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How do I create a donation appeal?

Before creating an appeal, ensure that a profile exists for the donation coordinator you want to assign to the appeal.

This appeal wizard helps you create an appeal by taking you step-by-step through the creation process. Navigating the wizard is easy. You will see a series of light blue tabs which are the main navigation sections, with subsections displayed as grey tabs. On any page of the setup wizard, click Update & Next to continue; and click Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.

You can preview your appeal form at any time.




Step 1 - Complete the appeal details Back to Top
  1. Click Donations to view the Main Menu of this service.
  2. From the Setup section, click Add Appeal.
  3. Enter the Appeal Name, which is used for internal purposes only.
  4. Select the language Localization. This will automatically change the default text displayed to donors.
    • NOTE: Targeted Giving programs can only be included in this Appeal form, if the localization selected here matches the localization setting of the Targeted Giving program. For example: English (Canada); English (United States); français (Canada). 
  5. Choose a donation Coordinator from the drop-down list. A coordinator must be assigned to each appeal.
  6. Choose the Template Design.
    • Your account has been automatically setup with a single template design for each language (such as version 1 = Donation.EN.v1.html)
    • If your appeals are hosted on web pages with different designs, you have the option of setting up multiple template versions for one or more languages. 
  7. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 2 - Set currency & tax status Back to Top

From the Currency tab of the Setup section:

  1. Choose the currencies to be displayed on this appeal.  The list of currencies will depend on the currencies accepted by the payment gateway setup for your GiftTool account.
  2. For CAD donations, check the box if the donations made through this appeal form are eligible for a tax receipt. If eligible:
    • [Optional] Enter the minimum CAD donation amount required to issue an eTax receipt.
    • Click Default to populate the text for the email that accompanies the eTax receipt. Modify the message to your needs.  You can use HTML code to format the message.
    • GiftTool automatically calculates the tax receiptable value and issues a CA tax receipt or US tax statement based on this amount.
  3. For USD donations to 501(c)3 US charities ONLY, check the box if the donations made through this appeal form are eligible for a tax receipt.
    • [Optional] Enter the minimum CAD donation amount required to issue an eTax receipt.
    • If eligible, GiftTool automatically calculates the tax receiptable value and displays a US tax message based on this amount.
  4. For GBP donations, check the box to include the UK Gift Aid declaration section in this appeal form. UK Gift Aid must already be enabled for your account.
  5. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 3 - Optional: Add an introduction Back to Top
  1. From the Introduction tab of the Sections section, select whether or not to include this section in your appeal.
    • Later in the process, in the Pages section, you can determine the order of placement of this message (at the start of your appeal form; at the end of your appeal form; etc.).
  2. Create an optional Introduction Title.
  3. Click the Default link to populate the Introduction Message, and customize the text as required.
    • You can use the HTML editor to add text attributes, paragraph formatting, links and colours to your description.
    • When pasting text from a Microsoft document, use the "Paste as Plain Text" icon and format your text with the HTML editor icons.
    • IMPORTANT: To add an image to a section of your secure Donation page, you must first host the image in the Secure Image Hosting section of your account (learn how). Otherwise your donation page will display error messages to donors indicating that an unsecure image exists on the secure page. Once you have uploaded the image in the Secure Image Hosting section of your account, you are ready to add this secure image to your introduction.
  4. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 4 - Add Personal Information to be gathered Back to Top
  1. From the Personal Information tab of the Sections section, click the Default link to populate the Section Title and Top Message that donors will see when completing the Personal Information section. You can then customize the text to your needs.
  2. Click the Default link to populate the Text Shown boxes for the demographic fields, and customize the text as required.
  3. Check Include beside each information field you wish to include in your form.
  4. Check both Include and Required if the information field must be completed by the donor.
    • Included fields are optional until the Required box is checked.
    • The donor's name and address are required to process credit cards, as well as, if you should ever need to resolve a credit card dispute. These fields cannot be unchecked.
    • You do not need to delete the text fields that are not included.
  5. [Optional] Enter an optional Bottom Message to be displayed below this section.
  6. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 5 - Optional: Add Targeted Giving Programs Back to Top

Targeted Giving Programs allow you to collect donations for different funds. Skip this section, if you do not wish to create Targeted Giving Programs.

