifts section in event settings.

How to change the association

1. Open the event in the admin and navigate to the Gifts section in event settings.
2. In the campaign/giving form dropdown, select the Social Fundraising campaign or Giving Form you want to use for future donations.
3. Click “Save & Next” to save your changes.

What happens next

• Existing registrations remain unchanged. Records and registration-specific settings will not be affected.
• Future gift solicitations will immediately use the newly selected campaign or giving form on the event landing and registration overview pages.

Practical examples and tips

• Open registration without a campaign: Launch the event first, then add a campaign or giving form via the Gifts section. New registrants will see the updated solicitation.
• Switch the donation destination: Update the selection in the Gifts section. Only donations made after the change will be attributed to the new campaign or form.

Quick reminders

• Use the Gifts section of your event settings to control campaign and giving form associations.
• Changes apply immediately for new registrations but do not retroactively alter past registrations or processed donations.

FAQ — Limit donors to a single designation when an event uses a giving form

Q: How do I allow donors to designate their gift but limit them to one fund?

A: When you choose Allow donors to designate gifts themselves in an event's Gifts section, the number of funds a donor can select is controlled on the associated giving form, not at the event level. To limit donors to a single fund, update the designation settings on that form:

1. Open the giving form linked to the event. For standalone forms or those connected to a campaign, navigate to the Form Settings tab.
2. Scroll down to the Designation Settings section.
3. Set the designation limit to 1:
   • Legacy form UI: In the Designations Per Donation section, select 1 from the dropdown.
   • Form Builder UI: In the Maximum Designations Per Donation field, enter 1.

This change means donors will see the designation selector on the giving form but can only choose one fund per donation.

Important tip:

If you edit your school's main giving form, setting the designation limit to 1 will affect all users site‑wide. To limit only event gifts, clone the main form, update the clone’s designation limit to 1, and then associate the cloned form with your event in the Gifts section.

Note on event-level single-designation:

The event setting Select a single designation for this event assigns a preset designation to all event gifts without giving donors a choice. In contrast, setting the form’s Maximum Designations Per Donation to 1 still presents the selection option but restricts it to one fund.

Reporting impact:

If you set Maximum Designations Per Donation above 1 to allow split giving, note that standard reports may miss individual split rows. In that case, use Designation Row Reports or the GiveCampus API to export complete designation details.