Campaigns: Drive Church Fundraising Goals with Pledges and Progress

Every church faces moments when a specific vision calls for focused generosity. Whether it’s a building expansion, a mission trip, a community outreach initiative, or a capital campaign to fund a new ministry space, these efforts thrive when donors can see the goal, track progress, and make a commitment—a pledge—to give over time. Campaigns in OnlineGiving.org are designed to turn that vision into a clear, measurable, and inspiring experience for both your staff and your congregation.

Why Campaigns Matter for Church Fundraising

A pledge is a commitment a donor makes to give a certain amount over a defined period. A campaign wraps that concept in a structured fundraising initiative: a goal amount, a date range, assigned funds, and a donor-facing page where people can pledge, give today, or both. Instead of scattering one-time gifts across multiple funds with no shared narrative, campaigns give your church a single story to tell: “We’re raising $500,000 for our new community center. Here’s how much we’ve raised. Here’s how you can participate.”

That clarity drives engagement. Donors who see a progress bar moving toward a goal are more likely to give. Donors who can make a pledge and optionally give a first gift today feel they’ve taken a meaningful step. And your staff gains a dashboard where total pledged, total received, completion rates, and fund breakdowns are all in one place. Campaigns turn a collection of donations into a coordinated fundraising effort.

From Vision to Action: Campaign Pages and Donor Experience

When you create a campaign, you define its title, description, image, goal amount, start and end dates, and which funds receive the donations. You also configure whether donors see a public progress bar (showing either total raised or total pledged), and you set up email templates for pledge confirmations and reminders. The result is a dedicated campaign page on your giving website where donors can choose to make a pledge for the future, pledge and give today, or simply donate without pledging.

That flexibility matters. Some donors prefer to commit now and give over time. Others want to give immediately. Campaigns support both paths. And if you use Planning Center, Ministry Platform, or Rock RMS, you can sync pledges with your ChMS so your church database stays up to date with commitments made through OnlineGiving.org.

In this article, we’ll overview the OnlineGiving.org Campaigns feature.

Campaigns User Guide

The Campaigns feature in the OnlineGiving.org control panel lets you create and manage pledge campaigns for church fundraising. Each campaign has a goal amount, date range, assigned funds, and a donor-facing page where people can pledge, give today, or both. Campaigns are organized into Current, Upcoming, and Concluded sections, and each campaign has an overview and details view for tracking progress, pledges, and donations.

Access requires the Donor Admin role. From the left navigation, go to Campaigns under the Giving section. The admin URL is /admin/campaigns (or /admin/pledgecampaigns in some configurations).

Key Takeaways

• Create campaigns with goals and dates: Set a title, description, image, goal amount, start and end dates, and assign one or more funds to receive donations.
• Track progress and pledges: View total pledged, total received, completion rate, and fund breakdown in the campaign overview and details pages.
• Control the public progress bar: Choose whether donors see the goal and progress, and whether the bar shows total raised or total pledged.
• Share campaign pages with donors: Each campaign has a public URL (e.g., /donate/campaign/123) where donors can pledge, pledge and give today, or donate without pledging.
• Sync with ChMS: When Planning Center, Ministry Platform, or Rock RMS is enabled, you can sync pledges with your church management system.
• Control campaign visibility: Set a campaign to Inactive to immediately remove it from your giving page navigation without affecting reporting data or campaign totals.

Table of Contents

1. Viewing Campaigns
   • Current, Upcoming, and Concluded Campaigns
   • Campaign Overview
   • Campaign Details
2. Creating a Campaign
   • Campaign Information
   • Goal Amount and Fund Assignment
   • Start and End Dates
   • Progress Bar Settings
   • Email Templates
3. Editing a Campaign
   • Campaign Status (Active / Inactive)
4. Campaign Pages and Donor Experience
   • Pledge, Pledge & Give Today, Donate Today
   • Campaign Widgets and Embedding
5. Viewing Campaign Donations
6. ChMS Integration
7. Deleting a Campaign
8. Frequently Asked Questions

Viewing Campaigns

The Campaigns page displays three sections: Current Campaigns, Upcoming Campaigns, and Concluded Campaigns. Current campaigns are active (start date has passed, end date has not or there is no end date). Upcoming campaigns have not yet started. Concluded campaigns have ended.

Current, Upcoming, and Concluded Campaigns

Each campaign card shows the campaign title, donation period (start and end dates), assigned funds as labels, total pledged, total received, goal amount, and a progress bar. Campaigns that have met their goal display a “Goal Met” badge. Click any campaign card to open the campaign overview.

Campaign Overview

The campaign overview provides a summary of key metrics: Total Pledged, Total Received, Completion Rate (percentage of pledges fulfilled), and Campaign Goal Progress. You can see the donation period, how many donations came from pledges vs. non-pledged donors, and a timeline showing how much time remains (or if the campaign has concluded). Progress bars and charts visualize pledge status, fund breakdown, and donations by source.

