Updated: 7/17/2023

Easily View and Report on “Transaction Status”

We’ve added a Quick Filter option under the Giving tab in Donor Management for “Transaction Status” that will help you easily identify transactions that may have been refunded, voided, or charged back.

This helpful new filter should help give your organization more visibility and reporting abilities with respect to these types of donations.

Please note that there are still different status labels for successful transactions, depending on what type of transaction that they are. Unchanged tickets and sponsorships will reflect as being “complete” once a transaction has been completed; donations will reflect as being “active.”

In-App Messaging Now Available for Auctions Customers!

We’ve added another way for our Auctions customers to reach out and contact our Support Team – in-app messaging is now available in the Auctions platform!

This makes it even easier for you to reach out with any Auctions-related questions you may have before, during, and after your upcoming auction – and get answers even more quickly!

Even More Auctions Updates!

We’ve added even more features to our Auctions platform, all of which are designed to help easily manage your upcoming auction. We’ve added additional insights to the Auctions Dashboard that reflect the status of the auction and let you take any necessary actions directly from that page!

When an auction has not yet started:

You should now see a “Message All” button in the “Bidders” section – meaning you can send a message to all bidders with just one click!

When an auction has started and is in progress:

The “Items” section should now feature items that do not yet have bids, so you can keep an eye on those items and take action to promote them (or adjust minimum bids) as needed.

We’ve also added a “Promote All” button, which lets you send a message to all your bidders to promote those not-yet-bid-on-items quickly.

You can also view all of those items that haven’t yet received a bid by clicking on the new option to “View All Items Without Bids.”

For an auction that has ended:

The “Items” section will now feature items that have been paid for, but not yet collected by their winning bidders – as well as a “Message Winners” button that lets you contact bidders who need to collect their items with a helpful reminder.

You can also view all of the items that haven’t been collected by clicking on the new option to “View All Items Not Collected.”

We’ve also added the name of the winner(s) to each item, to save you time!

In the “Bidders” section, we’ve now highlighted those winning bidders who haven’t paid for their bids quite yet, and include how much they currently owe.

We’ve also added the option to quickly send a checkout notification, add an offline payment, or checkout (for bidders with cards on file) from the available “Actions” drop-down menu.

Finally, we’ve also provided some clarification on the “How do you want to handle bidding?” section of setting up your Auction, and explained that “what is this item worth?” should also reflect the fair market value (FMV) of the item.

Additional Details Added to Email Acknowledgements

We’ve listened to feedback from customers like you and made the donor scroll’s message, along with a few other details, available to add within email acknowledgements in Donor Management. This will give you more additional context and clarity when thanking donors for their gifts.

Removing Offline Auctions Transactions

We’ve added the ability for you to delete offline Auctions transactions, if necessary. Doing so won’t impact bids – when the transaction is deleted, the status will automatically update to “Unpaid” and sync this information back into Donor Management.

Google Pay Now Live!

We’re excited to announce that those customers utilizing Stripe as their payment processor are now able to accept donations via Google Pay! There’s no special setup required for your donors to be able to select Google Pay as a payment option – it should now automatically be available during the checkout process.

At this time, Google Pay is only available in Fundraising Pages and cannot be used for recurring donations. For more information on this new payment option, please check out our related article here!

Updates to Auctions

We’ve made a couple of updates to our Auctions platform to help make running your upcoming auctions even easier! Auctions will now display on a public Essential Events page prior to an auction going “live”, so your participants can view the auction and check out the upcoming available items and opportunities.

We’ve also added the ability to see a bidder’s billing address in the Auctions platform that was entered during checkout (or when putting their credit card on file). This address, then displayed on the bidder’s profile page, can then be used to ship any winning items to bidders once the auction has ended.

This “bidder address” field has also been added to all available exports, to make it even easier to create a report of shipping addresses you’ll need!

Set Up Stripe Directly in Your Auctions Platform

We’ve updated the onboarding process for those customers with Auctions who are signing up for Stripe as a payment processor. You can now use the banner located at the top of your Auctions Dashboard to begin the onboarding process.

Once you’ve completed that process, your payment processor will automatically switch to Stripe!

For step-by-step instructions on how to set up Stripe, please click here.

The 2023 Giving Engagement Plan is now Live!

This engagement plan focuses on increasing the number of your recurring donors, and is available until June 30th. This engagement plan, like our other engagement plans, has two separate engagement streams that can be used to engage those donors who have made a donation within the last 3 years, or those who have not made a donation during that time.

As with our other plans, please be aware that you must have at least twenty-five (25) contacts with valid email addresses loaded into your Donor Management platform for the engagement plan to be available.

