How to Build and Utilize Query Built Segments

Building a Query Built Custom Segment

Go to GC Outreach → Segments → Custom Segments and click New Segment. Choose Build a new Segment, enter a unique name, and create the segment.

Build your conditions, then use Overview to review who matches.

Defining Your Conditions

Once you have created the segment, you will be immediately asked to create your conditions. These conditions are categorized and new data elements are added consistently to this so if you feel like something is missing, reach out to gc-outreach@givecampus.com with your feedback and check back for updates.

Targeting event participants by specific activities

GC Outreach segments allow you to filter event registrants at the activity level. This enables you to target only those who signed up for a specific activity—like a keynote session, workshop, or reception—instead of emailing or texting everyone registered for the event.

Available filters

Apply activity-specific filters to include or exclude participants based on their activity choice.
Use these filters to target a specific session within a multi-track event.

Tips for complex criteria

Combine activity-level filters with other conditions using inner condition groups for clear, complex logic (for example, parents who registered for a reception and have not donated).
To exclude one activity while including another, create separate condition groups and combine them using the appropriate any/all logic.

Testing your segment

Test your segment with a small group or preview the Segment List to ensure it includes the correct participants before launching a full send.

Matching and delivery

For email outreach, the recipient’s email in the segment must match the email in their GiveCampus account or registration for successful delivery and for any exclusion criteria to apply properly.
Activity-based filters rely on accurate registration data. If an activity selection was updated outside the platform or through an import that didn’t include activity data, the segment may not reflect the change until the data is updated.

Use cases

Remind only the participants of a specific workshop about an upcoming session.
Invite only activity volunteers to a briefing email.
Exclude VIP reception registrants from a general survey, targeting only standard-session attendees.

Conditions can be a mixture of all conditions or any conditions being met and using an "inner condition" will create a sub option that can be a different.

Data elements to build your segment will start from any information on GiveCampus including people who have donated, people who have registered, and people who have been imported through various options in the GiveCampus platform. The starting point is those listed in the School Dashboard > Constituents page (all tabs)

GC Intelligence Predictive Conditions

You can use GC Intelligence predictive scores as a condition when building a custom segment. To add this condition, open the condition type picker and select the X times more likely than average to perform an action option under the GC Intelligence category. This reveals two fields:

Action dropdown – Choose the prediction type:
- Likelihood to be a recurring donor
- Likelihood to make a leadership level gift
- Likelihood to advocate
• Note: The options for recurring donor and advocacy are available if GC Intelligence Smart Segments are enabled for your school. The leadership gift option only appears if your school has generated leadership gift predictions.
How many times more than average? – Enter a numeric multiplier to select constituents who are that many times more likely than average to take the chosen action (for example, entering 3 targets those three times more likely than average).

Each Action choice displays a short explanatory note in the condition builder, for example:

Recurring donor: "The constituents must be the following amount more likely to be a recurring donor than average..."
Leadership gift: "The constituents must be the following amount more likely to make a leadership level gift than average..."
Advocacy: "The constituents must be the following amount more likely to advocate than average..."

How this fits into your segment workflow

Navigate to GC Outreach > Segments > Custom Segments and click Build New Segment.
Add the GC Intelligence condition within any condition group and combine it with other criteria (such as demographics, gift history, or event attendance) for precise, behavior-driven targeting.
While the Smart Segments tab also offers these prediction types (with the leadership gift option appearing only when available), using the predictive condition in custom segments lets you integrate predictive logic with other conditions.

Reviewing Your Segment

New query-built segments default to Dynamic. They refresh when used and before a scheduled send. Check the saved list type rather than assuming an older segment has that default. A Static segment retains its list until you refresh it manually.

The segment list page will display all people that are in the segment. Email addresses are not required to display in the list but are required to use in an outreach.

Troubleshooting Segment Filters

Missing Affiliation Options in Dropdown Menus

Common variations of this question:

Why don't I see affiliation options in the dropdown?
The donor affiliation filter is empty
How do I filter by student or faculty status?

Common causes and solutions:

1. Data not imported: Affiliation data must be imported through the School Level Data Importer first

- Ensure your CSV includes affiliation fields like "student", "faculty", "staff", "alumni"

- Upload constituent data with proper affiliation coding

2. Segment not properly configured:

- Start with campaign donors first, then apply filters

- Ensure you're using the correct segment type (custom vs. campaign-based)

3. Timing issues:

- Allow time for data processing after uploads

- Refresh your browser and try building the segment again

4. Contact support: If affiliation options still don't appear after data upload, contact support with the specific segment link for troubleshooting

Pro tip: Test your segments with a small group first to ensure filters are working correctly before sending to larger audiences.

