Wondering if REACH is right for your organization? You’re in the right place.

While REACH is well known for managing sponsorship programs, many nonprofits use it solely for donor management, donation tracking, and fundraising—no sponsorships required.

This guide will walk you through a few key steps to help you explore how REACH can support your mission.

We’ll cover how to:

1. Add & review a supporter record
2. Add a project
3. Create a campaign
4. Set up donation categories
5. Record a donation as an admin
6. Make a donation as a supporter

REACH Tip: To find help articles related to the REACH features covered in this guide, look for blue help boxes or click the question mark icons next to feature titles throughout the Admin Console.

Add & Review a Supporter Record#

Supporters can be added in three ways:

• Manually by an admin
• Automatically when someone makes a donation through REACH
• By importing a supporter list

In this guide, we’ll manually add a supporter.

Steps:

1. From the sidebar, go to Supporters > + New Supporter
2. Enter a first and last name and primary email address
   • If an email isn’t available, REACH will create a placeholder (e.g., user_4ec2b3c1652@reachapp.co).
3. Click Create
4. You’ll now see the full supporter record. Click the Actions button to view available supporter-related actions.
5. Navigate to the Contact Methods tab to add a phone number and address
   • Note: To test a credit card donation for this supporter, an address is required.

To add more fields for supporter-related information, either for internal reference or supporter preferences, you can add any number of custom fields. Once you create a Supporter custom field, edit the supporter record to enter custom field information as needed.

REACH Tip: You can drag and drop boxes on the supporter Details screen to prioritize the information most important to you.

Add a Project#

Projects represent the ongoing initiatives your organization runs or supports. They’re also a great way to engage supporters by sharing updates or setting a fundraising goal.

REACH Tip: Even if you don’t use a traditional one-to-one sponsorship model, projects can be set up for recurring donor support. See our Scholarship example.

Steps:

1. From the sidebar, go to Projects > + New Project
2. Add the project’s title, profile image, cover image (optional), and description
3. Click Create Project
4. View the project record to track donations and key updates

Click the Actions button to view project-related options.

To view your project publicly: Click the box-and-arrow icon in the top right of your admin console > select Projects.

Need inspiration? Explore more project examples on our demo site.

Add a Campaign#

Campaigns help raise funds for specific needs or time-bound goals, and can be set up for peer-to-peer fundraising by your supporters.

Steps:

1. Go to Campaigns > + New Campaign
2. Enter the campaign title, goal amount, images, and description
3. Click Create Campaign
4. View your campaign record to see donation progress and engagement

Click the Actions button to view campaign-related options.

To view the campaign publicly: Click the box-and-arrow icon > select Campaigns.

Check out our demo site for more campaign ideas.

Add a Donation Category#

Donation categories are all your gift designations (or Purposes), including those defined by the Projects, Places and Campaigns you create. 

REACH Tip: You can create your own custom categories here. Common categories include “General Support” and event-related donations.

Steps:

1. In the top right corner, click the Settings icon > then Donation Categories
2. Under Add Category, enter a category Title, such as Where Needed Most
3. Click Add Donation Category
4. Above your categories, select your Donation Purpose Options to be included on your Donation form—Donation Categories, Projects, and Campaigns (these items can be deselected and/or re-ordered later)

To preview how donation categories appear on a donation page, click the box-and-arrow icon > select Donation Page. Your categories will appear in the Purpose dropdown.

Enter a Donation as an Admin#

REACH tip: To test credit card donations, you can use test card numbers available under Settings > Donation Setup > Payment Gateway

Admins can enter both online (i.e. credit card) and offline donations on behalf of supporters.

Requirements:

• A supporter record must exist, or be created when entering the donation
• Online donations require an address and payment method
• Offline donations (i.e. cash/check) can be logged and incur no fees

From the left sidebar click Donations to access the Donations page:

1. Click + New Donation
2. Add a donation date
3. Enter the amount and select the purpose
   • Split donations are supported—click Add Purpose for additional line items
4. Choose your *base currency and payment type
   • To test credit card donations, you can use a test card under Settings > Donation Setup > Payment Gateway; or choose Cash or Check payment type 
   • *REACH offers multi-currency for clients that have supporters that give in various currencies. 
5. Review and click Create
6. If you selected the Online payment type, you will be prompted to select an existing payment method or add one
   • Scroll to Payment Details, click Add New Card, and enter the test card number
   • Submit Payment

To view the recorded donation:

• Go to Donations to view all gifts, OR
• Go to Supporters and click the supporter name to see their Donation History
• Next to the donation click Actions to view the Donation Details

Make a Donation as a Supporter#

We recommend making a test donation as a supporter to see the supporter experience.

REACH tip: To test credit card donations, you can use test card numbers available under Settings > Donation Setup > Payment Gateway

Steps:

1. Click the box-and-arrow icon > Select Donation Page
2. Fill out the donation form fields
3. Use a test card number listed under Settings > Donation Setup > Payment Gateway in the admin console

To view the donation in the Admin Console:

• Go to Donations to view all gifts
• Go to Supporters and click the supporter name to see their supporter record and Donation History
  • Next to the donation click Actions to view the Donation Details

REACH Tip: REACH allows you to create multiple donation forms with custom layouts and fields.

A few donation-related notes:

• REACH provides a Donor Portal so supporters can view their profile and donation information. 
• REACH automatically links donations to an existing supporter if name and address and/or email match, even if not logged in
• You can customize your “Help Cover Transaction Fees” amount, your required fields, thank-you message, and more via Settings > Donation Setup > Donation Form Settings
• Supporters can choose to donate monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, or annually

Next Steps#

• If you’ve been using test records, you can delete or disable them via the Actions button
• Testing a lot? Ask us about our Clear Content option to reset everything
• Still have questions? Contact us
• Haven’t scheduled a demo yet? Now’s a great time, schedule one now.
• Explore our Demo Site to see a fully set-up REACH portal in action
• Ready to dive deeper? Start with our Setup Checklist