Set up your Core Profile

What is a Core Profile?

It is an essential building block of every nonprofit's Give Lively membership, no matter what Give Lively fundraising solution or products you use. Many nonprofits even use the fundraising page associated with their Core Profile for year-round fundraising.

Although you can build and customize your Core Profile in eight easy steps (see below), it comes with default donation amount options ($25, $50, $100, and $250). We nevertheless recommend that you customize every aspect of it to suit your nonprofit.

Also keep in mind that your Core Profile is not the same as other Give Lively fundraising pages, such as Campaign Pages. That said, any Give Lively fundraising pages you create automatically inherit the settings and details of your Core Profile, including your mission statement, logo, background image, brand color, and thank you message.

The Core Profile also ties to your chosen Text-to-Donate codes, and the Text-to-Donate text codes for any deleted Campaign Pages are automatically reassigned to the Core Profile if the text code is not re-associated with a new campaign before deleting the old one. 

Fill in basic information

1. Once you have logged in to the Nonprofit Admin Portal, click the “Basic Information” tab in the "Edit Your Nonprofit's Core Profile" menu. If you do not see this, click first on the "Core Profile" link in the left-hand navigation bar.
2. On the "Basic Information" page, enter the name of your nonprofit (for external display), your organization’s mission statement and its website in the appropriate fields. For best results when adding your mission statement, we recommend typing and formatting it directly in the text-editing window, not copy-pasting it from another document. Text copied from other word processing software sometimes includes unseen code that interferes with our text-editing tool.
3. Select your nonprofit's timezone. This timezone choice affects how timestamps are displayed throughout the Nonprofit Admin Portal, as well as the timezone of donations/purchases in all downloadable donor data reports. Learn more about Give Lively's default use of UTC for donation receipt times and dates.
4. You can set the default frequency for donations ("Monthly" or "One-Time").
5. You can also allow donors to make private/anonymous donations, disable Peer-to-Peer Fundraising and allow donors to dedicate their donations. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising pages associated with your Core Profile inherit the chosen settings regarding private/anonymous donations and dedicated donations.
6. Hit "Save" when you're done.

Upload a high-quality logo

The first thing visitors see on your page is your logo. Upload a high-quality version, one that is easy to read and looks good on multiple devices.

1. Click on the “Logo and Images” tab on the lefthand menu.
2. Under "Logo," click "Choose File" and select the image file you'd like to upload as your logo.
3. Double-click on the desired file.
4. Your logo image should be: a minimum of 640x640 pixels, no larger than 1MB, in JPG format.
5. Hit "Save" when you're done.
6. Choose your preferred logo placement: "Over Background" (placed over the middle of the background image), "Above Donation Form" (placed next to the background image, above the donation details), or "Hidden" (not visible on the page).
7. Click the "Save" button.
8. You can view the page by clicking "Visit Page" to the right of your nonprofit's name at the top of the page. You can experiment with different logo placements by clicking "Save" and "Visit Page" until you find the format you desire.

Upload a high-quality background image

Your background image (aka "primary media") is a very prominent part of your page. Look for a high-quality image that genuinely shows what your nonprofit does.

1. Still on the "Logos, Images, and Color" page, under "Primary Media," click "Choose File" and select the image file you'd like to upload as your image.
2. Double-click on the desired file.
3. Your image should be: 2000x1200 pixels (recommended dimensions) and in JPG or PNG format. If the PNG is transparent, your brand color will show behind it.
4. Hit "Save" when you're done.

Upload a high-quality image for social sharing

This image will accompany your donation link when you share your fundraising page via Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform. It will also be the preview image for Text-to-Donate. We recommend using an image without any words or letters.

1. Still on the "Logos, Images, and Color" page, under "Image for Social Media Sharing," click "Choose File" and select the image file you'd like to upload as your image.
2. Double-click on the desired file.
3. Your image should be a minimum of 1200x630 pixels, no larger than 1MB and in JPG format.
4. Hit "Save" when you're done.

Choose your brand color

Most nonprofits identify one color to represent their brand in external communications. Feature that color as the background of your fundraising page(s).

1. Still on the "Logos, Images, and Color" page, under "Background Color," enter your hexadecimal (also called hex) color code, which consists of a six-digit alphanumeric code (for example: #2363AF) or click on the color square and select one from a color wheel.
2. Hit "Save" when you're done.

Select your donation amount options and write impact stories to accompany them

When supporters are passionate about a cause and are clear about the impact of each donated dollar, they feel more compelled to give. The Impact Stories section of any fundraising page is a great way to creatively showcase the strength of your work. Select donation amounts closely associated with your nonprofit stories or that otherwise make sense for your organization. Then inspire donors with compelling impact stories.