Campaign Details

The campaign details view shows a deeper dive into the same metrics, including pledge status breakdown by status (e.g., On Track, Completed, At Risk), fund breakdown with amounts, transaction counts, and averages. Use this view when you need to analyze pledge fulfillment or prepare reports for leadership.

Creating a Campaign

Click Create New Campaign from the Campaigns page to start the campaign creation wizard. The form includes several sections: Campaign Information, Goal and Funds, Dates, Progress Bar, Email Templates, and optional ChMS sync.

How to Create a Campaign

1. Log in to the control panel.
2. Click Campaigns from the left navigation under Giving.
3. Click the Create New Campaign button.
4. Complete the form fields (see sections below).
5. Click Save to create the campaign.

Campaign Information

Title: A clear, descriptive name for the campaign (e.g., “Building Our Future” or “Mission Trip 2025”). This appears on the donor-facing campaign page and in the control panel.

Short Description: A brief summary (up to 500 characters) shown on the campaign page and in previews. Use this to capture the campaign’s purpose and call to action.

Campaign Image: An image that represents the campaign. You can upload a custom image or use the default placeholder. The image appears prominently on the donor-facing campaign page.

Description: A full HTML description (up to 50,000 characters) for the campaign page. Use the rich text editor to add formatting, images, and links. This content tells the full story of your campaign.

Optional fields include Campaign Purpose, Key Outcomes, and Community Benefit. These help AI-assisted tools generate better short descriptions and can be used in templates.

Goal Amount and Fund Assignment

Goal Amount: The fundraising target in dollars (e.g., 500000). This is used for the progress bar and for tracking completion.

Page Funds: Select one or more funds (or sub-funds) to receive donations made to this campaign. Donations are attributed to the selected funds based on the donor’s choice at checkout. Only funds assigned to the campaign will receive campaign donations.

If you sync with Planning Center or Ministry Platform, you may be prompted to select an external campaign. The system can pre-fill goal, dates, and fund assignment from the external campaign when available.

Start and End Dates

Start Date: Required. The date when the campaign begins. Donors can typically make pledges and donations from this date forward.

End Date: Optional. If set, the campaign concludes on this date. After the end date, the campaign may show a thank-you message instead of donation options. If left blank, the campaign is ongoing.

Campaigns are automatically categorized as Current, Upcoming, or Concluded based on these dates.

Progress Bar Settings

Show Public Progress Bar: Choose whether donors see the goal and progress on the campaign page. Options:

• Show Campaign Goal & Progress to Donors: The progress bar is visible on the donor-facing page.
• Hide Campaign Goal & Progress from Donors: The progress bar is hidden from donors.

Progress Bar Display Mode: When the progress bar is shown, choose what it displays:

• Show Total Amount Raised: The bar reflects actual donations received.
• Show Total Amount Pledged: The bar reflects total pledges (commitments), which may be higher than received amounts during an active campaign.

Use “pledged” for capital campaigns where you want to emphasize commitment; use “raised” for campaigns where cash-in-hand matters more.

Email Templates

Initial Pledge Email: Sent when a donor makes a pledge. Configure the subject and body. You can use tokens such as {campaign_title}, {goal_amount}, {start_date}, and {end_date}.

Reminder Email: Sent as a reminder to fulfill pledges. Configure the subject and body with the same tokens.

Optional: Custom Pledge Label: You can replace the word “Pledge” with “Commitment,” “Promise,” or another term of your choice across the donor-facing campaign page and forms.

Editing a Campaign

How to Edit a Campaign

1. Log in to the control panel.
2. Click Campaigns from the left navigation.
3. Click the campaign you want to edit (from Current, Upcoming, or Concluded).
4. Click Edit or navigate to the edit view.
5. Update the form fields as needed.
6. Click Save to commit your changes.

All fields from the create form are editable. Changing fund assignment, dates, or goal amount updates how campaign donations are tracked and displayed. Existing pledges and donations are preserved.

Campaign Status (Active / Inactive)

When editing an existing campaign, a Campaign Status dropdown appears with two options:

• Active: The campaign operates normally. It appears in your giving page navigation (subject to the campaign’s start and end dates) and is accessible to donors.
• Inactive: The campaign is immediately removed from your giving page navigation. This is the recommended way to hide a concluded or paused campaign from your giving website without changing the campaign’s end date or deleting it.

Setting a campaign to Inactive does not affect campaign totals, pledge tracking, or reporting. All existing pledges and donation data remain intact. The campaign overview and details pages are still accessible to administrators in the control panel, and donors who have a direct link to the campaign page can still visit it.

This setting is only available when editing an existing campaign (not during creation). New campaigns default to Active.

Campaign Pages and Donor Experience

Each campaign has a public URL on your giving website:

• /donate/campaign/[campaign_id] — Main campaign page
• /donate/pledgecampaign/[campaign_id] — Alternative URL (often used after a pledge is made)

Share these links in emails, newsletters, social media, or announcements. Donors can access the campaign page without logging in (unless your giving settings require it).

