Assigning Constituents to Cadences

What is a Cadence?

A Cadence is a structured outreach workflow in GC GO that guides users through a series of timed outreach steps (emails, calls, texts, etc.) for each assigned constituent.

When a constituent is assigned to a Cadence, that assignment is called an "Cadence Instance." Each

constituent has their own Cadence Instance in a given Cadence with their own set of tasks.

There are two types of Cadences:

Personal Cadence 

Managed by: An individual user 

Assignment: Constituents are automatically assigned to the Cadence owner

Shared Cadence 

Managed by: Multiple users across one or more teams

Assignment:

For Gift Officers: The gift officer themselves or an admin or manager selects which gift officer is assigned to each constituent in a given Cadence

For Students: an admin or manager selects which studentis assigned to each constituent in a given Cadence

Cadence Statuses

Every constituent assigned to a Cadence has one of two statuses - Upcoming or Active.

Upcoming: The constituent is queued, but their Cadence has not started yet.

• No tasks have been created and no due dates are ticking.
• Think of this as a “staging area”- a place to load constituents before outreach begins.
• Upcoming constituents appear in the Upcoming tab on the Cadence detail page.

Active: The constituent’s Cadence is in progress.

• Tasks have been generated with due dates based on each step’s timeline.
• The assigned staff member can see these tasks in their Task Manager.
• Active constituents appear in the Active tab on the Cadence detail page.

Why does this matter?

The Upcoming status is what makes Cadences scalable. You can load hundreds of constituents into a Cadence without immediately generating tasks. When you’re ready to action on a given constituent, activate them to have their Cadence Steps created.

How to Assign Constituents to a Cadence

There are several ways to assign constituents to a Cadence. The most commonly used are individually selecting from the Constituent page (good for assigning a handful of constituents) or uploading a Saved List (best for bulk assignment).

Select Constituents from the Constituents Page

1. Navigate to Constituents
2. Use filters or search to find the constituents you want to assign.
3. Select the constituents using the checkboxes.
4. Click the “Add to Cadence” action button in the toolbar.
5. In the modal that appears:
   a. Select a Cadence from the dropdown.
   b. For Shared Cadences, select the staff member who will manage these constituents.
   c. Click “Add to Upcoming” or “Add to Active” to confirm.

Reminder: Adding a Constituent to the “Active” section of a Cadence will create tasks for them immediately. If you are not planning to start outreach to these constituents the same day, we recommend using the Upcoming option so you do not accrue a large number of Past Due tasks.

Upload a Saved List (Recommended for Bulk Assignment)

This is the most efficient method when assigning large numbers of constituents - especially useful for Student Managers who are handling Cadence Instance assignments for a number of students.

1. Create your Saved List - this will be a .CSV file with a single column, the constituent IDs of the constituents you want in the list. The column header will be external_id. (This is case sensitive)
2. Upload the Saved List in GC GO (Saved Lists in left navigation) 
3. Once processed, click the ellipsis on the row of the Saved List and click the “Add to Cadence” action button.
4. In the Cadence assignment modal:
   a. Select a Cadence from the dropdown. (The system will calculate how many constituents from the list are eligible)
   b. For Shared Cadences, select the staff member who will manage these constituents.
   c. Click “Add to Upcoming” or “Add to Active” to confirm.

Note: We recommend uploading one list per staff member per Cadence. However, if you need to apply additional filters to your list in GC GO, you can navigate to the "Constituents” page, open the List, and apply additional filters. With this method you will only be able to assign 50 constituents to a Cadence at a time.

Eligibility Check

When assigning via a Saved List, the system automatically checks each constituent and provides a

breakdown. You can toggle some of these options to control who gets added:

Eligibility Check Default Experience

Already in this Cadence Excluded, cannot be re-added to Cadence

Deceased Excluded, cannot be added to Cadence

Recently completed this Cadence Excluded by default, can override

Spouse is in this Cadence Excluded by default, can override

Currently in another active Cadence Excluded by default, can override

The modal displays the number of constituents affected by each filter so you can make an informed decision

before confirming.

