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 solutions 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, primary image, brand color, thank-you message, donation amounts and impact stories.

Finally, your Core Profile is tied 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. If you already have a prepared text, copy-paste it into a text (.txt) file to strip it of unseen code and then recopy-paste it into the text-editing window, where you can reformat it.
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, dedicated donations and Custom Questions (except Custom Questions on a Peer-to-Peer Fundraising page that is associated with a Team Fundraising page).
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 “Logos and Images” tab.
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. You can view the page by clicking "Visit Page" to the right of your nonprofit's name at the top of the page.

Upload a high-quality primary image

Your primary 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. If you choose not to upload anything, a default image is added (and will be inherited by all of your Campaign Pages.) If a brand color has been identified, the default image adapts to that brand color.

1. Still on the "Logos and Images" 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, X 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 and Images" 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 on your fundraising page(s). Note that, to ensure the strong color contrasts conformant with accessibility standards, your brand color is used only on some buttons, default images, icons and other small color highlights.

1. Still on the "Logos and Images" page, under "Brand 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.
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; if you wish to customize them, you must have at least one amount and can select up to seven of them, not including the donor’s choice. You may choose whether to include impact stories for any donation amount.
3. If you choose to include any impact stories, describe the impact a donation of a selected size would make on your organization. Remember, you only need to add an impact story for the donation amounts you select, though we urge you include one for each donation 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 serves the hungry, a $25 donation to your organization "Feeds four children for a week." For an organization that protects wildlife, one story might be that a $75 donation "Preserves 15 acres of forest land." Click the helpful "See Examples" and "Suggestions" buttons at the bottom of the introductory paragraphs.
4. 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."
5. Hit "Save" when you're done.

A note about payment forms

We have officially transitioned only to our new payment form on Core Profiles, Campaign Pages and Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Pages. Our Event Ticketing and Team Fundraising pages still use our first-generation payment form for now.

With this shift, donors see several new features, including the ability to make optional tips to Give Lively to further extend the reach and capacity of our free products and services for nonprofits.

Add Custom Questions (in beta)

By default, Give Lively-powered payment forms gather just enough essential information from donors for the quick, legal and secure processing of payments. However, Give Lively does make it possible for nonprofits to add custom questions during the checkout process. These help nonprofits to collect additional information that nonprofits either require or desire in order to manage a campaign and maintain strong relationships with donors.

Your decision to add custom questions should always be reviewed as a balance between the value of additional information and the risk of lower conversion rates. Generally speaking, the more information you request on a payment form, the greater the likelihood that a donor will not follow through on giving.

Learn how to ask custom questions on donation payment forms.

A note about payment forms

We have officially transitioned only to our new payment form on Core Profiles, Campaign Pages and Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Pages. Our Event Ticketing and Team Fundraising pages still use our first-generation payment form for now.

With this shift, donors see several new features, including the ability to make optional tips to Give Lively to further extend the reach and capacity of our free products and services for nonprofits.

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.
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.