1. Click on the “Donation Amounts and Impact Stories” tab in the lefthand menu.
2. Select donation amounts closely associated with your nonprofit stories or that otherwise make sense for your organization. The default donation amounts are $25, $50, $100, and $250, but if you wish to customize the donation amounts, you must have at least one amount and can select up to seven of them, not including the donor’s choice. You must also fill in impact stories for each amount for any custom amounts to appear (see below).
3. If you want your page to feature only donation amounts (without impact stories), you must be in "amounts only mode." Alternatively, if you wish to include impact stories for each donation amount (highly recommended!), you must be in "amounts and stories mode." To switch between modes, look for the "Switch to Amounts Only Mode"/"Switch to Amounts and Stories Mode" button at the bottom of the introductory paragraphs.
4. If including impact stories, write one for each amount, describing the impact a donation of that size would make on your organization. In order for your customized donation amounts to appear, you must fill in impact stories for each amount. The recommended length is a concise 75 characters for each impact story, and you should use active, powerful verbs, and practical and verifiable examples of where the donated money goes. For example, if your organization works to serve the hungry, a $25 donation amount to your organization "Feeds four children for a week." For an organization that protects wildlife, the story might be that a $75 donation "Preserves 15 acres of forest land." Click the helpful "See Examples" and "Tips" buttons at the bottom of the introductory paragraphs.
5. In the "Display Amounts By" section, select whether you'd like your donation amounts and impact stories to be arranged on your page from "highest to lowest" or "lowest to highest."
6. Hit "Save" when you're done.

A note about payment forms

Give Lively has two generations of payment forms in use. Your choice of features will dictate which form appears. At present, impact stories, default donation frequency, text codes, creating custom donation amounts, creating custom suggested donation amounts, suggesting donation amounts (from the default amounts of $25, $50, $100, $250) and sorting suggested donation amounts (high to low) are supported by both generations of payment forms. Activation of these features alongside the others on the second-generation list may trigger the second-generation payment form. Any combination of features beyond those detailed on the list will continue to see use of the first-generation form.

IMPORTANT: Both generations of payment forms guide donors through very similar giving experiences and there is no reason a nonprofit should favor one payment form over the other. Over the next few months, the new payment form will become the standard for all Give Lively donation pages. Learn more here.

Add Additional Questions (in beta)

At the moment, only three additional questions can be added to Give Lively donation forms: a request for a donor's phone number, a request for a donor's mailing address and one custom question. Before turning this feature on, we ask that you keep donor conversion rates in mind. Custom questions have a limit of 100 characters.

To collect additional information from donors:

1. Click on the “Additional Questions” tab in the lefthand menu.
2. Toggle the "Hide/Show" switch next to the question to request that information after payment is made.
3. Check the "Required Before Payment" box to make it obligatory before payment. To reduce friction during the donation process, we recommend only requiring questions essential to your campaign.
4. Click the "Save" button.

A note about payment forms

Give Lively has two generations of payment forms in use. Your choice of features will dictate which form appears. At present, adding Additional Questions is supported only by our first-generation payment form. Activation of this feature will therefore necessarily require use of our first-generation payment form. Any combination of features that includes those detailed on this list will continue to see use of the first-generation form.

IMPORTANT: Both generations of payment forms guide donors through very similar giving experiences and there is no reason a nonprofit should favor one payment form over the other. Over the next few months, the new payment form will become the standard for all Give Lively donation pages. Learn more here.

Write a "Thank You" message to donors

When a donor gives to your organization, a receipt is immediately sent that:

• summarizes the donation for tax purposes
• provides a link to a User Portal through which donors can directly and securely view their donation history and receipts, and manage recurring donations, and
• allows for a customized 'Thank You’ message that shows gratitude, reinforces your mission or touches on the impact the donation will make.

Note that thank-you messages/receipts are automatically sent to every donor. Nonprofits cannot opt out of this feature. At present, thank-you messages/receipts can only be reissued by Give Lively’s customer support team.

Example of a thank-you message

To craft this customized message

1. Click on the “Thank You Message” tab on the lefthand menu.
2. Fill in the provided fields -- "Subject Line" and "Body Paragraph" -- with your written thank you. You can use merge tags in the subject line or body paragraph of your thank you messages. They will be replaced by the corresponding donor information in the email receipt.
3. Add a reply-to email address that will appear on all donation receipts.
4. Hit "Save" when you're done.
5. To send a test email, click the "Send Test Email" button beneath the "Body Paragraph" field. A test email will only be sent to the address of the person logged in to the Nonprofit Admin Portal. In the email, merge tags (rather than actual data) will show in the Donation Summary section, but the nonprofit’s name and tailored body text will appear.