PURLs: Donation Personalized URLs

PURLs: Donation PURLs

Personalized donation experiences can make a measurable difference in an appeal’s response rate—especially when you’re speaking to warm supporters. Donation PURLs help you deliver that experience at scale by sending each supporter to a donation page that already recognizes them and reflects the ask you want them to see.

This article walks you through how to create and manage Donation PURLs in Funraisin—how to prepare your data, import it, choose the right PURL mode, manage campaigns and individual records, and review performance. Everything is designed to help you build personalized giving journeys without technical setup or custom URLs.

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What are PURLs?

PURLs (Personalized URLs) are unique, supporter-specific links generated through a PURL campaign. Each link contains a secure hash that allows Funraisin to prefill selected supporter data—such as name, email, and donation amounts—directly into a donation or appeal page.

When a supporter clicks their PURL, the platform reads the hash, loads the assigned donation page, and applies the personalized data to the appropriate form fields. This reduces friction, supports personalized ask strategies, and helps track conversions back to individual supporters.

How do PURLs work?

A PURL is generated by combining a supporter’s data with a unique, encrypted hash created during the PURL import process. This hash acts as a secure lookup key that Funraisin uses to retrieve the correct supporter record.

Here’s what happens behind the scenes:

1. You upload supporter data into a PURL campaign (for example: name, email, suggested donation amounts).
2. Funraisin creates a unique hash for each row of data. This hash becomes part of the personalized URL. e.g a580fe022c9388a8c966f162eed31e65
3. When a supporter clicks their PURL, the platform reads the hash and uses it to pull the matching record from the campaign.
4. Funraisin then prefills the donation or appeal page with any personalized fields you included – such as first name, email, or donation amount.
5. If persistent mode is enabled, the hash can be reused until it expires; otherwise, it becomes inactive after a successful donation.

This workflow keeps supporter data secure, reduces the information a donor needs to enter, and helps you track each donation back to the individual PURL that generated it.

How can PURLs be used?

In addition to Donation PURLs, PURLs can be used across other parts of the Funraisin platform, depending on the experience you want to create.

Incomplete Registration PURLs are used to re-engage people who’ve started but not completed an event registration. These PURLs streamline the sign-up process by prefilling the registration form with the entrant’s existing details, helping reduce friction and improve completion rates.

Engagement PURLs can direct supporters to a tailored end-of-campaign experience. Unlike Donation and Registration PURLs, which focus on conversion, Engagement PURLs are designed for recognition, motivation, and long-term engagement.

Donation PURLs and Incomplete Registration PURLs can be created and managed directly within your platform admin. Engagement PURLs, however, are standalone, custom-built projects. If you’re interested in exploring this option, please submit a support ticket via your platform admin for further information.

Types of Donation PURLs

Donation PURLs can be created in two formats, depending on how you want the personalized link to behave once it’s used. Both types use the same import and support the same personalized fields—the difference is how long the link remains active.

• One-time PURLs (default)

One-time PURLs expire automatically after a supporter completes a donation. This is the original PURL behavior and is ideal for campaigns where each link should only be used once.

Best for:

• Direct mail appeals
• One-off solicitations
• When each supporter should have a single-use link
• Appeals requiring strict attribution

How they behave:

• The PURL deactivates immediately after a donation
• Reusing the link loads the donation page without prefilled data
• No expiry date is required

• Persistent PURLs

Persistent PURLs remain active even after a supporter donates, allowing the same personalized link to be reused throughout your appeal window. Because these links stay active, you’ll need to set an expiry date—up to 6 months in the future, with the option to extend it for another 6 months each time you update the campaign.

Best for:

• Multi-touch appeal journeys
• Follow-up reminders
• Appeals with multiple giving moments (e.g., end-of-year campaigns)

How they behave:

• The PURL continues to work after the first donation
• Supporters can click the link multiple times until the expiry date
• Expiry ensures privacy and compliance
• Each donation is still individually tracked and attributed to the PURL

When a one-time PURL has been used—or when a persistent PURL reaches its expiry date—the link will still load your donation page, but no personalized data will be applied.

If the supporter is logged out, they’ll simply see the standard, non-prefilled version of the form.

Switching between PURL types

A campaign can be switched between one-time and persistent mode at any time from the campaign settings. The change applies to all PURLs moving forward, with the option to retrospectively update PURLs that have already been used.

PURL campaigns can also be expired at any time from the platform, which will deactivate all associated personalized links regardless of their type or expiry date.

Switching from persistent to one-time

When switching a campaign from persistent to one-time, there are two options for handling existing PURLs that have already been used:

• Switch without expiring — Existing PURLs that have already been used remain active until the supporter uses them one more time, at which point they expire. New and unused PURLs will follow one-time behavior immediately.
• Switch and expire — All previously used persistent PURLs are retrospectively expired. Dollar handle personalization will be removed from any PURLs expired this way.