What timeframe does Made donation type use?

The condition evaluates historical online giving; it does not itself limit the matching gift by date or indicate whether the donor’s subscription is currently active. Adding a separate date condition tests the same constituent, not necessarily the same gift.

Q: When filtering for campaign donors, do offline gifts count?

A: No, offline gifts do not count in filters for online gifts to campaigns and giving forms.

Target donors who gave to a specific designation within a date range

Q: How do I build a segment for donors who gave to a specific designation between two dates?

Separate conditions do not require the same gift to satisfy both. Combining Designation Name with Given a certain amount online can match someone who gave to the selected designation outside the date range and gave to another designation inside it.

If you need gifts to a particular designation within a date range, use a donation report with the relevant date range and designation data, check the qualifying gift rows, then use their constituent IDs in a CSV segment. Verify the report’s date basis and split-designation rows before preparing the recipient list.

Key details:

Designation Name looks at all-time online giving.
An ALL group intersects matching constituents; each condition may be satisfied by a different gift.
Making the segment dynamic refreshes the results but does not change this matching rule.

The campaign gift filter is looking at online gifts only.

How do I target one‑time donors vs. recurring installment payments?

Q: I need a segment that contains only donors who have made recurring installment payments (or only one‑time donors). Which condition should I use and how do I build it?

A: Use the Made donation type condition in the Online Giving category. Follow these steps:

Start the segment
- Navigate to GC Outreach > Segments > Custom Segments tab and click Build New Segment. Name your segment and click Create Segment to open the condition builder.
Add the Made donation type condition
- In the condition type selector, open the Online Giving category and select Made donation type.
- Choose between The person must have made this type of gift (include) or The person must not have made this type of gift (exclude).
Select the donation type
- Available options include: One Time, Match, Recurring Installment, Challenge, Pledge, and None but gave data (should-be donor).
- To target recurring donors, select The person must have made this type of gift and check Recurring Installment.
Consider key behaviors
- This condition matches donors who have ever made a recurring installment payment based on historical online payment activity. It does not reflect whether a subscription is active or differentiate payment methods (e.g., PayPal vs. card).
- Offline gifts are not included; the filter applies only to online gifts.
Narrow or combine with other conditions
- You can combine gift-type and campaign conditions using ALL, but they may match different gifts by the same constituent. This does not prove that the recurring installment was made to the selected campaign.
Make the segment dynamic
- Set the segment to dynamic so it updates automatically at send time, ensuring new recurring installments are included.

Example: A donor with a recurring installment to Campaign A and a one-time gift to Campaign B can satisfy both “Recurring Installment” and “Given to Campaign B.” For a list of actual recurring payments to Campaign B, check gift-level reporting before building the recipient list.

Summary: Use Online Giving → Made donation type → select Recurring Installment to include recurring installment donors. Combine this with campaign or giving form filters to refine your audience. Remember, the condition reflects historical online payment activity and excludes offline gifts.

The "New Segment" modal opens but the content is blank

Q: When I click New Segment, the modal shows only a title with no form content. What’s happening and how do I fix it?

A: This is a browser rendering issue rather than a permissions error or outage. To resolve it:

Sign out of GiveCampus using the Sign out option in your account menu.
Clear your browser’s cache and cookies for givecampus.com to force a refresh of the latest files.
Sign back in, navigate to GC Outreach > Segments > Custom Segments, and click New Segment. Then, select Build a new Segment in the modal.
If the modal remains blank, try opening a private or incognito browser window and sign in there. If it works in the private window, the issue may be due to browser cache or extensions; disable extensions or clear cache again.

Note: A blank modal can occur even when your permissions are correctly configured. This is a local browser issue and is typically resolved by these steps.

Working with Custom Fields in Segments

How Custom Fields Appear in GC Outreach

When you import custom fields through the School Level Data Importer, these fields are available for segmentation in GC Outreach but may not be visible in individual constituent records.

