Event Tracking in DonorDock

Events are a great way to connect with donors and prospects, share your mission, and support your organization's fundraising goals. DonorDock includes several tools to help you track fundraising, attendance, and engagement associated with an event.

DonorDock is not a full event management platform, so it does not manage detailed event logistics such as seating charts, ticket inventory, meal selections, or table assignments out of the box. If your organization needs more advanced event management functionality, you may choose to manage the event through a dedicated event platform and use DonorDock to track the resulting contacts, gifts, and engagement.

DonorDock also offers integrations with event and fundraising platforms such as OneCause, GoFundMe Pro, and Eventbrite.

Event Tracking Options

You can use different DonorDock features depending on what you want to track about the event.

Track an Event with a Campaign

A Campaign is a good option when the event itself is the larger fundraising initiative.

When creating the Campaign, select Event as the Campaign Type.

For example:

Campaign: 2026 Spring Gala

The Campaign can then bring together related:

• Gifts

• Pledges

• Appeals

• Activities

• Fundraising goals

You might have several different Appeals supporting the same event, such as a sponsorship mailing, invitation email, or social media campaign, while the Event Campaign tracks the overall performance of the Gala.

Track an Event with an Appeal

An Event can also be tracked as an Appeal when the event is one fundraising method supporting a broader Campaign.

A simple way to think about these tracking options is:

For example:

Campaign: 2026 Annual Campaign
Appeal: Summer Community Event

In this example, the larger fundraising goal is the Annual Campaign, while the event is one way your organization is raising money toward that goal.

Gifts, Pledges, and Activities can be associated with the Appeal for reporting and tracking.

Track Event Ticket Gifts

Event Ticket is one of the available Gift Types in DonorDock and can be used to record payments received for event admission or tickets.

Event Ticket Gifts are separate from standard Donation Gifts and do not count toward a Contact's lifetime giving calculations.

DonorDock does not maintain an event ticket inventory or automatically track the number of tickets purchased.

For example, if a donor purchases four $50 tickets, your organization could record:

• One Event Ticket Gift for $200, or

• Individual Event Ticket Gifts for each ticket

Choose the method that best fits how your organization wants to track and report on the transactions.

Track Event Attendance

The Event Attendance Activity can be used to record which donors and prospects attended an event.

Event Attendance can be used for both paid and free events, so you can track attendance separately from whether the Contact purchased a ticket.

Event Attendance Activities can be:

• Added manually to a Contact

• Added in bulk

• Imported through the DonorDock Import tool

• Created through supported integrations when applicable

Because Event Attendance is an Activity, it can also be included in Activity Reports.

This can help your organization identify Contacts who attended an event and follow up with them afterward.

Collect Simple RSVPs with Forms

DonorDock Forms can be used for simple event RSVP collection.

Forms can be:

• Embedded on your organization's website

• Shared using a direct link

• Linked from DonorDock marketing emails

Form submissions can add Contacts to a Marketing List, allowing the list to function as a simple RSVP or attendee list.

This option works well when you primarily need to know who plans to attend and do not need ticket inventory or more advanced event registration functionality.

Accept Event Ticket Payments with Online Giving

Organizations using DonorDock Online Giving with Stripe Connect can configure a Giving Page to accept gifts with the Event Ticket Gift Type.

Gifts received through the page will automatically be created as Event Ticket Gifts in DonorDock.

When configuring the Giving Page, you can also use preset giving amounts to represent ticket prices.

For example:

• Individual Ticket - $75

• Couple Ticket - $150

• Table Sponsor - $750

You can turn off the custom amount option when you only want donors to select from the preset amounts.

A Giving Page can also automatically associate resulting Gifts with tracking information such as:

• Campaign

• Appeal

• Fund

• Gift Tags

• Giving Page

This makes it easier to keep event transactions consistently categorized without manually editing each Gift.

What DonorDock Online Giving Does Not Track

DonorDock Giving Pages can be useful for simple Event Ticket payments, but they are not designed as a complete ticketing or event-registration system.

For example, Giving Pages do not provide dedicated event management features such as:

• Ticket inventory or remaining ticket counts

• Seating charts

• Table assignments

• Table capacities

• Meal or food selections

• Attendee registration details for multiple ticket holders

• Complex ticket packages

• Event-specific check-in management

If your event requires these features, consider using a dedicated event platform and then bringing the applicable donor, Gift, and attendance information into DonorDock.

Using Event Management Integrations

Organizations that need more advanced event functionality may use a dedicated event or fundraising platform alongside DonorDock.

Supported integrations can help transfer applicable fundraising or attendee information into DonorDock so your CRM remains the central place for donor history and relationship management.

Examples include:

• OneCause

• GoFundMe Pro

• Eventbrite

The exact information synchronized depends on the integration being used.

Choosing How to Track an Event

You may use several of these tools together for the same event.

For example, for an annual Gala you might:

1. Create an Event Campaign for the Gala.

2. Create separate Appeals for invitations, sponsorship outreach, and email promotions.

3. Use an Online Giving Page for ticket payments.

4. Record payments as Event Ticket Gifts.

5. Track attendees using Event Attendance Activities.

6. Use post-event reports to review fundraising and attendee engagement.

The right combination depends on how much event information your organization needs to track and which parts of the event you manage inside DonorDock.