Charity Updates
Updates are how your charity keeps supporters in the loop. This is how one is written, what happens when you publish it, and what the statuses mean.
What an Update Is
An update is a short post from your charity that appears on your public charity page. It is the place for news, for what a gift actually paid for, and for thanking the people who gave.
Who can write one
Editors, administrators and owners can compose, publish, archive and delete updates. Viewers see the list without controls, and the restriction is enforced by our servers rather than by hiding the buttons.
Write for a supporter, not a regulator
Updates are public and unrestricted prose. Please do not put personal details of the people you help, or anything about a named individual's gift, into one.
Writing an Update
New update opens the composer. A title and an update type are required; everything else is optional.
The Five Update Types
- News: something that has happened at your charity
- Impact story: what your work changed, told through a case rather than a figure
- Event: something supporters can come to or take part in
- Announcement: a change supporters need to know about, such as a new office or a new programme
- Thank you: gratitude to the people who gave
The Rest of the Composer
- Content: the body of the update
- Video: a link to a video hosted on YouTube or Vimeo, shown embedded in the update. Videos are linked rather than uploaded
- Pin: keeps the update at the top of your feed regardless of its date
- Allow reactions: lets readers react to the update. It is on unless you turn it off, and the reaction count is shown beside the update in your portal
Publishing and the Review Queue
What Publish does depends on whether your charity has been verified. A verified charity's update goes live straight away. Before verification it goes to us for review first, and we publish it once it has been approved.
The Four Statuses
- Draft: written but not sent anywhere. Only your team can see it
- Pending review: submitted and waiting on us. This is the step a verified charity skips
- Published: live on your public charity page
- Archived: taken down from the public page but kept in your portal
Verification is worth doing first
If you are posting often, completing verification removes the review step for every update afterwards. Verification is separate from having your listing approved.
Archiving and Deleting
- Archive is offered on a draft, a pending or a published update. It takes the update off your public page and keeps it in your portal, a pending update leaves the review queue, and you can publish it again later
- Delete asks you to confirm and then removes the update outright. There is no undo
An event that has passed, or an appeal that has closed, is usually a case for archiving. Deleting is for an update posted in error.
If a published update needs correcting
Edit it rather than deleting and reposting. A supporter who has already reacted to the update keeps their reaction, and the update keeps its place in your feed.
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