GC Outreach Basics: Early Tips & Tricks

Maximizing Your Fundraising Outreach with GC Outreach: Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices

GC Outreach is a powerful tool designed to enhance your institution's communication strategies, enabling personalized and effective engagement with your community - all integrated within your GC Online Giving and Event Solutions. To maximize its potential, consider the following tips and best practices:

1. Building Engaging Emails

• Utilize the rich media editor in GC Outreach to craft visually appealing emails.
• Add pre-made snippets for structured content and incorporate merge tags for personalization.
• Ensure merge tags correspond to available recipient data to prevent blank fields.
• Keep email designs mobile-friendly, as many donors check emails on their phones.

  Troubleshooting Test Email Issues

  When Test Emails Won't Send

  If you're experiencing issues sending test emails from your outreach:

  Check for validation errors:

  • Ensure all required fields are completed (sender name, subject line, content)
  • Verify that any links in your email are properly formatted with https:// prefix
  • Remove any problematic elements that may be causing validation failures

  Clear browser issues:

  1. Try refreshing the page and attempting the test send again
  2. Use an incognito/private browser window to eliminate cache issues
  3. Try a different browser if the problem persists

  Check your email content:

  • Make sure all merge tokens have valid data sources
  • Verify that any images or videos are properly uploaded and accessible
  • Ensure your email content isn't triggering spam filters

  If test emails continue to fail:

  • Save your outreach as a draft first
  • Try creating a simple test outreach with minimal content
• Use compelling subject lines to boost open rates; keep them under 50 characters for impact.
• For best delivery rates, we recommend keeping your email short, your imagery professional and your call-to-action clear

*Check out our brief Email Builder Tips & Tricks walkthrough video!

*Or check out this extended version for a step by step guide to building your emails! 

2. Managing Recipients Effectively

• Loading in a Custom Segment (saved recipient list) or One-Off Recipient List
  • From your Outreach > Recipients tab you can load in a one-off recipient list for that specific email
  • Within your Segments section > New Segments > Create Segment, upload a recipient list that you can save and use in various emails 
  •  Upload a CSV file containing "external_id," "first_name," "last_name," and "email_address" to ensure accurate recipient data.  Here is a template to get you started
• Leverage existing segments within GiveCampus, such as event registrants or campaign donors, to target the right audience.
  • From your Campaign/Giving Form Manage Gift section or your Event Registrations section, there is a ‘Create Outreach’ button. This will auto-populate those donors/registrants into an Outreach 
• Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or incorrect addresses, reducing bounce rates and spam flags.
  • Double check your alumni email addresses or pull out any email addresses you know aren’t accurate before you send 

3. Configuring Relevant Settings

• Validate your institution’s domain (e.g., @[yourschoolname].edu) to ensure emails appear credible and avoid spam filters.
• Import institution-approved Google Fonts for consistent branding.
• Create Unsubscribe Topics to better manage your communications and opt-outs
• Save custom Snippets to have your branded Headers, Footers, and more ready to drop into any outreach

4. Utilizing Smart Segments (included in Outreach Premium)

• Take advantage of GC Outreach’s pre-built smart segments powered by GC Intelligence models, such as:
  • Highly Likely to Make a Recurring Gift
  • Highly Likely to Become an Advocate
  • Highly Likely to Make a Leadership Gift
• Ensure donor data is up-to-date to improve segmentation accuracy and engagement rates.  
• Check out this article to set up the right data in the importer to drive predictions using GC Intelligence on your constituent base and their giving history.

*Learn more about Smart Segments in this quick video walkthrough 

5. Creating Custom Built Segments (included in Outreach Premium)

• Build custom query built segments using specific conditions within GC Outreach > Segments > Custom Segments.
• Define criteria based on donation history, engagement levels, or past advocacy.
• Choose between "static" segments (manual updates) or "dynamic" segments (automatic updates based on criteria).

