Impact Stories
Last updated: March 18, 2026
What Are Impact Stories?
Impact Stories are visual posts that let you share the real-world outcomes of your donors’ generosity. Think of them as a personalized thank-you that goes beyond a receipt — you can include photos, videos, titles, and descriptions that show donors exactly how their contributions are making a difference.
Impact Stories appear on your donors’ Donor Portal, giving them a meaningful, ongoing connection to the results of their giving. You control who sees each story, when it’s published, and how it’s shared.
Before You Begin
To create an Impact Story, you’ll need the following:
A video link (YouTube or Vimeo) or image to feature in your story
A title and description for your story
A publication date (you can publish immediately or schedule for later)
A decision about who should see it (see Visibility Settings below)
Creating an Impact Story
WeGive walks you through a guided, four-step process to create each story. Here’s what to expect at each step.
Step 1: Upload Your Media
Start by adding the visual content for your story. You have two options:
Video link: Paste a YouTube or Vimeo URL. WeGive will automatically fetch a thumbnail from the video to use as a preview image.
Image upload: Upload a photo directly from your computer. Supported formats include PNG and JPG.
Step 2: Set Publishing & Visibility
Next, choose when your story goes live and who can see it.
Publication date: Pick a date and time for your story to be published. You can set it to today for immediate publication, or schedule it for a future date.
Visibility setting: Choose who can view the story. The three options are:
Step 3: Add Your Story Details
Title: Give your story a clear, compelling title. This is the first thing donors will see, so make it count. For example: “Your Gifts Built a New Classroom” or “Meet the Family You Helped This Holiday Season.”
Description: Write the body of your story. Share details about the impact — what happened, who benefited, and how donor support made it possible. Keep it conversational and heartfelt.
When you continue past this step, WeGive automatically saves your story as a draft. You can always come back and edit it later.
Step 4: Tag Your Supporters
The final step is choosing which donors will see this story on their Donor Portal. You have two ways to tag supporters:
Tag individual supporters: Manually select specific people from your donor list. This is ideal for personalized stories directed at major donors or specific giving groups.
Use audience rules: Set up filter rules to automatically tag a segment of your supporters. For example, you could tag all donors who gave more than $500 in the past year, or all donors in a particular campaign. You can combine multiple rules using AND/OR logic to get the exact audience you need.
Once you’ve tagged your supporters, click save to publish your story. Tagged donors will see the Impact Story icon appear on their Donor Portal.
Saving & Drafts
You don’t have to finish your story in one sitting. At any point during the creation process, you can save your work as a draft. Drafts are not visible to donors and won’t be published until you complete all four steps and explicitly publish.
To save a draft, simply use the draft save option available during creation. Your story will be saved with all the details you’ve entered so far, and you can pick up where you left off later.
Understanding Visibility Settings
Visibility settings control who can access your Impact Story. This is set during Step 2 of the creation process, but you can change it later by editing the story.
Private stories require donors to log in to their Donor Portal to view them. Only the specific supporters you tagged will see the story. This is perfect for personalized updates or stories with sensitive content.
Supporters Only stories are also login-protected, but tagged supporters can share the story with other logged-in supporters. This is useful when you want organic sharing within your donor community.
Public stories are accessible to anyone with the link — no login required. Use this setting when you want maximum reach, such as sharing on social media, in email campaigns, or on your website.
What Donors See
When a donor is tagged in an Impact Story, they’ll see a clickable Impact Story icon on their Donor Portal. Clicking the icon opens the full story, including the featured media (photo or video), title, and description.
Stories from all organizations a donor supports are available in their portal, giving them a single place to reflect on the impact of their giving across all the causes they care about.
For donors who support your organization through recurring (scheduled) donations, Impact Stories from your organization will automatically appear in their portal feed — in addition to any stories where they’ve been specifically tagged.
Automating Impact Stories with Journeys
If you use WeGive’s Journeys feature, you can automatically tag supporters with Impact Stories as part of an automated workflow. This is a powerful way to deliver personalized impact updates at scale.
To add an Impact Story step to a Journey:
Open the Journey you want to edit (or create a new one).
Add a new step and select “Tag Impact Story” as the action type.
Choose which Impact Story to tag supporters with.
Save your Journey.
When a supporter reaches that step in the Journey, they’ll automatically be tagged with the selected Impact Story, and it will appear on their Donor Portal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I edit a story after it’s published?
Yes. You can update the title, description, media, visibility settings, and tagged supporters at any time. Changes take effect immediately.
Can I schedule a story for a future date?
Yes. During Step 2, set the publication date to any future date and time. The story will remain in draft until that date arrives.
What video platforms are supported?
YouTube and Vimeo. When you paste a link from either platform, WeGive automatically fetches the video thumbnail to use as a preview image.
Do donors get notified when they’re tagged?
Tagged donors will see the Impact Story appear on their Donor Portal. Depending on your organization’s triggered messages and Journey configuration, they may also receive an email or other notification.
Can I use Impact Stories in Journeys?
Yes. Add a “Tag Impact Story” step to any Journey to automatically tag supporters when they reach that point in the workflow.
Is there a limit on how many Impact Stories I can create?
There is no limit. You can create as many stories as you need to keep your donors informed and engaged.