STEP A - Create your Targeted Giving Program

  1. Click Save to save your appeal from the previous steps.
  2. Next, create your Targeted Giving Programs in the Targeted Programs section of the Donation service. Learn how.

STEP B - Associate your targeted giving program with your appeal

Once you have created Targeted Giving Programs in your account as described in the above step, you are ready to add one or more programs to your appeal form. Get back into the setup of your appeal form by following the instructions at the top of this page. From the Targeted Programs tab of the Sections section:

  1. Select whether or not you would like to include this section in your appeal form.
  2. Click the Default link to populate the Section Title and Top Message, and customize the text as required.
  3. Drag & drop the Targeted Programs to be displayed on the appeal into the Show Programs column.
    • NOTE: If your Targeted Giving program does NOT show up on your list, make sure that the localization setting of the appeal matches the localization chosen when setting up your Targeted Giving Program. For example: English (Canada); English (United States); français (Canada).
    • The first program listed on your donation Appeal form will be the default program. Therefore, you may wish to create a program called "To the Greatest Need" displayed as your default program at the top, so that if a donor doesn't have a preference, the money can be used in an unrestricted manner by your organization.
  4. Select your style of either Radio buttons or Drop-down list options for displaying your programs.
  5. [Optional] Add a Bottom Message that will appear at the end of your list of programs.
  6. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 6 - Optional: Add an eCard section Back to Top

Allow donors to make a donation on behalf of another and send an eCard acknowledging their gift. The donor chooses an image that your organization has created, and enters a brief message to be emailed to one or more friends. eCards will be sent automatically, once the donation has been successfully processed.

When creating multiple eCards, they will be displayed to donors in a rotating image carousel in actual size.

NOTE: When creating an appeal with eCards, make sure to disable the In Tribute section (see next section) as eCards will not be automatically sent when using the “In Tribute” section.

  1. From the eCards tab of the Sections section, select whether or not you would like to have this section appear on your appeal.
  2. Click the Default link to populate the Section Title, and customize the text as required.
  3. Enter a Top Message to appear above your selection of eCards available to the donor.
    • For example:
      Select the type of card you would like to send with your donation, and click "Add eCard". You can send as many eCards as you want, adding a different eCard for each recipient.
    • You can use the HTML editor to add text attributes, paragraph formatting, links and colours to your message.
    • IMPORTANT : When pasting text from a Microsoft document, use the "Paste as Plain Text" icon and format your text with the HTML editor icons.
    • To add an image to a section of your secure Donation page, you must first host the image in the Secure Image Hosting section of your account (learn how). Otherwise your donation page will display error messages to donors indicating that an unsecure image exists on the secure page.
  4. Click Add eCard to create one or more eCards available to donors for their selection.
  5. Enter the eCard Name to distinguish between other eCards in your list. This name will also be shown to donors below the eCard in the image carousel of your donation form.
  6. Once you have optimized your image to the correct size, upload the image.
    • We recommend that you use the same size for all your images, for the best results in the image carousel.
    • Image file types must be one of: .gif, .jpg, .jpe, or .png
    • To ensure greater emailing success, the image file size cannot be more than 200 kb in size. Try http://www.webresizer.com/ for help in optimizing your image to a smaller file size.
    • Your image will automatically appear once you have saved the eCard.
  7. Determine how the image should be displayed in the eCard:
    • Centered across top, with donor message displayed below.
    • Left aligned, with donor message displayed to the right of the image.
  8. Enter the default Email subject line used when mailing the eCard. Donors will be able to customize this subject line when sending this eCard.
    • IMPORTANT : The subject lines for emails are very restricted in the characters that can they recognize. For example, the international standard for emails does not recognize many dash and apostrophe formats from Microsoft documents. When pasting text from a Microsoft document, you risk copying over text that is not a standard character set.
      Therefore, it is recommended that you retype any dashes, apostrophes, or other non-typical characters using your keyboard, or refrain from copying from a Microsoft document altogether by typing the subject line from scratch.
  9. Enter the message to appear at the bottom of the eCard. It will be centered across the bottom of the email below the donor's message. This message cannot be changed by the donor. This is an excellent opportunity to communicate your key message and provide a call to action for the eCard recipient.
    • You can use the HTML editor to add text attributes, paragraph formatting, links and colours to your message.
    • IMPORTANT : When pasting text from a Microsoft document, use the "Paste as Plain Text" icon and format your text with the HTML editor icons.
    • To add an image to a section of your secure Donation page, you must first host the image in the Secure Image Hosting section of your account (learn how). Otherwise your donation page will display error messages to donors indicating that an unsecure image exists on the secure page.
  10. Click Update & Next to add more eCards and continue customizing this section.
  11. Repeat steps 4-10 to add more eCards.
  12. To reorder the eCards, drag & drop the cards on the list in the order of your preference.
  13. Enter your organization's "From" Name and Email address to be used by default when emailing the eCard. Donors will be able to customize this "From" name & email address when sending this eCard, in case they wish to have it sent from their own email address instead of from your organization's address.
  14. Add an optional Bottom Message to appear below your selection of eCards available to the donor.
    • You can use the HTML editor to add text attributes, paragraph formatting, links and colours to your message.
    • IMPORTANT : When pasting text from a Microsoft document, use the "Paste as Plain Text" icon and format your text with the HTML editor icons.
    • To add an image to a section of your secure Donation page, you must first host the image in the Secure Image Hosting section of your account (learn how). Otherwise your donation page will display error messages to donors indicating that an unsecure image exists on the secure page.
  15. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 7 - Optional: Add an In Tribute section Back to Top