*See Query Built Segments in Action in this video walkthrough

6. General Best Practices for Educational Fundraising Email Marketing

• Personalization is Key: Use the recipient’s name, reference past giving history, and tailor content to their interests.
  • Learn how to create personalization links and easily embed that link in your upcoming outreach email here!
• Storytelling Matters: Share impactful stories of how donations make a difference in students' lives.
  • Video makes an even bigger impact! Drop a GC Video landing page directly into your email! 
• Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Make it easy for recipients to donate, volunteer, or share your campaign with prominent, action-oriented buttons.
  • Don’t forget to add your unique tracking links to your outreach emails! 
• Optimize Send Times: Research suggests that mid-week mornings (Tuesday-Thursday, 8-10 AM) yield the best open rates for nonprofit emails.
• Follow-Up and Stewardship: Send thank-you emails immediately after donations, followed by updates on the impact of their contribution.
• Compliance and Deliverability: Follow CAN-SPAM regulations by including an unsubscribe link and sender details. Monitor email performance metrics (open rates, click-through rates, and conversions) to adjust strategies as needed.
• Test your emails: You can't automatically include yourself on all messages sent, but you can send a test to yourself before the campaign begins. Sending a test ahead of time can allow you to ensure everything looks the way you intend! 
• Need some communication strategy inspiration for an upcoming initiative? Check out our Ultimate Flexible Marketing Plan with sample language and guidance! 

By implementing these strategies, your institution can harness the full potential of GC Outreach, fostering more personalized and effective communication with your community and driving greater engagement in fundraising efforts.

Managing Draft Outreach

How to Delete Draft Outreach Emails

To delete a draft email or text outreach:

Step 1: Confirm outreach status

• Only draft outreaches can be deleted
• Sent or scheduled outreaches cannot be removed
• Check the status in your outreach list

Step 2: Delete the outreach

1. Go to GC Outreach in your left navigation
2. Find your draft outreach in the list
3. Click the trash icon in the rightmost column
4. Confirm deletion when prompted

Troubleshooting Deletion Issues

If an outreach won't delete despite multiple attempts:

• Refresh your browser and try again
• Verify the outreach is actually in "draft" status (not scheduled)
• Check if there are any processing tasks still running
• Try accessing the outreach from a different browser or device

When outreaches cannot be deleted:

• Scheduled outreaches must be converted back to draft status first
• Sent outreaches cannot be deleted (this preserves reporting data)
• Outreaches with active recipient processing may need to complete processing first

Troubleshooting Common Outreach Issues

Common variations of this question

• Why won't my email schedule?
• Getting error messages when trying to send outreach
• Email won't let me proceed to scheduling
• Outreach showing validation errors

Pre-Send Validation Errors

If you're unable to schedule your outreach and receiving error messages:

1. Check all links in your email - Ensure URLs are properly formatted and functional

2. Verify merge tokens - Make sure all merge tokens have corresponding data

3. Review recipient list - Confirm your recipient upload was successful

4. Check required fields - Ensure subject line and sender information are complete

Link Validation Issues

Even if links work when you test them manually, the system may flag:

• Malformed URLs - Links missing http:// or https://
• Shortened links - Some URL shorteners may trigger validation errors
• Tracking parameters - Complex URL parameters may need adjustment
• Merge token links - URLs that include merge tokens require proper formatting

Steps to Resolve Validation Errors

1. Review the specific error message - Note exactly what the system is flagging

2. Test each link individually - Click every link in your email preview

3. Check link formatting - Ensure proper URL structure

4. Validate merge tokens - Confirm data exists for all personalization tokens

5. Contact support if needed - Provide specific error messages and outreach details

When to Contact Support

Reach out to support if:

• Error messages are unclear or don't specify the problem
• Links work fine when tested but still trigger errors
• Validation fails despite following all guidelines
• You need help troubleshooting specific outreach setup

When contacting support, include:

• The specific outreach name
• Screenshot of the error message
• Details about what you've already tried

Troubleshooting Invalid Link Errors

When Outreach Won't Schedule Due to "Invalid Link" Errors

If your outreach fails to schedule with link validation errors but you can't locate the problematic links:

Invalid Links

• 1. Look for any images you've added a link to in your Outreach and click to to check the URL

  2. Add https:// to the beginning of the URL in the link field

  3. Save your changes

  Example:

  • Incorrect: www.example.com

  • Correct: https://www.example.com

Href errors:

If you're comfortable using HTML you can examine the raw HTML of the file to locate these hanging <a> tags. These are usually caused by copy and pasting content from a word processor like Word which use these tags differently than HTML. 

