> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rescueconsole.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Running Fundraising Campaigns and Tracking Progress

> Create campaigns with goals, track progress in real time, manage donors as a first-class list, and publish your campaign to your public donation page.

A campaign in RescueConsole is more than a label you stick on a donation. It has a goal, a progress bar, a live donor list, and a wish list for the in-kind items you need. Every donation you log against a campaign moves its numbers forward in real time, and when you're ready, the campaign appears on your public donation page without any extra publishing step.

## Creating a campaign

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Fundraising and create a new campaign">
    Go to **Fundraising → Campaigns** and select **New campaign**. Give it a name that will make sense to donors and to your team — this is the name that will appear on your public site.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set a goal">
    Enter a fundraising goal. The campaign page and your public donation page display progress against this number as gifts come in.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a description">
    Write a short description explaining what the campaign is for. This appears on your public website so donors understand exactly what their gift supports.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Build a wish list (optional)">
    If you need in-kind donations alongside money, add items to the campaign's wish list. Supporters who prefer to give goods can see what you need and mark items as claimed or fulfilled.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish">
    Toggle the campaign to published when you're ready. It appears on your public donation page immediately.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Published campaigns appear on your public website donation page automatically — there is no separate publishing step. The moment you mark a campaign as published in RescueConsole, it is live on your site with its goal, description, and progress bar.
</Note>

## Tracking progress

The campaign record shows you at a glance how the drive is going:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Progress toward goal" icon="chart-line">
    Total raised displayed against your goal, updated the moment each donation is saved.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Donor list" icon="users">
    Every donor who has given to this campaign, as a proper list you can filter, export, and act on — not just a count.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Gift breakdown" icon="list-check">
    Each individual donation linked to the campaign, with amount, date, and the donor's record.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Wish list status" icon="gift">
    In-kind items needed, with the ability to record what has been fulfilled and what is still outstanding.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Donors as a first-class list

Most platforms give you a count. RescueConsole gives you a list. Every donor who has given to a campaign is a row you can work with: filter by gift size or date, view their full giving history on their person record, or send them a message from Communications — all without leaving the campaign or exporting to a spreadsheet.

This matters when you're running a matching gift drive, thanking your top donors, or following up with people who gave last year but not yet this year.

## Associating donations with a campaign

Any donation can be linked to a campaign at the time it's recorded, or by editing the donation afterwards. Once linked:

* The donation is counted toward the campaign's progress total
* The donor appears in the campaign's donor list
* The gift shows up in the campaign's donation breakdown

You can associate one-off gifts, recurring gifts, and post-adoption gifts with a campaign, so a matching-gift drive counts every kind of contribution correctly.

## Wish lists for in-kind donations

<CardGroup cols={1}>
  <Card title="What a wish list is for" icon="hand-holding-heart">
    Some supporters would rather drop off a bag of dog food than write a cheque. A wish list lets you tell them exactly what you need — flea treatment, crates, cleaning supplies, blankets — and record what has been fulfilled against the donor's record so their in-kind giving appears alongside their cash gifts.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

Add items to the wish list from the campaign record. When a supporter brings something in, mark it fulfilled and link it to their person record if you want a full picture of their support.

## Viewing campaign performance

From **Fundraising → Campaigns**, every campaign shows its name, status, goal, and amount raised in the list view. Open a campaign to see the full breakdown: total raised, number of donors, individual gifts, and wish list fulfillment.

Use this view before and after a drive to understand what worked — which campaigns attracted the most donors, which had the largest average gift, and which are still short of their goals.

## Custom fields on campaigns

You can add custom fields to campaign records through **Settings → Custom fields**. Use these to track anything specific to your organization — a campaign code for your accountant, a grant reference number, or an internal category.