Engage setup ⚙️
First, open your dashboard and head to Engage in the sidebar.
Engage is automatically activated for verified nonprofit accounts. Accounts that are not verified will need to first Request Access on the Engage tab.
If your Engage page includes the Getting Started heading, you'll need to connect your email domain, add email senders, and get your custom branding set up before you can send an email.
Are you a verified nonprofit? You can also create outbound SMS messages – see our dedicated guide!
New message or template ➕
When Engage is set up and ready to use, click Engage from the left-hand sidebar, then select Email.
Click + New Email from the top right. You can choose to Start from scratch or use built-in templates. Available email templates include:
Upcoming Fundraiser
Inactive Donor
Thank you
#GivingTuesday
EOY Update
New Supporter
Advanced email editor ➕
➕ This feature is only available to Givebutter Plus users.
Givebutter Plus is a paid subscription service that gives you access to buttery advanced features to help you raise more. Read more about Givebutter Plus →
Craft compelling, mobile-optimized emails to inspire action with our advanced email builder. An extensive library of templates makes it easy to create fully customized, dynamic emails that boost audience engagement and increase donor conversion.
The advanced editor is also available in Workflows! Automatically send an email using these templates based on specific criteria and triggers.
Click New email to access advanced, mobile-optimized templates created with a drag-and-drop editor. You can search templates or filter them by category, such as "Thank you" or "Giving Tuesday" templates.
To use our advanced email editor without a template, click Start from scratch in the bottom left corner of this window.
To view our standard selection of simple templates, click on Classic in the Templates menu.
After choosing recipients, the drag-and-drop editor will open. This intuitive interface allows you to modify images, text, and overall layout to match your organization's branding and messaging. The editor consists of three main sections:
Content: Add and edit text, images, and other content blocks.
Rows: Structure your email by arranging content blocks into rows. Customize the layout to create visually appealing designs.
Settings: Apply global styling options such as content width, alignment, fonts, and background colors.
Click on any existing template element to customize it using the editor, or drag and drop new content blocks into your email. When you're ready to configure your email, click Save in the upper right corner to proceed.
Filter your contacts 📙
The first screen you'll see is the list of contacts you want the message to be sent to – your mailing list! By default, all your contacts will be included. To narrow this down, create a new Filter to include a targeted group of contacts.
If you don't have contacts in your account yet, you'll need to import your contacts before you start.
You can create filters to create targeted groups based on a variety of different criteria, such as:
Presets: A selection of preset options, including one-time donors
Campaigns: Donors who have given to a specific campaign
Contact: Donors who have given a certain amount, recurring donors, contacts since a certain date, by bidder status, or tags
Team Member: Team Members on campaigns based on how much they've raised, the date they registered, or the number of supporters
Transactions: Donors who have a Transaction meeting the criteria set, ie. credited to a specific Team Member, over a certain amount, or by date
Tickets: Ticket holders of a specific ticket type, status (ie. checked in), or by number of tickets purchased
Recurring Plan: Donors with recurring plans by start date, amount, frequency (ie. monthly donors), or payment method
DonorSearch: Criteria set by DonorSearch such as rating or annual gift likelihood
Custom Fields: Filtering options will vary based on the type of contact custom field.
Text fields: Includes or excludes
Number fields: Greater than, less than, or equal to
Date fields: Includes or excludes date selection
Toggle fields: yes or no
Option fields: All, Any, or None of available options
These are cumulative filters, so you can select multiple criteria. Contact tags are a great way to designate a specific group of donors.
You can also filter contacts by clicking the dropdown arrow to the right side of the filter button. This will give you the options of segments (saved filter groups) and presets.
Subscription status ❌
If a contact has a red bell icon next to it, this contact is unsubscribed. Unsubscribed contacts will not be sent a message, even if they are displayed in your filtered list of contacts.
If there are just a few unsubscribed contacts, you need not take any action and can proceed to the next step. If all of your contacts are unsubscribed, you'll need to bulk subscribe them. This is often the result of a data import issue.
Compose your message ✏️
After finishing up your contact list, click Next, and you'll be taken to the message composer, which is formatted like an email composer. In the top section, you'll see:
the number of contacts it'll be sent to and any excluded contacts
a field to choose an email sender
the subject of the message
any file attachments you'd like to add
First, name your email. This will help keep you organized later on! Click the pencil icon next to the title, which will be a draft number by default. (You can also do this after a message is sent.)
Choose your email sender. This will be the email address that displays as the "from" email when it's sent out. This is part of the setup process. If you missed this step, follow our directions to add email senders.
Add a subject for your message. This is limited to 255 characters.
You can then add attachments to your message.
Up to 5MB of attachments are supported
Up to 10 separate attachments
Images, PDFs, and MS Office files are supported
Head to the next section, where you'll see your brand color and logo pre-populated in the composer. If they need to be adjusted, you can edit your outbound branding settings.
Click "Message..." to begin typing your message. If you have chosen a template, your message will be auto-populated. Areas for customization are indicated by [text in brackets].
Concerned about typos? Our built-in spellcheck tool prevents errors across all text editor locations in Givebutter.