Switching from one-time to persistent

When switching a campaign from one-time to persistent, there are two options for handling PURLs that were previously deactivated after use:

• Switch without re-enabling — Previously used one-time PURLs remain deactivated. New and unused PURLs will follow persistent behavior immediately.
• Switch and re-enable — Previously used one-time PURLs are returned to the campaign and will behave as persistent going forward. Dollar handle personalization will not be restored for re-enabled PURLs, as this data is no longer available once a one-time PURL has been used. Other personalized fields, such as name and email, will still be applied.

Import fields glossary

The first step in creating a new PURL campaign is to prepare your data. Start by downloading the PURL import template, which includes example dummy data to help you understand the required format.

When preparing your import file, the following fields are available. Only First Name and Last Name are mandatory for donation PURLs. All other fields are optional and can be included based on the level of personalization you want to apply.

You only need to populate the fields that support your appeal strategy. PURLs will prefill any personalization tags that exist on your donation or appeal page, so include only the data you intend to use.

If your donation form collects details like address, email, or phone number, and you’ve included those fields in your PURL import, they will automatically prepopulate for the supporter. If those fields aren’t present on the form, the data is simply stored against the PURL record and won’t be displayed.

This gives you full control over how personalized each appeal should be—without requiring you to provide every possible field.

Preparing Import Data

Donation PURLs are generated in bulk from within the Donations module. Each row in your import file becomes its own personalized link, with campaign settings controlling how those links behave.

To create a new import:

1

Go to Fundraising > Donations in your admin

2

Open Advanced options

3

Select Manage PURLs

4

Along the top, click the Import list tab

5

Download the CSV template (Blue button in the Import Fields section)

6

Add your data to your template:

• Include Donation Amount (column T) if you want a specific donation amount to be pre-selected when the supporter lands on the page.
• Important: The amount you enter must match one of the personalized dollar handle amounts you’ve provided in the spreadsheet. If it doesn’t match, no amount will be pre-selected.
• Include Dollar Handle Amounts 1–4 (columns W, X, Y, and Z) to personalize the suggested amounts shown to each supporter. These values will override the default dollar handles on your donation form, as long as the form contains the same number of handles.

  These values control the donation amounts shown to each supporter. After importing your PURL campaign, you can configure impact statements and images for specific amounts within the campaign. When a supporter opens their PURL, the donation form will display the matching impact statement and image for any configured amounts. If no matching configuration exists, only the amount will be shown. You can configure as many donation amounts as needed to support your campaign.

• Note: If you enter a value of 0 for any dollar handle position, the form will fall back to the default handle for that position. For example:
• Default handles: 10, 20, 30, 40
• Imported PURL values: 100, 0, 150, 200
• Displayed on the page: 100, 20, 150, 200

7

Save the file as a CSV

Creating a New PURL Campaign

Once your spreadsheet is ready, you can upload it and create your donation PURL campaign directly from the Donations module. Large import files are automatically processed, so there’s no need to split your data before uploading.

To create a new campaign:

1

Go to Fundraising > Donations in your admin

2

Open Advanced options

3

Select Manage PURLs

4

Along the top, click the Import list tab

5

Choose Create new campaign

6

Name your campaign and add an optional description (helpful for tracking appeal waves or segments)

7

Assign the donation or appeal page your PURLs should link to

• You can choose any platform donation page or any event-specific donation page
• This removes the need to manually build URL/hash combinations

8

Select your PURL mode:

• One-time (default) — expires after one donation
• Persistent — stays active until the expiry date

9

If you select persistent mode, set an expiry date (up to 6 months; extendable if needed)

10

Click Choose File to upload your completed csv spreadsheet

• During the import, Funraisin will:
• Generate a unique hash for each row
• Validate email addresses (ensuring duplicates aren’t processed twice within the same campaign)
• Create a personalized URL for each successful record

11

Review the import results, fix any flagged issues if needed, and click Complete import

Note: Funraisin automatically detects the number of records in your import file.

• If the file contains fewer than 2,000 records, the import will proceed immediately.
• If the file contains more than 2,000 records, a scheduling window will appear. This includes:
• The total number of records detected
• An email address field (pre-filled with your login email)
• A Schedule Import button, which runs the import in the background
• An Import Anyway option to proceed immediately

When you schedule an import, a confirmation message will appear to let you know the job has been created.

Large files may take longer to process. If you choose Import Anyway for larger imports (for example, over 5,000 records), the import may time out.

Once complete, your new campaign will display:

• Total number of PURLs created
• A searchable list of individual PURLs
• Tools to edit supporter details (excluding the hash and personalized link, which are uneditable. The personalized link will only be visible if a donation or appeal page was assigned to the campaign.)
• Options to download the full PURL list

Note: On multi-charity platforms, campaigns are automatically assigned to a charity based on the permissions of the user who created them. Only users with access to that charity will be able to view the campaign. Users with full admin permissions can update this assignment if needed.

