Campaigns, Funds, and Appeals

Use campaigns, funds, and appeals to track how you receive, allocate, and evaluate gifts. Together, they help you understand donor intent, measure fundraising performance, and report on financial outcomes.

Campaigns

Campaigns represent your overall fundraising efforts or initiatives. They define the primary goal or outcome for your fundraising activities.

Common examples include:

  • An annual campaign for operating expenses

  • A capital campaign for a new building

  • An endowment campaign for long-term investment

Campaigns answer the question: What are you trying to achieve with your fundraising?

Funds

Funds define how you use or allocate gifts based on donor intent. They help you track and report how money is earmarked for specific purposes.

Examples include:

  • Program-specific funding

  • Project phases such as design, construction, or landscaping

  • Restricted or unrestricted giving categories

Funds answer the question: How should the money be used?

Appeals

Appeals are the methods or solicitations you use to request gifts. They represent the outreach that motivates donors to give.

Examples include:

  • Direct mail campaigns

  • Online donation pages

  • Events or auctions

  • Phonathons

Appeals answer the question: How did the donor decide to give?

How Campaigns, Funds, and Appeals Work Together

When you add a gift, you can associate it with:

  • A campaign that defines the overall goal

  • One or more funds that specify how the gift is used

  • An appeal that identifies how the gift was solicited

You can use multiple funds and appeals within a single campaign to support more detailed tracking and reporting.

Example

A building campaign may include:

  • Separate funds for design, construction, and landscaping

  • Multiple appeals, such as events, email outreach, and direct mail

This structure helps you:

  • Track donor intent accurately

  • Measure the effectiveness of each appeal

  • Report on progress toward your campaign goal

Conceptual model

Think of your fundraising structure as a system:

  • Campaigns define the destination

  • Funds control how resources are allocated

  • Appeals drive how gifts are generated

This model helps you organize data consistently, improve reporting accuracy, and evaluate fundraising performance.