Calculating Campaign Totals

What Gift Types Are Included in the Totals?

• Online gifts
• Confirmed matches and challenge dollars 
• All processed installment of indefinite recurring gifts (typically one installment unless your campaign has been running for more than one month)
• The full pledge amount for recurring gifts with an end date

  Automatic Leaderboard Updates

  How Campaign Leaderboards Refresh

  Campaign leaderboards and totals update automatically every 10 minutes during active campaigns. Manual refresh is not available — the system handles all updates automatically.

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  Completed campaigns: manual refreshes and moved/offline gifts

  Important exception to the automatic update schedule:

  • Completed campaigns do not update automatically when gifts are moved to them or when offline gifts are added.
  • Manual refresh is available for completed campaigns but must be requested from GiveCampus support.

    Clarifying when to request a manual refresh for completed campaigns

    When you add offline gifts or move gifts into a campaign after it has ended, these transactions will appear in the campaign’s All Gifts Report—the authoritative source for verifying that records are correctly attached to the campaign.

    To confirm that offline gifts or moved transactions have been processed:

    1. Check the campaign’s All Gifts Report or run a donation export to confirm the records are present.
    2. Wait a few minutes for background processing and caching to settle.

    Tips:

    • Always use the All Gifts Report as your first step in confirming data attachment.
    • When verifying totals, note details such as gift IDs, amounts, donor names, and the time range for the offline upload or move.
  • When moving gifts from backup forms to ended campaigns, the totals will not reflect the changes until a manual refresh is performed.

  What this means in practice:

  • While a campaign is live, totals and leaderboards update automatically every 10 minutes. That automatic updating stops once the campaign ends, so any changes made after the end time (for example, moving gifts into the campaign or uploading offline gifts) will not appear on public totals or leaderboards until a manual refresh is completed.

  • You can confirm that moved or offline gifts are attached to the campaign by exporting or viewing the All Gifts Report (this report will include the moved records even when the public totals have not yet updated). However, the public-facing campaign totals and leaderboards will only reflect those changes after GiveCampus performs the manual refresh.

  Quick checklist when totals don’t match after the campaign ends:

  1. Verify the moved or offline gifts appear on the campaign’s All Gifts Report or in your donation exports.
  2. If the gifts appear in reports but the public totals/leaderboards haven’t changed, the campaign requires a manual refresh by GiveCampus to push those updates to the public totals.

  Notes and gotchas

  • This manual-refresh requirement applies only to campaigns that have ended; live campaigns continue to update on the normal 10‑minute cadence.
  • Because the refresh is performed outside the admin UI, public totals and leaderboard changes are not instantaneous once a manual refresh is requested — the All Gifts Report is the best place to verify that the moved gifts exist while you wait for the refreshed public totals.

  Requesting a manual campaign refresh

  Campaign totals update automatically, but in some cases a manual refresh can correct discrepancies.

  Leaderboard caching, offline gifts, and resolving count discrepancies

  Summary

  • Leaderboard discrepancies may appear when offline gifts are added to active campaigns because cached data can delay updates.
  • The All Gifts Report is the first place to verify that offline gifts have been processed.
  • If counts remain inaccurate after a short pause, a manual refresh can resolve the display mismatch.

  Why This Happens

  To maintain fast load times during high traffic, leaderboard data is cached for a few minutes. Under heavy activity—such as bulk offline uploads or mass edits—the cache may not update immediately even though new gifts are processing in the background.

  How to Identify a Caching Issue

  • The All Gifts Report shows the new offline gifts, but the public leaderboard displays lower or mismatched totals.
  • Clicking into a leaderboard group (for example, a class year) reveals the correct donor list, even if the summary count is off.
  • The issue is more noticeable during high-activity periods such as Giving Days or during mass gift adjustments.

  Steps to Resolve the Issue

  1. Verify the offline gifts appear in the All Gifts Report.
  2. Wait a few minutes for the cache to expire and the leaderboard to refresh automatically.

  When to Expect This Issue

  Leaderboard discrepancies typically occur during high-activity periods, such as during large CSV uploads, bulk offline gift additions, or intense manual adjustments. The brief delay is usually temporary until the cache expires.

  When a manual refresh is needed

  • After bulk offline gift uploads or major data changes (for example, large CSV uploads, mass edits, or batched adjustments).

  How support can help

  • Administrators can request a refresh from GiveCampus support if campaign totals appear incorrect.
  • Support will recalculate your campaign totals to reflect the latest processed gifts and offline adjustments.

  Information to include with your request

  • Campaign name and campaign URL (or campaign ID)
  • A brief description of the change that likely caused the discrepancy (for example: "Uploaded 1,200 offline gifts via CSV at 10:12 AM UTC")
  • The approximate time range when the changes were made
  • Specific examples of discrepancies (such as gift records, amounts, or donor names) if available
  • Any timing requirements (for example, if the refresh is needed during a giving event)

  What to expect after a refresh

  • Totals and leaderboards update immediately after the refresh, though there might be a short processing delay.

