How Do I Create a Campaign and Segments?

Campaigns are the most important piece of data to track how successful various asks and channels are in your fundraising strategy. Creating a Campaign and associated Segments will allow you to track different asks to different audiences in a strategic manner. This guide will walk you through the steps to create a new Campaign and a selection of Segments in RaiseDonors. 

As a reminder:

• Campaign is used to track a selection of fundraising efforts
• Segment will reflect the audience receiving a specific ask

Creating a New Campaign 

In RaiseDonors, navigate to the Campaign page using the left-hand menu. 

Next, select "+ New Campaign" in the top right corner of the main Campaign page. 

On this next page, you will build out the details of your specific campaign. The required fields are Campaign Name and Campaign Start and End Date.

Keep in mind, the contents entered into the Description box could be included in a public-facing page so be sure to tailor this content in alignment. 

Best Practices for Using RaiseDonors with Virtuous CRM 

For organizations using RaiseDonors and Virtuous CRM as a paired solution, there are a handful of Best Practices to make sure the data in each platform mirrors one another.

• If you have manually created a Campaign in RaiseDonors that already exists in VCRM, the field "CRM Key" will be a necessary piece of data to sync this new Campaign and Segments to your CRM without creating a duplicate Campaign and Segments. 
  • CRM Key = Virtuous Campaign ID 
• It's recommended to create Campaigns and Segments in Virtuous CRM FIRST as they will sync to RaiseDonors. 
• If a Campaign and Segments are first created in RaiseDonors and then synced to Virtuous CRM, this will create a generic Campaign Communication in Virtuous CRM called "RaiseDonors Fundraising" as a placeholder. Once synced, you can manage the Campaign structure and Communication details in Virtuous CRM as you typically would. The sync will push updated data pieces to RaiseDonors. 
• When a user assigns a Segment created in Virtuous CRM to a Form or Page in RaiseDonors, that Segment and Campaign is synced to RaiseDonors. 
• Only the Segments being used in RaiseDonors Forms or Pages will be synced to RaiseDonors, not all the Segments that exists under the Campaign in Virtuous CRM.

Set Fundraising Goals 

Next, you can set the various fundraising goals you are aiming to hit. Select which goals you would like to set for this particular Campaign. 

• "Total Amount Raised" will allow you to set a target dollar amount for the Campaign. 
• "Number of Gifts" will allow you to set a target quantity of distinct gifts for the Campaign. 
• "Average Gift Size" will allow you to set a target average for gifts for this Campaign 

Creating a New Segment 

Segments will be available as an option when building a Page or Form to track a specific audience. Select "+ Add Segment" to open the fields. 

Next, enter the necessary details for your first Segment. The required fields include Segment Name and Segment Code.

Note: Segment Codes MUST be unique.

RaiseDonors will be able to populate a custom code while you are entering the Segment Name. If the Segment Code automatically populated does not fit your need, you can change the code. The Description field is not required but it's an excellent opportunity for clear communication across your organization. Once you've entered all your desired information, select "Add Segment" to complete the process.  

If you have additional Segments to be created, select "+ Add Segment" below your newly created Segment. 

After all your necessary Segments are created, your Campaign is fully built and ready to be used in Pages and Forms! 

To learn more about using Campaigns and Segments to track the success of your fundraising efforts, check out this support article.