Scaling with the Upcoming Status

The Upcoming status is the key to scaling Cadence-based outreach, especially for Student Teams who may be managing hundreds of constituents across a Shared Cadence.

Recommended Workflow for Student Managers

1. Bulk add constituents as Upcoming. Use the Saved List method above to assign an entire segment (e.g., all donors from a class year or region) into the Cadence as Upcoming. This stages them without generating any tasks.
2. Activate in groups. Rather than activating everyone at once, activate constituents in manageable groups to avoid overwhelming your team’s task lists.
3. Monitor and repeat. As staff members complete active Cadences, activate the next batch of upcoming constituents.

This “load first, activate later” approach lets managers plan campaigns in advance and roll them out on a timeline that matches their team’s capacity.

How to Activate Upcoming Constituents

Once constituents are in the Upcoming tab and you’re ready to begin outreach, you can activate them individually or in bulk.

Activate a Single Constituent

1. Go to the Cadence detail page and open the Upcoming tab.
2. Find the constituent you want to activate.
3. Click the play icon on that constituent’s row.
4. Confirm in the dialog that appears.

The constituent moves to the Active tab and their Cadence tasks are generated immediately.

Activate Multiple Constituents at Once (Bulk Activation)

1. Go to the Cadence detail page and open the Upcoming tab.
2. Use the checkboxes to select the constituents you want to activate. You can use the top checkbox to select all visible constituents.
3. The bulk action bar will appear at the top of the table.
4. Click “Activate”
5. Confirm the activation

All selected constituents will be moved to Active and their tasks will be generated. This is processed in the background, so large batches may take a moment to complete.

Pro Tip: For Shared Cadences, you can filter by assigned staff in the Upcoming tab to view only one staff member’s upcoming Cadence Instances, then select and activate just that subset.

Working with Shared Cadences

Shared Cadences are designed for team-based workflows where multiple staff members work through the same outreach sequence.

Assigning Constituents to a Specific Staff Member

When adding constituents to a Shared Cadence (via either assignment method), you must select a staff member from the dropdown. Only staff who belong to the Cadence’s assigned team role(s) will appear as options.

Reassigning Constituents to a Different Staff Member

Staff changes or workload balancing may require moving constituents from one staff to another within a Shared Cadence. You can do this for both Upcoming and Active Cadence Instances.

Reassign a Single Constituent

1. Open the Cadence and go to the Upcoming or Active tab.
2. Click the menu icon on the constituent’s row.
3. Select “Edit Assignment”
4. In the side panel that opens, select the new staff member from the dropdown.
5. Click “Save” to keep the current status, or “Save & Activate” (from the Upcoming tab) to reassign and activate at the same time.
6. All existing tasks for that constituent will be updated to the new staff member.

Bulk Reassign Multiple Constituents

1. Open the Cadence and go to the Upcoming or Active tab.
2. Use the checkboxes to select all constituents you want to reassign (use the select all box to select all).
3. Click “Reassign” in the bulk action bar.
4. In the modal that appears, select the target staff member.
5. Confirm the reassignment.

This is processed in the background. It will update selected constituents and associated tasks to the new staff..

Note: Reassignment is only available in Shared Cadences. In personal Cadences, all constituents are

assigned to the Cadence owner.

Tips for Assigning + Managing Cadences

For large segments, use Saved Lists to segment your assignments. Create one Saved Lists per staff per Cadence. This lets you assign the right group of constituents to the right staff member in a Shared Cadence.

Stage everything as Upcoming first. Add all constituents to a Cadence as Upcoming, then activate in waves. This prevents staff from being overwhelmed with tasks on day one.

In a Shared Cadence, filter by Assigned To to see only one person’s queue or active Cadence Instances, making it easy to activate or reassign a specific persons’ batch.

Bulk reassign when staff changes happen. If a student caller leaves, use bulk reassign to move their constituents to another team member without losing Cadence progress.