Pledge, Pledge & Give Today, Donate Today

On the campaign page, donors see three options:

• Pledge for Future: Make a commitment to give over time. The donor enters an amount and can optionally give a first gift today.
• Pledge & Give Today: Make a pledge and give an immediate gift toward that pledge in the same flow.
• Donate Today: Give a one-time donation without making a pledge.

All donations go to the funds assigned to the campaign. Pledges are tracked separately and can be viewed in the Pledges section of the control panel.

Campaign Widgets and Embedding

You can embed campaign pages or giving widgets on your church website. Giving Widgets can be configured to point to a specific campaign or giving page. When a campaign is linked to a widget, donors visiting the embedded form can give to that campaign directly.

Campaigns are also listed in the donation flow when donors navigate from your giving website. Active campaigns appear in the campaign navigation so donors can discover and support them. If you want to remove a campaign from the navigation without waiting for it to expire or changing its end date, set the campaign status to Inactive (see Campaign Status above).

Viewing Campaign Donations

Campaign donations are tracked in the campaign overview and details views. The Fund Breakdown table shows each assigned fund, the amount received, transaction count, percentage of campaign total, and average donation. Transaction-level detail is available in the Donations (Transactions) page; filter by fund or date range to see campaign-related donations.

The overview also shows:

• Total Pledged: Sum of all pledge amounts.
• Total Received: Sum of all approved donations to campaign funds within the campaign date range.
• Completion Rate: Percentage of pledges that have been fully fulfilled (received amount equals or exceeds pledged amount).
• Pledge Status Breakdown: Counts and amounts by status (e.g., On Track, Completed, At Risk).

ChMS Integration

When Planning Center, Ministry Platform, or Rock RMS is enabled for your church, you can sync pledges with your ChMS:

• Planning Center: Select a Planning Center campaign to sync. Pledges made in OnlineGiving.org are pushed to Planning Center.
• Ministry Platform: Select a Ministry Platform campaign. Pledges sync in both directions.
• Rock RMS: Enable “Sync Pledges Matching Funds” to sync pledges based on fund-to-Rock-account mapping.

After saving a campaign with ChMS sync enabled, a background task runs to sync existing pledges. New pledges are automatically pushed when donors make a commitment.

ChMS sync requires that your funds are configured with the correct external IDs (e.g., Planning Center fund ID, Ministry Platform account, Rock RMS account). Contact support@onlinegiving.org or (615) 206-4000 if you need help with ChMS setup.

Deleting a Campaign

How to Delete a Campaign

1. Log in to the control panel.
2. Click Campaigns from the left navigation.
3. Locate the campaign you want to delete.
4. Click the delete action (or use the actions menu).
5. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

Deleting a campaign removes the campaign record and its association with funds. Pledges and transactions linked to the campaign may be affected depending on your configuration. Consider concluding a campaign (setting an end date) instead of deleting it if you want to preserve historical data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I have multiple campaigns active at the same time?

Yes. You can run multiple current campaigns simultaneously. Each campaign has its own goal, funds, dates, and donor page. Donors can choose which campaign to support.

What happens when a campaign reaches its goal?

The campaign overview shows a “Goal Met” badge and the progress bar reaches 100%. Donors can still give; the campaign continues to accept donations until the end date (if set). A celebration modal may appear when the goal is first achieved.

Can I change the campaign end date after it has passed?

Yes. You can edit the campaign and extend the end date. The campaign will move from Concluded back to Current if the new end date is in the future. Use this sparingly; it may affect reporting and donor expectations.

How do pledges differ from one-time donations?

A pledge is a commitment to give a specific amount over time. The donor may fulfill it with one or more donations. A one-time donation has no commitment; it is a single gift. Campaigns track both: total pledged (commitments) and total received (actual donations). The progress bar can show either, depending on your settings.

Can I use a campaign without a public progress bar?

Yes. Set “Show Public Progress Bar” to “Hide Campaign Goal & Progress from Donors.” The campaign page will still show the description, image, and donation options, but donors will not see the goal or progress.

What if I need to assign a new fund to an existing campaign?

Edit the campaign and update the Page Funds selection. Add the new fund to the list. Save the campaign. New donations can be directed to the new fund. Existing donations remain attributed to the funds they were given to.

Where can I get help setting up campaigns?

OnlineGiving.org provides courtesy setup assistance. Contact support@onlinegiving.org or call (615) 206-4000 for help with campaign creation, fund assignment, ChMS sync, or any other questions.

How do I remove a campaign from my giving page navigation?

Edit the campaign and set the Campaign Status to Inactive. The campaign link is immediately removed from your giving page navigation. This preserves your campaign’s end date and all reporting data. You do not need to delete the campaign or change its dates.

What happens when I set a campaign to Inactive?

The campaign is removed from your giving page navigation so donors no longer see it in the menu. However, the campaign page itself remains accessible via its direct URL, so any donors who have a bookmarked link or a link from an email can still visit it. All campaign totals, pledges, and donation history remain unchanged. Administrators can still view the campaign overview and details in the control panel. You can set it back to Active at any time to restore it in the navigation.