Where to Find Custom Field Data

Custom fields imported via the Data Importer can be found in:

GC Outreach segments: Use custom fields as filtering conditions
GC Gift Officer: Custom fields are visible in donor management tools
Segment results: When you build segments using custom fields, the data will populate correctly

Verifying Custom Field Imports

To confirm your custom fields imported successfully:

1. Go to GC Outreach > Segments

2. Create a new segment using your custom field as a condition

3. If the segment populates with results, your custom field data imported correctly

4. The field data is working even if not visible in individual records

Example: Sports Interest Fields

If you imported a "Cheerleading" interest field:

Create a segment with condition: "Custom Field: Cheerleading = Yes"
The segment will show all constituents with that interest
This confirms the data imported successfully

Troubleshooting Custom Field Issues

If custom fields aren't working in segments:

Check your import file column headers match exactly
Verify the import completed without errors
Ensure you're using the correct field name in segment conditions
Contact support if segments aren't populating as expected

Common variations of this question

Where do custom fields show up after import?
Can't see imported custom data in constituent records
How to verify custom field imports worked
Using imported custom fields in segments

Exclude campaign donors with a dynamic segment

Start with the constituent conditions for your intended audience.
Add Online Giving → Given to Campaign/Giving Form and choose The person must not have given to a specific campaign / giving form.
Select the campaign or form and combine the conditions using the appropriate group logic.
Confirm the segment is Dynamic before using it in outreach.
Preview the recipients and spot-check recent donors before scheduling.

Dynamic segments refresh before sending, so their recipient count can change after scheduling. Allow imported or newly processed gift data to finish updating. Do not assume that a last-second gift is already reflected.

These Online Giving filters use online gift history. Offline-only donors may remain included; handle them with an additional verified data condition or exclusion list. Matching depends on the constituent and gift identifiers available in your data, so review unexpected inclusions instead of assuming a particular email or phone match always applies.

Create a segment by CSV upload (alternative to query‑building)

You can create a segment by uploading a CSV file on the Custom Segments tab. This option is useful if you already have a prepared list or want a reusable segment from an external source.

How it works

In GC Outreach > Segments > Custom Segments, the segment creation modal offers two options: Build (query‑built) and Upload (CSV‑based). Note that the Build option is available only for select plan tiers; Upload is always available.
The segment is automatically named based on the CSV filename.

CSV file requirements and common validation errors

The CSV file must include these column headers:
- external_id
- first_name
- last_name
- email_address
- phone_number
You may omit either email_address or phone_number, but not both. Omitting any of the other three headers will cause the upload to fail.
Additional columns starting with custom_ are accepted as custom merge tokens if they only contain letters, numbers, and underscores after the prefix. Otherwise, an error is triggered with the message: "your CSV contains an improperly named custom merge token. Please check the naming and try again."
Extra columns that don’t start with custom_ are ignored.
There is a limit of 50 custom merge token columns. Exceeding this number results in an error: "your CSV contains more than 50 custom merge tokens. Please remove some and try again."
If the headers do not match the required set, the upload fails with an error such as:
- "your CSV columns do not match the required columns for this upload. Please check the naming and ensure they are all present and try again."
- "Looks like your CSV's columns do not match the column requirements. Please check the naming and ensure they are all present and try again."

CSV segments vs. outreach recipient uploads

CSV-uploaded segments create a reusable, named segment in GC Outreach > Segments that can be used for future outreaches or downloaded.
Using the Add Recipients button in a draft outreach attaches contacts only to that specific send and does not create a reusable segment.

Using custom merge tokens

Custom columns that follow the naming convention (starting with custom_ and using only letters, numbers, and underscores) become available as merge tokens in the email builder, allowing for personalized outreach.

Troubleshooting checklist

Confirm you created the segment via the Custom Segments tab and selected Upload in the modal.
Open your CSV in a text editor to ensure the headers match exactly: external_id, first_name, last_name, email_address, phone_number. Custom columns must start with custom_ and follow the naming rules.
Verify that you have no more than 50 custom merge token columns.
If omitting a contact method, ensure only one (either email_address or phone_number) is removed.
If the upload fails, review the error message, correct the CSV headers or column count, and try again.

Quick examples

Valid minimal CSV headers:

external_id,first_name,last_name,email_address,phone_number

Valid CSV with a custom token:

external_id,first_name,last_name,email_address,phone_number,custom_campaign_cause

Where to go next

After a successful upload, the segment appears in your Custom Segments list. From there, you can preview, download, or use it as the recipient source when composing an outreach. For one‑off recipient lists, use the outreach Add Recipients workflow instead.

Building New Segments in GC Outreach