1. Click the HTML editor button ("<>") in the email builder
2. Search for <a> tags that do not contain any URL before the closing </a> tag. 
3. Look for malformed URLs, extra characters, or broken formatting
4. Remove or fix any problematic link code

Step 3: Check merge tokens in links

• Links containing merge tokens may cause validation issues
• Ensure merge tokens in URLs are properly formatted: $Token_Name$
• Avoid spaces or special characters around merge tokens in URLs

Email Template Settings: Test Email Salutations and Placeholders

When you send a test email from GC Outreach, personalization tokens (for example, the recipient’s first name in the salutation) display as generic placeholder text. This behavior is expected because test emails use default placeholder values rather than actual recipient data.

Key points:

• Test email salutations display placeholder values and do not pull real recipient data.
• You cannot configure custom test values directly in Outreach.
• The system always uses generic placeholders (e.g., a generic name in the salutation) when sending test emails.

Where to edit test salutation settings:

Outreach does not offer a setting to change the salutation or token values used in test sends.

How to preview real personalization:

• Use test emails to verify layout, links, and overall rendering. Note that placeholders will appear for personalization tokens.
• To see real names and personalized content, send a live message to a small internal list or segment so that tokens resolve with actual recipient data.

Preview differences between the editor and email inbox

Sometimes the preview in GC Outreach looks different from what you see in the draft editor. Here’s why and how to address it:

What you're seeing:

• The preview is an approximation of how emails will display in recipients’ inboxes, not a pixel-perfect replica of the editor view.
• Complex formatting or content pasted from word processors (like Word or Google Docs) can introduce extra HTML and inline styles that alter the appearance.
• Resaving the email does not resolve these formatting differences if the underlying HTML has issues.

How to verify the final look:

• Send a test email to yourself on both desktop and mobile devices. Your inbox is the source of truth for final rendering.

Quick fixes for preview discrepancies:

1. Rebuild complex sections: Replace heavily formatted, pasted content with standard text, image, and button components built directly in the editor.
2. Remove hidden formatting: Paste text as plain text and reapply basic styles within the editor.
3. Clean up HTML: Open the HTML editor and check for unclosed tags, stray inline styles, or nested tables that might conflict with the email template.
4. Simplify images and spacing: Use one image per row and control spacing with the editor instead of relying on pasted line breaks.
5. Retest the email: After making changes, preview again and send a fresh test email to confirm the final appearance.

Tip: A simpler, editor-built structure generally renders more consistently across different email clients.

FAQ — Images appear in the editor preview but are missing in test emails

Q: The image I added shows up in the GC Outreach editor preview, but it’s missing or broken in the test email. Why?

A: The editor preview loads images directly from our hosting servers. However, many email clients block external images by default for privacy and security. When images are blocked, your test email may not show them until the recipient opts to display images.

What to check and how to verify:

• Confirm the image is properly uploaded. The editor preview demonstrates that it is.
• Look for a prompt in your email (like "Display images," "Show images," or "Load remote content") and click it to load the images.
• Test the email in a client that normally loads images (for example, Gmail in a web browser) or send a small live test to an internal list for accurate results.

Best practices and mitigation:

• Add descriptive alt text in the Alt Text field so that if images are blocked, recipients still understand the content.
• Use a single clear image per row and avoid relying on images for essential information; include text or buttons for calls-to-action.
• Inform internal reviewers with a note (e.g., "If images are blocked, click 'Show images' to view the full design") so they know to enable images when reviewing tests.
• Remember that image blocking is a setting on the recipient’s side, not an Outreach error.

Why the editor preview isn’t definitive:

The editor preview always shows uploaded images since it pulls them directly from our servers. To see how recipients view your email, check it in your inbox with images enabled or perform a small live send.