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How Do I Customize URLs to Track and Set Giving Details?

Tanya Valencia
Updated

You can use a single donation Form or Page, and a single web page, to track giving associated with any number of different Segments in RaiseDonors. This makes it much easier to manage your donation Form and Page tracking details. This can also eliminate the need to create a new web page to embed those forms. To make this happen, you can customize URLs when directing traffic to your donation page. This process can place a digital breadcrumb that will come through on the Gift record! This feature can be used to populate a number of different pieces of data. 

You can have a RaiseDonors donation Form embedded on the following page: www.example.org/give and pair it with a few different URL parameters to pass specific data through the Form. The specific formatting for each type of data that can be passed through is outlined below. 

Segment Codes

Using a custom URL, you can send out an email appeal for your current Campaign. After you have created your necessary Campaign and associated Segments, you will also have a Segment Code. As an example Segment Code = EX0718EM. Your email has a "Donate Now" button that directs donors to your donation page, but of course, you want to track all of the gifts received and be sure they are attributed to the correct Segment. 

Huuman Fund Campaign Email.png

When entering the specific URL for the donate button you will use a tailored URL featuring the Segment Code, as demonstrated below:

www.example.org/give?segmentCode=EX0718EM

NOTE: Formatting is CASE SENSITIVE. The URL formatting must reflect as "segmentCode=" 

With the Segment Code now existing in the URL that an email recipient can click on, any Gifts processed on your donation Page or Form will include the specified Segment code. As a note, if your Form or Page has a default Segment already set, this feature will override the default value. 

Projects 

This same feature and formatting can be applied to Project values with a few extra layers of flexibility. There are two URL parameters available.

Project Code Override will remove the Project selection from the Form (if one exists) and set the Project on the Gift record behind-the-scenes. This means the donor will not have an available field to change the Project designation when filling out the Page or Form. This functions like a true override, ensuring that the desired Project gets set with the incoming Gift.

In the example below, the Projects reflect specific children a donor can sponsor. When a donor clicks on one of these photos to be taken to the giving Page, the Project Code associated with each specific child will be passed through the URL to the Page and override any default Project values. 

Human Fund Projects.png

Each image can link directly to the same donation Page, but with a different URL. If the Project Code for Jessie's fund is "CSJessie132" this is the code that will be tucked into the tail of the URL, demonstrated below. 

www.example.org/give?projectCodeOverride=CSJessie132

NOTE: Formatting is CASE SENSITIVE. The URL formatting must reflect as "projectCodeOverride=" 

Now, any Gifts processed on your donation Page will be automatically designated to that Project.

Project Code Preselect will simply populate the Project designation selection but does not hardcode it. This means the donor can still make changes to the Project designation while completing the Page. 

www.example.org/give?projectCodePreselect=CSJessie132

NOTE: Formatting is CASE SENSITIVE. The URL formatting must reflect as "projectCodePreselect=" 

If the Project in the "projectCodePreselect" URL parameter has not been added to the Form yet, it will be added and preselected when the donor lands on the donation Page. 

If no Project selection is present on the Page when "projectCodePreselect" is used, then it behaves the same as the "projectCodeOverride" parameter.  

Amounts 

Another piece of data on a Gift that can be preset is the Gift Amount. Setting this URL parameter will pre-set the donation amount in the "Amount" field. This can also pre-select the amount from the Gift Array, if that value is included in the Array. There are a few nuances to keep in mind. 

  • If the value set in the URL does not appear in the Gift Array, it will not be preselected from the Array. Instead, the value will just be pre-set in the "Amount" field. 
  • If the Form only has a Gift Array with no "Amount" field and the URL parameter amount does not appear in the Array, this value will be added to the Array and preselected for the donor. 
  • If the Form contains multiple Arrays and "Amount" fields, such as with the Project Card Layout option, the pre-select/pre-fill will apply to the first Project Card that appears on the Page. 

Below is an example of a URL formatted to populate a $100 value into the "Amount" field. 

www.example.org/give?amount=100

NOTE: Formatting is CASE SENSITIVE. The URL formatting must reflect as "amount=" 

Frequencies 

For recurring donations, you can also use URL parameters to set the Frequency of a recurring donation. As an example, if your organization is doing a push to gain monthly recurring donors, you can use a URL parameter to default the "Frequency" value on a Form. Similar to Projects and Amounts, there are some details to keep in mind. 

  • If the Frequency in the URL parameter does not appear in the Form, it will be added at that time and preselected. 
  • If the frequency is already present on the Form, it will be preselected. 
  • Regardless of the Frequency already existing or not, the donor can still change the selection if they'd like once they are on the Form. 

The available frequencies to use are listed below in the specific case formatting required. 

  • one-time
  • weekly
  • monthly
  • everyotherweek
  • monthly
  • quarterly 
  • biannually
  • yearly

In the example below, the URL will preselect the monthly frequency in the Form. 

www.example.org/give?frequency=monthly

NOTE: Formatting is CASE SENSITIVE. The URL formatting must reflect as "frequency=" 

Multiple URL Parameters 

You are not limited to using just one URL parameter. Combining these different ideas can reduce the clicks required from a donor to complete a Form.

As an example, the URL below uses the "&" symbol to preselect the Child Sponsorship Project for Jessie on the Form, select the $25 value from the Gift Array and set the Frequency option to Monthly. This will result in a recurring monthly donation of $25 to Jessie's Child Sponsorship Project. 

www.example.org/give?projectCodePreselect=CSJessie132&amount=25&frequency=monthly

 

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