  Before requesting a refresh

  • Check the All Gifts Report first to confirm whether the underlying data already reflects the expected totals. This can help determine if the issue is due to timing or a data discrepancy.

  Additional tips

  • If you recently uploaded offline gifts or made large adjustments, allow a few minutes for background processing before requesting a manual refresh.
  • Providing clear examples of discrepancies helps speed up verification.

  There may be slight delays between live campaign totals and detailed reports during high-activity periods.

  When Totals Update After Campaign End

  If your campaign total increases after the official end time, this is typically due to:

  • Phantom challenges set to give full amount: These unlock automatically when the campaign ends, even if criteria weren't met
  • Pending authorization settlements: Bank transfers or other payment methods that were processing during the campaign window

  These post-campaign increases are normal and reflect the final settled totals.

  How Recurring Gifts Count in Campaign Totals

  Finite vs. Indefinite Recurring Gifts

  The way recurring gifts count toward your campaign totals depends on whether the gift has an end date:

  Finite Recurring Gifts (with end date):

  • The full subscription amount is counted toward campaign totals
  • Example: A $100/month recurring gift for 12 months counts as $1,200 in campaign totals

  Indefinite Recurring Gifts (no end date):

  • Only the first installment amount is counted toward campaign totals
  • Example: A $100/month indefinite recurring gift counts as $100 in campaign totals

  This distinction ensures accurate campaign goal tracking while accounting for the different commitment levels of finite versus ongoing recurring gifts.

• Individual offline gifts, and offline dollar adjustments

FAQ — I deleted offline gifts from a live campaign but the public totals didn't change. What should I do?

• Quick answer: Deleting an offline gift from an active campaign may not immediately update the public-facing donor and dollar totals because the system refreshes totals on a scheduled background cycle.

• Steps to verify the update:

  1. Wait a few minutes and check the public totals again, as they should update shortly.
  2. Open the campaign's All Gifts Report to confirm that the gift record is no longer present. The report queries the underlying data directly and may update before the public totals do.

• If the deleted gift still appears in the All Gifts Report:

  • Check the campaign’s Offline Gifts section to confirm whether the deletion was successful. If the record remains, delete it again using the Delete button.

• If the All Gifts Report confirms the deletion but the public totals or leaderboard remain unchanged after a short wait:

  • This delay is due to caching; the display will update automatically after the next background refresh.

• Extra tips:

  • During high-activity periods such as Giving Days, bulk uploads, or mass edits, expect additional delays in the display of leaderboard and totals.
  • For completed campaigns with persistent discrepancies, refer to the manual refresh guidance above.

• Online donors
• Match and challenge donors 
• Joint donors using the standard joint gift field
• Individual offline donors
• Offline donor adjustments

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  Understanding Donor Count Differences
  

  Campaign-Level vs. Advocate-Level Donor Counting

  You may notice differences between donor counts displayed in different areas of your campaign:

  Overall Campaign Donor Count:

  • Uses deduplication logic based on donor name and email combination
  • A donor who makes multiple gifts is counted as one unique donor
  • This count appears in your main campaign totals and the All Gifts Report

  Advocate Dashboard Donor Count:

  • Counts individual contributions rather than unique donors
  • A donor who makes multiple gifts through an advocate's link appears as multiple "donors" in the advocate's statistics
  • Each separate gift counts toward the advocate's donor total

  Example: If the same person makes two $50 gifts through an advocate's link:

  • Campaign total: 1 donor, $100 raised
  • Advocate dashboard: 2 donors, $100 raised

  For the most accurate deduplicated donor count, reference the All Gifts Report, which accounts for the proper deduplication logic used in campaign totals.

• Example A: John Smith gives $20 from him and Jane Smith (inputted in the standard joint gift field). The dollar total increases by $20, and the donor count increases by 2 donors.
• John Smith gives $20 and accidentally enters John Smith in the standard joint gift field.  The dollar total increases by $20, and the donor count increases by 2 donors

• Failed or Refunded gifts and donors
• Deduplicated donors (the system dedupes based on the same donor name + email)
  • Example A: If Taylor Smith, taylor@email.com gives $10 & then they give another gift of $10 using the same name and email, it will add $20 to the dollar totals and 1 donor to the donor count. 
  • Example B: If Taylor Smith, taylor@email.com gives $10 & then they give another gift of $10 using Taylor S., taylor@email.com, it will add $20 to the dollar totals and 2 donors to the donor count.

Preventing Double-Counting of Gifts and Matches

When online gifts and offline matches overlap

Sometimes a donor who has committed to providing an offline match will also make their matching gift online through your campaign page. This can result in double-counting if not handled properly.

How to fix double-counting:

1. Locate the online donation in the 'Manage Donations' section of the campaign settings

2. Click the donation ID

3. In the 'Gift Information' section use the "Move to different campaign" option and select a different campaign (it can be an archived, completed, or draft campaign).

4. Click 'Update Donation'

This will move the gift to the new campaign, it will still process and deposit as usual, but it will not count into the totals of your active campaign.

Why this matters:

Double-counting affects your campaign's public totals, donor counts, and can create confusion in post-campaign reporting and stewardship activities.