Read on to learn more about the icons included in the message composer, or skip ahead to send a test email and see how it looks! 👀
Composer options ✉️
Add text and images, embed video content, include links to other websites, and more!
Undo and Redo
Paragraph – options for body text and headings
Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough
Text Color – choose colors for your text from a preset, or enter a custom color
Link – enter a URL to link to, the text to display, and a title (displayed on hover)
Merge tags – add customized information about your donors, including:
Contact Details (email address, mailing address, etc.)
Custom Fields (additional contact information added by you)
Donations (last donation date, largest donation amount, etc.)
Primary Details (first name, full name, company, etc.)
Social Accounts (website and social media URLs for your organization)
Year-End Summaries (link to last year or current year EOY summary for this specific contact)
Merge tags also support fallback values (defaults) that populate if merge tag data doesn't exist. To set fallback values, go to Engage > Settings > Merge Fields, and click Add new default.
Canva – use our native integration with Canva to add custom graphics
What is Canva? Canva is a free graphic design app that you can use to create images or slides for outbound messaging, campaign Story sections, or Team Member profiles. After clicking the Canva icon, you'll be asked to log in or create a free account. You can then create graphics to Publish and add to your message!
Image – insert an image via URL (Source) or Upload
Maximum image width is 600 pixels and size is 5MB
To make an image into a clickable hyperlink, insert your image, click on the image so it's selected, and then click the Link icon in the menu bar to enter the link you'd like it to point to.
Media – insert video content via URL or embed code
If you have your own video file (ie. MP4, MOV), you'll need to upload it to a video platform like YouTube before you're able to link it in your Givebutter email.
Emojis
List options – numbered lists and bullet points
Add a clickable button 📢
You can also add a clickable call-to-action button to your Engage email! This is a great way to add a Donate button that links to your campaign page, insert a Learn More button that links to your organization's website or prompt your supporters to take a specific action at the end of your email.
Please note that this applies to text-based buttons. (For image-based buttons that link out to an external URL, follow the instructions above under Image.)
In the location of the button, click the Link icon.
In the popup window, fill out the fields:
URL – The link that the button will direct to.
Text to display – Text to appear on the button. (ie. Donate, Click Here)
Title – Text that will appear when the button is hovered on.
Open link in – Choose from Current window or New window.
Click Save when you're done. A text-based link will appear in your Engage email.
Click on the link to select it, then under the Paragraph dropdown menu, select Call-to-Action. This will convert the link to a button.
To change colors, ensure that the button is first selected.
Text color – Click the text color option and select from the preset options, or enter a custom color from the palette or via hex code.
Button color – Click the highlight color option and select from the preset options, or enter a custom color from the palette or via hex code.
Your styled button can be relocated via cut and paste like regular text.
Complete list of Engage merge fields
Complete list of Engage merge fields
Contact Details
Email Address
Phone Number
Full Address
Address Line 1
Address Line 2
City
State
ZIP Code
Country
Donations
Last Donation Amount (refers to donations only, not tickets or auction items)
Last Donation Date
Largest Donation Amount
Largest Donation Date
Total Donations This Year
Total Donations Last Year
Primary Details
Prefix
First Name
Middle Name
Last Name
Suffix
Full Name
Gender
Company
Title
Birthday
Social Accounts
Your organization's Website URL
Your organization's Facebook URL
Your organization's Linkedin URL
Your organization's X (formerly Twitter) URL
Year-End Summaries
Last Year Year-End Summary Link – specific for this contact
This Year Year-End Summary Link – specific for this contact
Send a test email 🔍
Once you're happy with your message, you can send a test by clicking "Send a test" in the upper right corner of the composer. You can send a test email to multiple people if you like.
Schedule and preview 👀
Next, you'll need to decide when you want your Engage message to go out!
Send now
Schedule for later (set a date and time)
The time zone shown for scheduled messages is based on the time zone selected in your Account settings. To change it, head to Account > About > Organization Profile > General Details.
Below the Schedule section, you'll see a preview of your message.
Click the Send Email or Schedule Email button in the bottom right when you're done.
Your message will now appear under the Sent or Outbox tabs in Engage.
Once it's sent, a look at your outbound message statistics to see how many people have opened your message!
FAQ 🤔
My Engage message is sending slowly, or has only been delivered to some of the contacts I selected.
Engage emails will start sending immediately at the scheduled time, but depending on the size of the list, it can take some time for your email to reach everyone. This can also take a little longer if you have large attachments or images added to the email.
My scheduled email seems to be stuck in my outbox.
Most messages that appear to be stuck in the outbox will still be in the process of sending – scheduled messages remain in the outbox until all emails (for the entire recipient list) have been sent. This can take some time if there are any bounced emails, as we retry these up to 3 times.
Can I unschedule an Engage message?
Yes! If you have scheduled an Engage message (email or SMS), you'll see a tab in Engage called Outbox. Click on your Outbox, click the three dots [...] to the right side of the relevant message, and choose Unschedule from this list of options. The message will not be deleted – it will be moved back to your Drafts folder.
