Communication Lists: Managing Supporter Subscriptions

Communication lists let you organize your supporters into groups for targeted marketing messages — and give your supporters control over which communications they receive. Think of them as opt-in mailing lists that keep your outreach organized and compliant.

Creating a Communication List

To create a new communication list, navigate to Engagement → Communication Lists and click the + button.

You'll configure the following settings:

Name — The name of your list (e.g., "Monthly Newsletter" or "Event Updates"). This is visible to supporters in the Donor Portal.

Description — A short explanation of what this list is for. Supporters will see this in their preferences, so write it for them (e.g., "Stay up to date with our monthly newsletter featuring impact stories and upcoming events").

Visible — Controls whether supporters can see this list in their Donor Portal preferences. Turn this off if you want an internal-only list that supporters can't self-manage.

Show To — Determines which supporters can see the list in their portal:

• All — Every supporter sees it
• Tagged — Only supporters with specific tags will see the list. Select the relevant tags after choosing this option.

Double Opt-In — When enabled, supporters must confirm their subscription via email before being added. This is useful for compliance with opt-in regulations.

Adding Supporters to a List

There are several ways to add supporters to a communication list:

Manually — Open a communication list and add individual supporters. You can also subscribe or unsubscribe supporters directly from their donor profile.

In Bulk — Select multiple supporters and subscribe them to a list at once.

Tag-Based Auto-Subscription — When you associate tags with a communication list (using the "Tagged" visibility setting), supporters with those tags are automatically subscribed. If a supporter is later tagged, they'll be added to the relevant lists automatically.

Sending Messages to a Communication List

Communication lists integrate directly with WeGive's messaging system. To send a message to a list:

1. Go to Engagement → Messages and click +
2. Select Regular Message (for one-time sends)
3. Choose Email as the format
4. Under audience, select your Communication List
5. Optionally choose an Email Template for consistent branding
6. Compose and send your message

Only supporters who are subscribed to the list will receive the message. Anyone who has unsubscribed will be automatically filtered out — you don't need to manage this manually.

Important: Communication lists are designed for marketing messages (newsletters, appeals, event invitations). Transactional messages like donation receipts and payment failure notifications are handled separately through triggers and are not affected by communication list subscriptions.

How Supporters Manage Their Preferences

Supporters can manage their own communication preferences through the Donor Portal. When they visit their Preferences tab, they'll see:

• A list of all visible communication lists with toggle switches to subscribe or unsubscribe
• Each list shows the name and description you configured
• Global opt-out options (if you've enabled them — see below)

This self-service approach keeps your organization compliant and reduces the manual work of managing subscription requests.

Unsubscribe Options

WeGive provides several levels of unsubscribe functionality to give supporters flexibility:

List-Specific Unsubscribe — Supporters unsubscribe from a single list. Use the {{donor_communication_list_unsubscribe}} variable in your email templates to include a one-click unsubscribe link for the specific list the message was sent from.

Global Preferences — Supporters are taken to their full preferences page where they can manage all lists at once. Use the {{donor_unsubscribe}} variable in your templates for this option.

Unsubscribe from All — A single action that unsubscribes the supporter from every communication list. This can be shown or hidden in the portal (see customization below).

Do Not Contact — The strongest opt-out. This flags the supporter as not wanting any marketing communications. They'll still receive transactional messages (like donation receipts), but will be excluded from all marketing sends. Supporters can also set granular preferences for specific channels: do not email, do not text, or do not mail.

Customizing the Preferences Page

You can tailor the communication preferences experience in your Donor Portal settings:

• Header and subtitle — Set custom text at the top of the preferences page
• Show/hide opt-out options — Choose which global opt-outs to display (Do Not Contact, Do Not Email, Do Not Text, Do Not Mail)
• Show/hide "Unsubscribe from All" — Control whether the bulk unsubscribe option appears
• Custom image — Display an image on the preferences page
• Redirect URL — Send supporters to a custom page after they update their subscription preferences
• List ordering — Drag and drop to control the order communication lists appear in the portal

Tips and Best Practices

Use clear, donor-friendly names and descriptions. Since supporters see these in their portal, avoid internal jargon. "Monthly Impact Newsletter" is better than "Marketing List A."

Always include an unsubscribe link. Use either {{donor_communication_list_unsubscribe}} for list-specific or {{donor_unsubscribe}} for global preferences in every marketing email.

Use tag-based targeting thoughtfully. Tag-based auto-subscription is powerful for keeping lists current, but make sure supporters understand why they're receiving messages from a list they didn't explicitly join.

Keep your lists focused. Rather than one large list, create specific lists (e.g., "Event Invitations," "Monthly Newsletter," "Volunteer Opportunities") so supporters can choose exactly what they want to hear about.

Review your visibility settings. If a list is for internal segmentation only, set it to not visible so it doesn't clutter the supporter's preferences page.