Overview
Your GC Online Giving forms and campaigns aren't just static webpages. They offer adaptive experiences that automatically work in the background to drive more dollars and donors. Dynamic Ask Amounts is one example of this work in action.
When a constituent lands on your form or campaign, we check whether they've made any donations to your institution via GiveCampus before. If we recognize them from prior sessions, we automatically adjust their suggested ask array up or down to better align with their past giving. These adjustments are geared toward three key principles:
- Avoid asking for less than the donor's last GC gift
- Leave meaningful room for an upgrade beyond their largest-ever GC gift
- Avoid hurting conversion by over-asking
No uploads. No segmentation. No setup. Always running in the background, unless you turn it off.
Why keep it on? Across all of GC forms and campaigns, donors who see an ask array that begins at or above their last online gift give significantly more on average than donors who are shown a downgrade option.
A Set of Real Examples
For all four scenarios below, we'll use the same configured ask amounts on the form so you can see how Dynamic Ask Amounts adapts based purely on the donor's history:
$50 · $100 · $250 · $500 · $1,000 (Leadership Society) · $2,500
Note that every dollar amount that appears in any donor's Dynamic Ask array comes from one of three places: your configured amounts, a short list of standard default candidates (shown below), or a rounded version of the donor's own last gift. This ensures that (1) the array feels "standard" (donors are not explicitly told their asks are personalized), and (2) it spans a wide enough range to preserve real choice.
Ask candidates: $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000, $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000.
Example 1
This donor's last gift was $100, and they've given as much as $500 before.
$100
$500
Ask 1 is raised to $100 — the donor has shown that level before, so we skip the smaller amounts. The array then walks up through your configured amounts and continues beyond your form's top ($2,500) all the way to $5,000, giving the donor a clear stretch above their historical peak. The Leadership Society label rides along on $1,000. The donor sees:
|
$100
|
$250
|
$500
|
|
$1,000
Leadership Society
|
$2,500
|
$5,000
|
Example 2
This donor's last gift was $10, and their historical peak is also $10.
$10
$10
Ask 1 dips to $10 — below your form's smallest configured amount. Without Dynamic Ask Amounts, this donor would see $50 as their smallest option, five times what they've ever given. For a small-gift donor, that gap is a real conversion risk: many donors abandon the form entirely rather than click a number that feels beyond their comfort level. Anchoring Ask 1 at their familiar $10 keeps them engaged, while the array still walks up through your configured amounts to $500 — giving them plenty of room to stretch if they're inclined. The donor sees:
|
$10
|
$25
|
$50
|
|
$100
|
$250
|
$500
|
Example 3
This donor's last gift was $2,500 — also their historical peak.
$2,500
$2,500
Even though the donor last gave $2,500, Ask 1 caps at $1,000 so the first slot never feels like an over-ask. The array then walks up to $10,000, offering a clear stretch above their peak. The Leadership Society label rides along on $1,000. The donor sees only 4 asks because the array runs out of realistic candidates before reaching 6 slots:
|
$1,000
Leadership Society
|
$2,500
|
|
$5,000
|
$10,000
|
Example 4
This donor's last gift was $250, and they've given as much as $5,000 in the past.
$250
$5,000
Ask 1 is raised to $250 — the donor's most recent level — skipping the smaller configured amounts they wouldn't need. The array then walks up through your configured amounts and continues beyond your form's top ($2,500) to $10,000, a stretch that recognizes the donor's historical capacity. The Leadership Society label rides along on $1,000. The donor sees:
|
$250
|
$500
|
$1,000
Leadership Society
|
|
$2,500
|
$5,000
|
$10,000
|
FAQ
How is this different from Smart Ask Amounts?
Both personalize the ask, but they use different inputs and are designed for different situations. Neither replaces the other — they run together.
| Static | Dynamic | Smart (personalized) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How the array is generated | Admin hardcodes one array for everyone | Logic shifts the admin's array up or down based on the donor's most recent and largest online gift | ML model builds a custom array per donor from full history and constituent data |
| Data it uses | None | Prior online gifts to your school, matched by browser cookie | Full uploaded constituent record: giving across all channels, affiliation, class year, reunion, etc. |
| Setup required | Admin configures the array | None. Runs automatically on any standard form | Data upload plus a personalization token in an Outreach |
| What the donor experiences | A standard ask ladder | A standard-looking ask ladder — the donor doesn't know theirs differs from anyone else's | Being known. Greeted by name, asks visibly tailored |
| Best suited for | Forms where you want full control | Any form. Especially open traffic — social posts, giving-page visits, links from a classmate | Targeted solicitations to constituents you have data on |
If a donor arrives on a form with a valid Smart Ask Amounts personalization token, Smart takes precedence. Dynamic never overwrites a personalized array. It fills in for donors we don't have personalization data on.
