A campaign sends one email to a whole group of donors at once, using an audience segment and a content template. It is the route to take for an appeal, a new campaign announcement, a reactivation push, or anything else going to more than a handful of people.
Go to Emails > Compose and click Start campaign.
The other two options on this screen do different jobs. Send a newsletter opens the block-based builder for a designed layout. Quick compose is the familiar one-off composer for ad hoc sends that do not need a campaign.
The five steps
You build a campaign in five numbered steps. Each collapses once complete, so you can see what you have chosen so far and go back to any of them.
1. Select audience
Pick the segment you want to email. Once selected, the step shows the segment name and the recipient count, for example, "High-value donors ($25k+ lifetime) (24 recipient(s))".
Check the recipient count before moving on. It is the clearest signal that you have chosen the segment you meant to.
2. Choose a template
A campaign always uses a template. The picker shows only Published templates from the Templates tab, so if the one you want is missing, it is probably still a draft.
Manage templates opens the Templates tab if you need to create or publish one.
3. Compose
Field | Notes |
Campaign Name * | An internal label. Recipients never see it. Name it so your team can find it later, for example, "Spring 2026 Annual Fund Appeal". |
Subject * | The line recipients see in their inbox. |
Body * | The message. Prefilled from the template you chose, and editable here. |
Editing here changes this campaign only. The saved template is untouched.
4. Preview and test
Optional, and worth doing every time.
Enter a donor user ID and click Render preview to see the message with that donor's details merged in. This helps you catch a merge field that doesn't resolve before it goes to hundreds of people.
Send test to me: email it to your own address with the subject prefixed TEST SEND. Test sends aren't added to the campaign audience and don't count as recipients.
5. Review and send
The final step summarizes what is about to happen: campaign name, segment, recipient count, and subject.
Choose Send now or Schedule for later, then click Send now.
Read the recipient count one more time here. This is the last point at which you can stop the send.
Segments
A campaign's audience always comes from a segment, so it's worth understanding segments before you send.
Segments live under Segments in the left navigation, on the Lists & Segments page.
Each one shows its type, whether it covers donors or students, its visibility, and how many members it currently has.
Dynamic segments and static lists
There are two kinds, and you choose which one when you create a segment.
Dynamic segment is defined by filter rules. Membership is calculated automatically and stays in sync as your data changes, so a lapsed-donor segment updates as donors lapse or return.
Static list is a fixed set of people you add manually or upload as a CSV. Membership stays exactly as you set it.
You cannot convert one to the other later, so choose deliberately. Use a dynamic segment for anything defined by a rule. Use a static list when the group is a specific set of people that should not change, such as a board list or an event guest list.
Shared and private
Shared segments are visible to other admins. Private ones are only visible to you.
Share anything the team might reasonably want to email. A private segment nobody else can see is a segment somebody else will end up rebuilding.
Naming
The name is what everyone picks from in the campaign audience dropdown. Name it for who is in it, not for what you were doing at the time. "Lapsed donors (>12 months)" tells the next person what they are about to email. "My Special List" does not.