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Understanding tracking codes

Learn what tracking codes are and what they are used for.

Updated over 8 months ago

What is a tracking code?

A tracking code in NationBuilder is a code that identifies where a financial transaction came from. In other words, it helps you understand what campaign/initiative/program is associated with that transaction.

In this table are some examples of commonly used tracking codes.

Tracking code

Description

Where it is being added

EOFY-appeal-YY

End of financial year appeal that we run annually.

Added to donation page settings published for this appeal and manually added by staff when processing mail-in payments.

homepage-donation

Donations that originate from the donate page linked to our home page

Added to donation page settings of donation.

membership-dues-YY

Money is taken in to pay membership dues.

Tracking code added to settings of all renewal donation page settings. This is done annually just before the renewal date.

Create a new tracking code

Because tracking codes are tied to transactions, you start in the Finances section in your control panel. Tracking codes can be created in Finances > Tracking codes.

1. Create a slug to identify your unique tracking code and include a name/description.

2. Click the Add tracking code button to save your new tracking code.

Ways to use tracking codes

Tracking codes can be used in a few different ways:

  • Track your fundraising campaign

You first have to create a donation page for your campaign, and then add a tracking code to the specific page. All donations that go through that page will get marked with the specific code. Each donation can have only one tracking code.

To add a tracking code to your donation page, go to Website > [Select Site] > [Select donation page] > Donation settings > Basics > Tracking code.

If you need to create a new tracking code, click on the link below the "Tracking code" dropdown menu. You will be taken to the Finances section where you can add the new code.

Once you publish your donation page, all transactions that go through the page will be marked with the specific tracking code.

For example, Tony oversees all the fundraising at his student organization. His team decides to launch a few campaigns to increase the number of donations. Because the organization uses multiple donation pages that are all active, Tony creates specific tracking codes for these pages. Through this method, the team is not only able to see where all the transactions are coming from, but they can also measure how successful certain campaigns are over others.

  • Track individual donations

You can use a tracking code to keep track of individual donations. Remember, each donation can have only one tracking code.

While charging a credit card or recording a donation, remember to select the appropriate tracking code from the dropdown menu on the donation page.

  • Track ticket purchases

First create a ticketed event and select or create a new donation page for the specific event. RSVPs will be directed to the donation page to purchase tickets.

If a tracking code exists on the event page and the donation page where the ticket purchase occurs, then the tracking code from the donation page will only be added to the ticket sale. For this reason, you must direct event RSVPs to a donation page without a tracking code in order to track ticket purchases.

View results of a tracking code

After creating your tracking codes, you can view all transactions associated with the specific code by using the filter feature in the Finances section of your control panel.

1. Visit Finances > Transactions > Click the filter button > Click Add Criteria > Enter Donation tracking code in search > [Select specific tracking code].

2. Click the Filter button and view all the transactions associated with the specific tracking code.

You can also get a quick view of incoming transactions that may be tied to a tracking code by looking at the "Transaction" column in Finances > Transactions.

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