New Personalization Workflow - Personalize Giving Experiences with Ease

Before You Start

Make sure the following are in place:

1. School Level Data Importer data is uploaded with at least: Constituent ID, First Name, Last Name, and Preferred Email. Without these mapped fields, personalization tokens cannot be generated. Get started on uploading data here. 
2. A live giving form or campaign exists that you want to direct personalized giving to.
3. A custom segment is created (via query builder or CSV upload) containing the audience you want to personalize for. More info on segment creation here.

Known Limitations

• Only custom segments are supported (not pre-built or Smart Segments).
• Limited Personalized Elements: Personalized elements are limited to: Greeting Name, Greeting Message, Designation, Ask Amount, and collapsing/passing-through known SLDI fields.
• Household emailing (sending to both spouses) is not supported in this version.
• Only one personalization can be created per segment in the first phases.

Creating Your Personalization

• Step 1: Open your segment
  Navigate to GC Outreach → Segments → select your target segment. You'll see a new Personalization tab to the right of the segment list. 

  
  
   

• Step 2: Create a personalization
  Click Create Personalization. In the modal, give it a name (e.g., "Spring Appeal 2026"), select whether you're connecting to a Campaign or Giving Form, and choose the specific live form/campaign.

  
  
   

• Step 3: Configure your personalization

• Greeting Name — Choose how donors will be greeted (First Name, Preferred Name, Nickname, or First & Last Name). If a donor is missing the selected field, the system falls back: Preferred Name → Nickname → First Name.
• Greeting Message — Write a short message (up to 400 characters) that appears on the form. ⚠️ Do not include personally identifying information — personalization does not require donor authentication.
• Ask Amounts  — Use a constituent's imported ask amount, or use Smart Ask Amounts, powered by GC Intelligence.

  Ask Amount Overrides in Previews

  • Manual ask amount overrides entered for individual tokens—whether by editing tokens one-by-one or via a CSV upload—now display in personalization previews even if the Ask Amounts source is unset (empty or unconfigured). This means that manually set amounts are shown regardless of whether Smart Ask Amounts or imported ask amounts are selected.

  • The override appears in both the Ask Amounts column in the personalization token table and in the individual donor preview when you click a token. Use either preview to confirm the exact amount a donor will see.

  • When a manual override exists, it takes precedence over the project’s default amounts. If no override is set, the system uses the configured source or the project default amounts, as described elsewhere in this article.

  What to check when previewing ask amounts

  1. If you edited an individual token, open its preview to ensure the override appears as expected.
  2. If you used a CSV upload, verify the Ask Amounts column in the token table shows the correct values before delivering or exporting.
  3. If a token displays a project default amount, no manual override was applied, and the system is falling back to the configured source or the default amounts.
  • Smart Ask amount data is regenerated on a weekly basis to account for new data uploaded.
• Designation  — The designation auto-filled for these personalization tokens. You may add up to 5 designations.Designations first must be created under Online Giving > School-Level Settings to appear here.

• Step 4: Update tokens
  Click Update Personalization Tokens. The system modifies personalized links based on your configuration for every eligible constituent in the segment.
  
   

• Step 5: Preview
  Click any token in the table to open the donor's personalized giving experience in a new tab. Verify the greeting name, message, and collapsed fields look correct.

  
  
   

• Step 6 : Deliver
  Two options:
  • Export — Download a CSV of all (or selected) tokens with personalized URLs for external email tools or direct mail.
  • Draft Outreach — Drafting an Outreach from Personalization will pre-populate the outreach with the segment applied and the personalization link pre-populated. Note: Links will not be pre-populated when applying templates

Making Changes

• Edit the whole personalization: Click Edit Personalization to change the greeting name or message for all tokens at once.
• Edit individual tokens: Select specific constituents and update their greeting name or message individually. Manually edited tokens are flagged with a tooltip and can be "locked" so bulk changes don't override them.

• Delete tokens: Remove tokens for specific constituents, or delete the entire personalization. Donors can still access the base form/campaign link, but it won't be personalized.

  What the "update email" and "Not me" links do for donors

  When donors use a personalized giving form, two links appear at the top: update email and Not me. These links let the donor choose between the personalized experience and the standard form.

  • Where these links appear

    • They appear at the top of the form when personalization is applied.

  • What "Not me" does

    • Clicking Not me opens the standard (non-personalized) form. This option is for donors who want to complete the gift without the pre-filled personalization (greeting, designation, ask amount, or collapsed fields).

  • What "update email" does

    • Clicking update email has the same effect as Not me. It lets donors use a different email address or complete the gift using the non-personalized version of the form.

  • Practical tips for administrators

    • Use the token Preview in the Personalization tab to confirm the donor’s view, including greeting, message, designation, and ask amount.
    • To provide a non-personalized experience in outreach, include the base form/campaign URL (instead of the personalization token) or instruct recipients to click Not me upon opening their personalized link.

  This section details the current behavior of the links to help you explain donor options and set clear expectations in your outreach.

• Edit with .CSV: Modify the personalization for individual constituents via a .csv file. Set unique display names, greeting messages, designations, or modify ask amounts for specific constituent in the segment through a .csv upload.

Questions? Reach out to our team at support@givecampus.com

Templates and personalization links

When creating an outreach from personalization, the system handles links differently:

Personalization links are only added in newly created outreach

If you click Draft Outreach from the Personalization tab and create an outreach without applying a saved template, the system automatically inserts the correct personalization token into the message. Each recipient receives their individualized URL.

Templates retain their original links

If you start with a saved template, the content is copied as-is, without replacing generic links with personalized URLs.

Recommended approach

• Click Draft Outreach from the Personalization tab. • Create the outreach content from scratch (do not apply a template initially). • Verify that the personalization link appears in the message body. • Save this outreach as a template for future use. • For subsequent sends with the same segment, use the saved template.

Important considerations

• A saved template with a hard-coded generic link will not produce individualized URLs. • Use Preview on tokens in the Personalization tab to confirm that the personalized URL appears before sending. • Templates created outside of the personalization workflow do not include the necessary personalization tokens.

Templates and personalization links

When sending outreach with personalization, the way links are handled depends on whether you compose your message from scratch or use a saved template. This behavior ensures each recipient receives an individualized URL.

• Draft Outreach without a template: Clicking Draft Outreach from the Personalization tab creates a new outreach with the segment already applied and automatically inserts the personalization token. Compose your message from scratch and verify the token appears in the message body.

• Using a saved template: When you apply a saved template, the system copies the content as-is, including any generic or hard-coded links. These templates do not automatically replace links with personalized tokens.

Recommended workflow for creating templates that work with personalization:

1. In the Personalization tab, click Draft Outreach (do not apply a saved template).
2. Compose your outreach content and confirm that the personalization token appears via the token preview.
3. Save this outreach as a template for future use. Templates saved this way will include the necessary personalization tokens.

What to check and common gotchas:

• If you expected a personalized link but see a generic one, the template likely contained a hard-coded link. Recreate the outreach via Draft Outreach and save the updated version as a template.
• If you manually insert a personalization token after applying a template, use the Preview option on tokens to verify that each recipient will receive an individualized URL.

Following this workflow ensures donors receive individualized URLs and accurate click tracking.