Will donors know their asks are different from someone else's?
No. Unlike Smart Ask Amounts on a personalized form (where the donor is greeted by name and the personalization is visible), Dynamic runs quietly. The array looks like a standard ask ladder. The donor doesn't see a "personalized for you" label. The form works the way it always has, and the amounts are just calibrated to what they've given you before.
Which forms are Dynamic Ask Amounts active on?
Main campaign pages, tiered landing pages, standalone giving forms, and forms attached to campaigns. Dynamic Asks will not run on membership forms, pledge forms, or forms that only accept recurring donations. Standard forms that offer a recurring option alongside one-time gifts DO run Dynamic Ask Amounts (on the one-time asks).
Forms where you deliberately configured no ask amounts stay off by default at rollout — we won't retroactively add amounts to a form where you intentionally had none.
What about the labels that I've added to certain ask amounts on the form?
Dynamic Ask Amounts will determine which amounts are right for each donor. If the answer to that question includes one of the amounts that you've configured a label for, we'll always show the label alongside that amount.
Can I turn it off?
Yes, at any time. Two ways:
- School-wide. In School-Level Settings under the Donation Form section, toggle Dynamic Ask Amounts off. Applies to all your forms.
- One form at a time. In the form builder's Ask Amounts section, toggle off for that form only. Overrides the school-level setting.
What happens for a new or unrecognized donor?
Dynamic Ask Amounts use browser cookies to recognize donors from past sessions. If a donor shows up without a cookie (e.g. a first-time donor, or a donor who has cleared their browser data), Dynamic Ask Amounts won't run and they'll see your form exactly as you've configured it.
What if a donor and their spouse (or roommate) share a laptop?
Dynamic runs off a single browser cookie, so multiple donors on the same device can end up associated with the same cookie. If we see more than two different email addresses tied to a single cookie, we bail — the donor sees your default array instead. That protects against personalizing for the wrong person on a shared device.
What happens if a donor arrives via a personalized link?
Personalization always takes precedence. Specifically:
- If the link carries a personalization token with ask amounts (Smart Ask Amounts or manually imported), the donor sees those. Dynamic doesn't run.
- If the link carries a personalization token without ask amounts (just identity, name, prefills), Dynamic will use the email tied to that token to generate an ask array — so the donor still gets a right-sized ladder plus the personalized experience the rest of the form provides.
Why don't I see Dynamic Ask Amounts on my form?
A few reasons you may not see your ask amounts shift as you test your forms:
- Fresh browser or cleared cookies. Dynamic Ask Amounts recognizes returning donors via a browser cookie. Without a matching cookie, there's nothing to personalize from and you'll see your form's default array.
- No prior gifts to your school in that browser. No history means nothing to calibrate to.
- The browser has been used with too many donors. If more than two different emails have been associated with the same cookie, we don't show Dynamic Asks. This guards against personalizing for the wrong person on a shared device.
- The link carries a personalization token. If a donor arrives via a link that already has ask amounts attached (e.g. Smart Ask Amounts or a manually built personalized link), Dynamic Ask Amounts doesn't run.
- The form has no configured ask amounts. With nothing to calibrate around, Dynamic Ask Amounts won't run on that form.
How It Works: Detailed Mechanics
How Dynamic Ask Amounts builds the array
The array uses your configured ask amounts and labels, the requested number of buttons, and the donor’s recent and largest relevant online gifts.
- The candidate amounts combine your configured asks with standard amounts below and above their range and additional candidates where needed to fill large gaps.
- The first amount is based on the donor’s recent gift, rounded to a suitable amount with a $1,000 cap before applying the form’s minimum. A higher form minimum takes precedence.
- The remaining amounts may be spread across the donor’s range, selected from the top of the available candidates, or stepped upward. The system chooses the strategy based on the donor’s history and the number of requested buttons; it does not always use consecutive candidates.
- The final amounts increase in order. If there are not enough larger candidates, fewer buttons appear. Labels remain attached when their configured amounts are selected.
When the donor’s upper historical amount is $50,000 or more, this calculation returns no dynamic ask amounts. There is no universal guarantee that the final array reaches or exceeds every donor’s largest gift.
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