GC Links in GC Gift Officer

GC Links are an option within the email editor in GC Gift Officer. GC Links allow you to add a specific button or hyperlinked text to a GiveCampus campaign, giving form, or event registration page without having to copy / paste from across the platform. When adding a link, you'll make three choices:

1. Where should the link go?

• Campaign – Your fundraising campaign page
• Giving Form – A standalone donation form
• Event – An event page

2. How should it look?

• Button – A clickable button (best for "Donate Now" or other calls-to-action)
• Link – Standard hyperlinked text

3. What type of link do you need?

General: Simple link to the page All

Personalization: Pre-fills donor info (name, email) so they don't have to provide information. The filled information is specific to each constituent. More information about setting up personalization is included below.

Auto-Fill: Pre-sets specific form values (like a suggested donation amount). The same value appears for all constituents who receive this link.

Unique Tracking Tracks which links drive clicks and donations Campaigns, Giving Forms

Note: At this time, you cannot combine a Personalization Link and a Unique Tracking Link using GC Links.

Quick Guide: Which Link Type Should I Use?

• Just sending someone to a page? → General Link
• Emailing existing donors? → Personalization Link (saves them time)
• Want to suggest a specific donation amount and designation to a group? → Auto-Fill Link
• Need to track marketing performance? → Unique Tracking Link

Online Giving Personalization

Personalized giving pages can significantly increase donor conversion by creating a streamlined, one-click giving experience. This guide walks through how to set up personalization at different levels.

Quick Start: General Personalization

If you've already uploaded constituent data via SLDI, you have access to general personalization automatically—no additional setup required.

What donors see:

• Welcomed to the form personally using the constituent’s name
  • Hierarchy of display based on available data is: preferred first name, nick name, then first name
• Collapsed biographical form fields (name, address, email, etc.)
  • We will hide the fields for which there is uploaded data for.

How to use it:

1. In your email, insert a personalized giving link
2. Select the "General (no tag)" option
3. Any constituent in your SLDI data will see a personalized experience

If you haven’t uploaded constituent data via SLDI, we recommend checking out this GCU article: Getting Started with Basic Personalization via the School Level Data Importer.

Enhanced Personalization: Adding Greeting Messages & Designations

To include a custom greeting message (e.g., "Thank you for your continued support of the Arts Program!") or a pre-selected designation, you'll need to upload additional data.

These files can be uploaded in one of two places:

• “Personalization” section of School-level Data Importer
• CSV Uploader in the Personalization UI in Online Giving

Steps:

1. Prepare your file with constituent IDs, greeting messages, and/or designations
2. Upload via your preferred method (SLDI or Personalization UI)
3. Name your tag (e.g., "Spring 2025 Annual Fund Appeal") and include in the “Tag” column

A 'Tag' is a segment or version of personalization. Constituents can have multiple different versions of personalizations by having multiple Tags. Here is a GiveCampus University article with more detail about Tags: Uploading Greeting Message & Designations

Enhanced Personalization: Smart Ask Amounts

Smart Ask Amounts use giving history to calculate personalized suggested gift amounts for each donor. Setting these up requires a separate upload process.

Steps to generate smart ask amounts:

1. After uploading Constituent data via the School-level Data Importer
2. Navigate to the Smart Ask Amounts section in Online Giving
3. Upload a list of constituent IDs for whom you want to generate amounts
4. Name your Segment - this name will be the ‘Tag’ for the personalization and is important for the next step
5. Allow time for processing (may take several hours for large lists)

Adding greeting messages or designations to a smart ask tag:

If you want to combine smart ask amounts with a greeting message or designation then after your smart ask amounts have generated, upload a supplemental CSV (via SLDI or the Personalization UI)

Important: Use the exact segment/tag name as the one you created during the Smart Ask Amount creation process. Doing so ensures that the Smart Ask Amount personalization tag gets updated rather than creating a new one

Pro tip: Consider creating different smart ask strategies for different audiences. For example, use a conservative ask strategy for reacquisition efforts and a more ambitious strategy for reunion year donors.

Managing Your Tags

A 'Tag' is a segment or version of personalization. Constituents can have multiple different versions of personalizations by having multiple Tags. Here is a GCU articles with more details about Tags: Uploading Greeting Message & Designations

Selecting tags for campaigns: When creating a personalized link in your email, you can select from any tags you've created. This allows you to tailor the giving experience to specific campaigns (e.g., "Student Phonathon Fall 2025").

Deleting tags: Tags can be deleted when no longer needed. Deleting a tag removes all associated ask amounts and personalization data.

Refreshing vs. creating new tags:

• Uploading data with the same tag name updates the existing tag
• Using a new name creates a separate tag

When to create new tags: If your greeting message or designation is specific to a campaign, consider creating a new tag for each appeal. This ensures that if a donor clicks an older email link, they still see messaging that matches what they received—avoiding a confusing experience.

Troubleshooting

Donors not seeing personalized amounts or designations:

Verify that:

• The constituent is included in the uploaded list
• The correct tag is selected in the email link
• For smart ask amounts, processing has completed