Customizing Dollar Handles

Once your PURL campaign has been created, you can customize how donation amounts are presented to supporters by adding impact statements and images to your dollar handles.

This allows you to create more engaging and personalized giving experiences by pairing donation amounts with meaningful messaging and visuals.

To add impact statements and images to your dollar handles:

1

Go to Fundraising > Donations > Advanced Options and select Manage PURLs

2

Click the edit icon to open the PURL campaign you want to update

3

Toggle on Dollar Handles

4

Click + Add Amount to begin adding your first handle

5

Add your dollar handle details:

• Amount: Monetary value of the handle (for example, enter 25 for a $25 donation option)
• Description: Add an impact statement to explain what the donation supports
• Image: Upload an image to visually represent the impact
  • Format: JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • Size: 400 x 400px

6

Click Save

Dollar handle images and text will display when the donation amount matches the values assigned to each supporter in your PURL upload. If no matching dollar handle is found, the donation form will display the amount without an impact statement or image.

You can add an impact statement, an image, or both to each dollar handle, depending on how you want to present the donation option.

Managing an existing PURL campaign

Once your PURL campaign has been created, you can manage it directly from the same area in the Donations module. The updated PURL tools give you clearer visibility and more flexibility—making it easier to monitor campaign performance, correct data issues, and adjust settings without needing to re-upload your file.

To manage an existing PURL campaign:

1

Go to Fundraising > Donations > Advanced Options and select Manage PURLs

From here, you’ll see a full overview of your campaign and have access to the following tools:

PURL Campaign Stats

This section provides an overview of how a PURL campaign is performing based on supporter activity and donation data. Stats include:

• Amount Raised: Total value of donations processed through PURLs in the campaign
• Total Donations: Total number of donations made using PURLs in the campaign
• PURLs Imported: Number of individual PURL records imported into the campaign
• Average Donation: Average donation value, calculated based on the total amount raised and the number of donations

Update campaign settings

You can adjust key settings without affecting any existing PURLs:

• Edit the Campaign Name
• Switch between One-time or Persistent mode
• Change the assigned donation page
• Update the expiry date (persistent mode only)
• Charity assignment (only visible to users with full admin permissions)

These changes take effect immediately for all PURLs within the campaign.

Searching For PURLs

Instead of downloading a CSV to find individual supporters, you can now search directly within the campaign using the quick find search field. You can search using any of the following:

• Name
• Email (if provided)
• CRM ID
• Hash ID

This saves significant time for large campaigns and helps quickly locate individual supporters.

Edit individual PURL records

You can click into any PURL record to edit supporter details. Editable fields include:

• First name
• Last name
• Email
• Dollar handles
• Address fields
• Custom segmentation fields

The hash and generated PURL link cannot be edited, but you can copy the link with one click using the clipboard icon.

This allows you to correct typos or update supporter information without re-importing the entire campaign—especially helpful for campaigns with thousands of records.

Downloading a PURL Campaign

If you’d like to review or export all generated PURLs, you can download the full file at any time. The export includes:

• Supporter data
• The generated PURL link
• Each PURL’s unique hash

To download a PURL Campaign:

1

Go to Fundraising > Donations > Advanced Options and select Manage PURLs

2

Select (tick) the campaign you want to download

3

Click Download Imported at the bottom of the page

Reporting on Donations

You can review and export donations generated from a PURL campaign in two ways:

Download a Donations Report

To export a full list of donations from a PURL campaign:

1

Go to Fundraising > Donations > Advanced Options and select Manage PURLs

2

Select (tick) the campaign you want to report on

3

Click Download Donations at the bottom of the page

This export includes key information such as:

• Donation ID
• Donation Type
• Donor name and contact details (if collected)
• Payment details
• Donation amount
• PO number
• Name of the donation page

View and Manage Donations

To view and manage donations within a PURL campaign:

1

Go to Fundraising > Donations > Advanced Options and select Manage PURLs

2

Click the edit icon to open the PURL campaign

3

Select the Donations tab

From here, you can:

• View a list of all associated donations, including:
  • Donor Name
  • Email
  • Donation Amount
  • Date Created
  • Receipt #
• Download specific donations by selecting (ticking) them and clicking Download Selected
• Click Download All to export all donations

Clicking the edit icon next to a donation will open the full donation record.

Deleting a PURL Campaign

A PURL campaign can be deleted from the Manage PURLs page or within the campaign settings.

To delete from the Manage PURLs page:

1

Go to Fundraising > Donations > Advanced Options and select Manage PURLs

2

Select (tick) the campaign you want to delete

3

Click Delete at the bottom of the page

To delete from within a PURL campaign:

1

Go to Fundraising > Donations > Advanced Options and select Manage PURLs

2

Click the edit icon to open the PURL campaign you want to delete

3

Click the three dots next to the Save button at the top of the page

4

Select Delete PURL Campaign