Add the In Tribute section to allow donors to make a donation in memory or in honour of someone. Optionally, collect contact information so that your staff can handle the fulfillment of these acknowledgement cards or emails. The collected information will be listed in the donation reports, as well as, in the donor profile.

NOTE:

  • When using the "In Tribute" section, the GiftTool system does NOT automatically send acknowledgement cards.
  • Alternatively, if you wish to automate the sending of eCards, make sure to disable this "In Tribute" section, and setup the eCards section instead.

To setup the "In Tribute" section:

  1. From the In Tribute tab of the Sections section, select whether or not you would like to have this section appear on your appeal.
  2. Click the Default link to populate the Section Title and Top Message, and customize the text as required.
  3. Create your Tribute Types. Examples of tribute types:
    • In memory of
    • In honour of
    • In celebration of
  4. Decide if you would like to collect an email address and/or street address that your organization can use to send an acknowledgement.
    • On your donation page, once the donor selects a Tribute Type, these additional boxes will appear automatically to collect the donor's notification information.
    • The collected information can be found in the donation reports, as well as, in the donor profile, so that your staff can send the acknowledgement cards.
    • The system does not automatically send an acknowledgement.
  5. Create an Acknowledgement Message or click default to use a standard message.
  6. Add an optional Bottom Message.
  7. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 8 - Setup the Contribution Amount section Back to Top
  1. From the Contribution tab of the Sections section, click the Default link to populate the Section Title and Top Message, and customize the text as required.
  2. Restrict donation amounts by entering a Minimum and Maximum donation amounts.
    • Donations will not be allowed below the minimum amount or above the maximum amount.
    • These amounts are only shown the donor if the contribution is outside this range.
    • The maximum should not be more than your merchant gateway account allows, and as specified to GiftTool during your account setup process.
  3. Select at least one Contribution Frequency (One-time donation; recurring monthly donation, or recurring quarterly donation).
  4. [Optional] Create custom Contribution Levels and/or suggested donation amounts by frequency.
    • Suggested donation amounts may be different for monthly vs quarterly vs one-time donations.
    • To add a contribution level, click Add contribution level.
    • To change the order of the contribution levels, drag & drop the levels to a different location in the list.
    • To remove a contribution level, drag & drop the level to be deleted to the bottom of the list. Click Remove last contribution level.
    • When setting up contribution levels without level names, the amounts will be displayed horizontally with a maximum of 4 levels per line.
  5. Add an optional Bottom Message.
  6. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 9 - Setup Payment Options Back to Top
  1. From the Payment Options tab of the Sections section, click the Default link to populate the Section Title and Top Message, and customize the text as required.
  2. [Optional] Create a Bottom Message.
  3. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 10 - Optional: Add Questions Back to Top
  1. From the Questions tab of the Sections section, select whether or not you would like to include this section in your appeal.
  2. Click the Default link to populate the Section Title and Top Message, and customize the text as required.
  3. Select your Question Type from the drop-down list and click Add Question
  4. In the box that now appears, create your question and choices for possible answers in the fields provided
  5. Decide whether or not to include an "other" field in your answer options
  6. Decide on the Reponse Format but selecting between the Radio Buttons, Drop Down Menu or Multi-Select Check Boxes
  7. Click Save Question.
  8. [Optional] Create a Bottom Message.
  9. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 11 - Optional: Add an Captcha section Back to Top

Adding a Captcha section increases the protection against fraudulent activity.

