Configuring Custom Fields in GiveCampus: Your Guide

This guide walks through the page tab by tab — Constituent, Contact Reports, and Opportunities (plus Opportunity Allocations).

First things first: where custom fields come from

Custom fields are created by importing them, not by adding them on the settings page. When you import a file through the Data Importer with a custom field sub-record — a Label, a Custom Field Type, and a Value — GiveCampus creates the field the first time it sees that label, and fills in values for each record.

Once a field exists, the Custom Fields page is where you configure it.

Heads up — the label is set by the import. On the edit panel, Label is greyed out with the note “To update the label, edit and re-import using the Data Importer.” A new label on import creates a new field rather than renaming the old one, so keep your labels consistent.

Field types

Each custom field has one of these types, shown in the Type column:

Where the page lives

From your School Dashboard, open Settings in the left menu and click Custom Fields.

Don’t see Custom Fields? The menu item only appears once your school has at least one custom field. If you haven’t imported any yet, run a custom field import first.

GC GO admins can also jump there from GC GO’s School Settings → Contact Reports page, which links straight to the Contact Reports tab.

The page opens as Custom Fields with four tabs across the top:

• Constituent
• Contact Reports
• Opportunities
• Opportunity Allocations

Each tab lists that record type’s custom fields alphabetically, 10 per page. Every row has a pencil icon (edit) and a trash icon (delete).

Tab 1: Constituent

What you’ll see: Label, Type, Display As (number fields only; otherwise N/A), and Filterable (Yes / No).

What you can configure:

• Display As (Number fields only) — how the value is formatted: Dollar, Decimal, Nondecimal, or Percent.
• Is Filterable? — check this to make the field available as a filter in GC GO (constituent lists, plus the filter panels on opportunities, tasks, and trips, and saved filters). List fields filter by their options; date fields get date-range options.

To configure a constituent custom field:

1. Go to the Constituent tab and click the pencil next to the field.
2. A panel opens titled “Edit [Label] Custom Field.”
3. Set Display As (if it’s a number) and check or uncheck Is Filterable?
4. Click Save. You’ll see “Custom field has been updated.”

Note: Multi-Select List constituent fields can’t be made filterable — the checkbox won’t appear for them.

Tip: Only make a field filterable if officers will actually filter on it. Every filterable field adds to the filter list, and a shorter list is easier to use.

Tab 2: Contact Reports

What you’ll see: Label, Type, Display As, Required (Yes / No), and Default Value.

These are the custom fields that appear on the contact report form in GC GO, so this tab has the most options.

What you can configure:

• Display As (Number fields only) — Dollar, Decimal, Nondecimal, or Percent.
• Required? — when checked, gift officers must fill in this field before they can save a contact report.
• Default Value — the value the field starts with on a new contact report. The input matches the field type: a Yes/No dropdown, a date picker, a number box, a dropdown of the list’s options, or a text box.
• Selectable Options (List Of Values fields only) — a checklist of every option on the field. Check the ones gift officers can pick on the form.

To configure a contact report custom field:

1. Go to the Contact Reports tab and click the pencil next to the field.
2. Set Display As if it’s a number.
3. Check Required? if the field must be filled in.
4. Pick a Default Value. If you checked Required?, a default value becomes required too — the label changes to Default Value * and the panel won’t save without one.
5. For a list field, use Selectable Options to check the values officers should be able to choose.
6. Click Save.

About Selectable Options: The panel puts it this way: “Determine the options that will be available for selection for this custom field on Contact Reports. Values on existing records will persist and imported records may also contain any value.” In other words, unchecking an option hides it from the dropdown going forward. It does not change reports that already use it, and imports can still bring it in.

Custom Fields vs. Custom Attributes. This tab is for single-value fields. The dependent, two-level dropdown (e.g. Blackbaud’s Category / Subcategory) is a different feature called Custom Attributes, configured on GC GO’s School Settings → Contact Reports page.

Tab 3: Opportunities

What you’ll see: Label, Type, and Default. A note at the top links to GC GO’s Gift Officer Opportunity Settings page: “You can set when these Custom Fields are required / unable to be modified on the settings page.”

What you can configure here:

• Display As (Number fields only) — Dollar, Decimal, Nondecimal, or Percent.
• Default Value — the value the field starts with on a new opportunity.
• Selectable Options (List Of Values fields only) — which options gift officers can pick on the opportunity form. Like contact reports, existing values stay put and imports can still bring in any value.

To configure an opportunity custom field:

1. Go to the Opportunities tab and click the pencil next to the field.
2. Set the Default Value (and Display As for numbers).
3. For a list field, check the Selectable Options officers should see.
4. Click Save.

Where’s “Required”? Opportunity custom fields don’t have a single on/off Required switch. Opportunities move through statuses, so you set required and locked fields per status in GC GO. See the next section.

Required and locked fields by status (GC GO Opportunity Settings)

In GC GO, go to School Settings → Opportunity Settings (or click the Gift Officer Opportunity Settings link on the Opportunities tab). In the Opportunity Statuses section, edit a status. Its panel has four multi-select fields, and your opportunity custom fields appear in their lists next to the standard fields:

• Required opportunity fields — must be filled in before an opportunity can be saved in this status.
• Locked opportunity fields — can’t be changed while an opportunity is in this status.
• Required allocation fields / Locked allocation fields — the same rules, applied to the opportunity’s allocations.

Example: make “Campaign Priority” required once an opportunity reaches Solicited, and lock it at Closed – Won so nobody changes it after the gift lands.

Note: You need GC GO school-settings access (usually the GC Gift Officer Admin role) to see the Opportunity Settings link and page.

Tab 4: Opportunity Allocations

This tab works just like Opportunities, for custom fields on an opportunity’s allocations (the split across designations). It shows Label, Type, and Default. The edit panel offers Default Value and, for list fields, Selectable Options. Required and locked allocation fields are set per status under Required allocation fields / Locked allocation fields in GC GO Opportunity Settings.

Deleting a custom field

Click the trash icon on the field’s row. You’ll get a confirmation like:

“Are you sure you want to delete this custom field? This will permanently remove the field and all of its values across all constituents. This action cannot be undone.”

(The wording names contact reports, opportunities, or opportunity allocations on those tabs.)

Important — this is permanent. Deleting a field removes it and every value stored in it across your whole school. You can’t undo it. If you only want to hide a list option from the form, use Selectable Options instead. If you only want to stop officers filtering on a constituent field, uncheck Is Filterable?

If you re-import the same label later, GiveCampus creates a brand-new field. The old values don’t come back.