You can launch the engagement plan directly from your Donor Management Dashboard – or you can access a downloadable version here.

Customization Now Available for Stripe Transaction Tax Receipts

For those using Stripe as a payment processor, you now have the ability to customize the “footer” of the tax receipt your donors are automatically sent when a transaction is made.

You can make those updates by going to “Settings” in Fundraising Pages, and then selecting “Payment Profile” from the drop-down options.

Added Distinction for Tribute-Style Donations

We’ve updated the “In Honor/Memory Of” label on donations, so that it clarifies the type of tribute associated with that transaction. Now, you’ll be able to clearly tell if the donation is “in honor of” or “in memory of,” to make it easier to acknowledge those donations.

This was one of the ideas suggested to our team through the Ideas Portal – to learn more or make a suggestion, check out our how-to on accessing and using the portal here!

Updated Language for Editing Saved Filters

Based on recommendations from our Ideas Portal, we updated some labels (in regards to filters) to add some clarity to their purpose.

For folks who are looking to edit or update an existing filter after it’s been saved, you can now use the updated “Edit Filter” link to do so. This replaces the previous “Create Filter” link, which was causing some confusion!

Updated Reporting on Soft Credits

We’ve added a few fields that are available for you to export out in your reports that should make reporting on soft credits easier.

You should now be able to select “Calendar Year Soft Credits” and “Previous Calendar Year Soft Credits,” which will list the dollar value of soft credits for those respective years.

For more information on soft credits, please check out this article.

Easily Import Bidders in Bulk for Your Auction!

Admins can now add bidders in bulk to their Auction, allowing you to quickly and easily add your bidders in advance of your event!

More Ways to Sort Items for Your Auction

We’ve added the ability for admins to set the default way that auction items will be sorted (and viewed) on an Auctions page. Previously, items were always sorted alphabetically; now, you can sort by item name and item number as well.

Additionally, bidders can also now individually sort the way the items are displayed on the page as they are browsing, so they can quickly view items they are most interested in.

The 2023 “Looking Forward” Engagement Plan is Now Live!

We’ve launched our most recent engagement plan, which helps you to reach out and nurture existing donor relationships early on in the year for the best levels of engagement. This engagement plan, like our other engagement plans, has two separate engagement streams that can be used to engage recently lapsed donors, non-donors, and those donors who may not have contributed in more than 3 years.

As with our other plans, please be aware that you must have at least twenty-five (25) contacts with valid email addresses loaded into your Donor Management platform for the engagement plan to be available.

You can launch the engagement plan directly from your Donor Management Dashboard – or you can access a downloadable version here.

Updated Search Feature in Donor Management

We’ve added the ability for you to search for your contacts based on their phone number in Donor Management! This should make it easier for you and your admins to search for a donor who has called in and locate their donor profile more easily.

This is also one of the top-ranked ideas suggested to our team through the Ideas Portal – to learn more or make a suggestion, check out our how-to on accessing and using the portal here!

Improved Reporting for those Using Stripe

To help out those who are using Stripe as a payment processor, we’ve added a few new options through our reporting tools in Donor Management to make reporting even easier!

We’ve added a “payment gateway processor” option, so you can now filter directly on Stripe transactions. We’ve also added several new export fields to give your report even more clarity:

We’ve also added a “recommended filter” for those utilizing Stripe titled “Online Transactions Last 5 Days”, which should help with creating a comprehensive report on upcoming Stripe disbursements.

For additional details on these reporting improvements, please check out our related guide!

Updated Resources for Creating and Managing Your Auction

We’ve added several new help resources for nonprofits looking to create and manage an auction through our Auctions platform! We’ve included sections on setting up your auction, managing your bidders, and best practices once your auction has concluded.

Check out the complete collection here.

You’ve Got Ideas, We’ve Got an Ideas Portal!

We love customer feedback – it helps us to better understand how you and your organization are using our products, and how we can continually improve those products to make things easier for both you and your donors.

With this in mind, we’ve created our own “Ideas Portal” - a place within your Donor Management System where you can submit your suggestions directly to our Product Team!

For more information on how the Ideas Portal works, check out our related guide here.

More Customizable Bidder Reports and Easier Access to Items and Bidders

We’ve continued to adjust and improve our new Auctions platform, to make things even easier when managing your auction!

It’s now much easier to navigate to your items and bidders directly from your Auctions Dashboard – we’re added clickable links to bring you directly there from that main page.

We’ve also made it easier to export a report of your bidders! You now have more control over which bidders are exported out in your reports, and have the ability to select specific individuals to be included (or excluded) in those reports.

For more information on filtering and reporting on your Auction, please click here.
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