NOTE: Your payment gateway may ask for it to be implemented if there are too many fraudulent attempts on your account.

  1. From the Captcha tab of the Sections section, select whether or not you would like to have this section appear on your appeal.
    The form will automatically populate even when nothing appears on the title or message section.
  2. Click the Default link to populate the Section Title and Top Message, and customize the text as required.
  3. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 12 - Control the order of your sections & pages Back to Top

Control the order that sections are displayed by dragging and dropping them. Determine if sections should appear on a single page, or across multiple pages. Pages with no sections will be removed when update or save your ordering.

  1. From the Pages tab, drag & drop the sections on the list in the order of your preference.
  2. Click Add another page to drag & drop sections onto a separate page.
    • To reorder pages: drag & drop sections in the proper page order.
    • To delete a page: Leave the page empty of sections, and the page will be removed upon saving the appeal.
  3. Once satisfied with the number of pages selected and the position of each section, click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 13 - Customize On-Screen Confirmation Back to Top

Customize your confirmation message shown on-screen to donors once a donation has been made online.

NOTE: If you have included Targeted Giving Programs in this appeal form, this On-Screen Confirmation message will be replaced with the message setup for the specific Targeted Giving Program.

  1. From the On-Screen Confirmation tab of the Message section, click the Default link to populate the On-Screen Confirmation Message, and customize the text as required.
    • Include DONOR_NAME to automatically display the donor's first & last name; or include DONOR_FIRSTNAME to automatically display the donor's first name only.
    • Include your organization's contact information and other details if required for tax receipting purposes for the United States or other jurisdictions.
    • You can use the HTML editor to add text attributes, paragraph formatting, secure hosted images, links and colours to your description. When including images in your on-screen confirmation message, it is important to make sure they are a secure image which includes the "s" in the "https://", otherwise a warning message may appear when displaying your on-screen confirmation message.
    • When pasting text from a Microsoft document, use the "Paste as Plain Text" icon and format your text with the HTML editor icons.
  2. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 14 - Customize Email Thank You Back to Top
  1. From the Email Thank You tab of the Message section, click the Default link to populate the Email Subject line and Greeting, and customize the text as required.
    • Include your organization's contact information and other details if required for tax receipting purposes for the United States or other jurisdictions.
    • You can use the HTML editor to add text attributes, paragraph formatting, images, links and colours to your description.
    • When pasting text from a Microsoft document, use the "Paste as Plain Text" icon and format your text with the HTML editor icons.
    • In the Greeting field, enter a greeting prefix (Hi, Hello, Dear) and choose how the greeting should address the donor (first name vs. full first & last name).
    Select the display of the name to accompany the greeting (First Name or Full First & Last Name)
  2. Click the Default link to populate the Email Confirmation Message, and customize the text as required. Include your organization's contact information and other details, if required for tax receipting purposes for the United States or other jurisdictions.
  3. Click Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
    • Confirmation/Thank you emails are automatically sent to online donors who provide an email address, with a copy sent to the coordinator associated with the appeal.
    • Confirmation emails will not be sent when subsequent recurring payments are processed each month or quarter. Instead, you can view recently processed donations in the Administration section or in the reports.
Step 15 - Review Profile to ensure appeal is well formed Back to Top

Review the appeal Profile to ensure that the setup is well formed:

  1. Click Donations to view the Main Menu of this service.
  2. From the Setup section, click Manage Appeal Forms and select the folder (Active, Draft or Archived) listing the appeal form to be reviewed.
  3. Click Profile next to the appeal name, and review the message displayed in the Well Formed section.
  4. If the message displayed is "Yes":
  5. If there is a red message idenfying issues to address, follow the steps above to correct the issue(s).



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