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How Do I Integrate with Google Analytics 4?

Rachel Specht
Updated

This article walks through the steps to set up your Virtuous Raise and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) integration.

Table of Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Integration Configuration
  3. Do I Need Google Tag Manager (GTM)?
  4. How Do I View My Events?

Overview

The Raise <> GA4 integration is a direct, server-to-server integration. Virtuous Raise sends following events to GA4 using Google's Measurement Protocol:

  • Purchases (Donations): sends upon successfully processing a donation; includes:
    • transaction_id (Gift ID)
    • value (Donation Amount)
    • currency (Currency Code)
    • items: array containing one item representing the donation
      • item_name {OrganizationName}/{CampaignName}
      • item_category: (Organization URL Slug)
      • price (Donation Amount)
      • quantity 
    • campaign_name (Name of associated Campaign)
    • payment_type (Credit Card, PayPal)
    • gift_type (One Time or Recurring)
  • Page Views: sends when a user views a webpage; includes:
    • page_title 
    • page_location
  • Form Starts: sent to GA4 when a user begins interaction with a form; includes:
    • form_name
    • form_destination

You do not need to add any tracking code, gtag.js snippet, or Google Tag Manager container to your page for these events to appear in GA4 — just complete the configuration below.

Integration Configuration

To configure the integration, collect two pieces of information from your GA4 account:

  • Your Account ID (aka Measurement ID) AND
  • Your API Secret

In Google Analytics 4

Go to the Admin tab in the left navigation menu. From there, click on Data Streams under the Data collection and modification box.

From Data Streams, click on your data stream. This will expand a view where you can easily copy your Measurement ID.

Scroll down further on that same view as above and select a menu item for Measurement Protocol API secrets.

There, you will either create new or use on of your existing API secrets. Copy that value, as well.

In Virtuous Raise

Click Settings from the left-hand navigation bar. From System Settings, click Integrations from the menu. From the Integrations page, click on Google Analytics.

Screenshot 2025-07-10 at 10.41.55 AM.png

You’ll see a screen to enter your Measurement ID and your API secret. Both the Measurement ID and the API Secret are required. If the API Secret is missing, GA4 will silently reject the events and no data will appear — even if the Measurement ID is correct and the integration is toggled Active. If you're not seeing data in GA4, confirming the API Secret is filled in is the first thing to check.
Once you’ve done that, switch the Active toggle on and then hit Save Changes. And that’s it!

Screenshot 2025-07-10 at 10.43.49 AM.png

All you need to do now is wait for your data to flow into Google Analytics.

Do I Need Google Tag Manager (GTM)?

For the events listed above (donations, page views, and form starts), you do not need GTM. Those events are delivered to GA4 directly from our servers once you've entered your Measurement ID and API Secret. Google Tag Manager, gtag.js, and custom code are not required for standard GA4 reporting.

GTM is useful if you'd like a completed donation to trigger your own marketing tags, for example, a Google Ads conversion, a Meta/Facebook pixel, or another GTM tag. Virtuous Raise also publishes a browser-side dataLayer event on your page each time a Gift or lead succeeds:

  • purchase: for donations (includes donationId, amount, currency, frequency, segmentCode, and projectCodes)
  • lead: for lead forms (includes segmentCode)

If a Google Tag Manager container is present on the page, GTM will automatically detect these events, and you can build triggers and tags from them. This is only needed for firing your own downstream tags.

GTM Installation

If your donation page or form is embedded on your own website, add your GTM container to that site the standard way (in your site's <head>). GTM will then pick up the events above automatically.

If you're using a Raise-hosted page, you can add GTM directly in the page builder under Custom JavaScript. 

 

Note: When adding the GTM tag JavaScript, paste only the code inside the <script> tags, not the full snippet with the <script>…</script> wrapper. The builder's Custom JavaScript field is for JavaScript only, so leaving the <script> tags in will prevent the tag from loading. 

You don't need the separate portion of Google's snippet.

 

GTM will then detect the purchase and lead events Raise publishes on the page. Alternatively, because donation events already reach GA4 directly, you can mark the GA4 purchase event as a conversion and link your GA4 property to Google Ads.

How Do I View My Events?

Once your data starts trickling in, you will have access to a number of reports in GA4. One particularly useful one is your Events report. This can be found by clicking the Reports tab in the left-hand navigation bar and then clicking Examine User Behavior, and then Events. Scroll down to see a table of Events data.

Events that will be tracked include page views, donation form starts, clicks, purchases, and more. If you're not seeing data in GA4, confirming the API Secret is filled in in Virtuous Raise. 

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