To aid in the prevention of spam that’s been on the rise lately, Blackbaud implemented a change on April 7, 2023, that affects participant centers within TeamRaiser events. New TeamRaiser participants or participants who don’t have a validated record in Luminate Online’s Constituent360 are unable to send emails from their TeamRaiser Participant Center until a validating minimum threshold is met:

A participant must meet one of these criteria to use the Participant Center email:

• The Participant has transacted $5 or more to the organization at any point
  OR
• The Participant has received confirmed donations of $5 or more from other donors
  OR
• The Participant record is 365 days or older

Read the Knowledgebase article on the change here and review Blackbaud’s list of changes to make with this update. Our team can help build a query to view how many participants are affected by this change.

Update: as of the June 6, 2023 release, ACH payments will not count towards the $5 gift minimum for using the participant center’s email tools.

Below are some options we recommend to improve the usability of the Participant Center with this change:

Charge a Registration Fee

By charging a $5 registration fee, Participants will meet the threshold for using the email module in the Participant Center before they’ve even received access.

Add $5 as an Additional Gift Donation Level

Within the registration process, add a $5 additional Gift donation level that includes a note explaining the functionality limitations. This added level is useful for free or Do-it-yourself TeamRaisers where adding the registration fee isn’t always an option.

Example: “Kickstart your fundraising with a gift to unlock email functionality in your participant center.”

Update Your Autoresponders

Add note about the $5 requirement to unlock the email functionality in the Participant Center in the Thank You for Forming a Team autoresponder, The Thank You for Registering autoresponder, and the Someone Has Registered You autoresponder.

Example: “You must raise a minimum of $5 via credit card to unlock the email functionality in the participant center.”

Prevent Access to the Email Module Until a Donor Fundraises $5

Our team can add custom code to show a notification that the email module in the Participant Center is unavailable until a donor fundraises a minimum of $5. We can aslo change the next steps to include a checked box for raising their first $5. Note: This would affect all TeamRaisers that use the same Participant Center version in your instance.

Add a Lightbox to the Participant Center to Give More Attention to the $5 Minimum and Encourage Fundraising

Our team can add a custom code to build a lightbox to the Participant Center notifying them of the $5 minimum via credit card to unlock the email feature. This added level of functionality is useful for organizations that are new to Luminate Online and many of their records will not meet the criteria of being a year or older.

BONUS TIP! Create a Robust Participant Toolkit

Create a toolkit with all your social content, suggested message content, fundraising tips and more. This can live on the Tools and Resources page as a stand-alone page or as a downloadable asset and be included in autoresponders and coaching messages. This will help encourage fundraising earlier to unlock the email functionality.

What’s Next?

Are you looking for guidance on what would best meet your specific TeamRaiser needs to ensure your participants are using your tools to their full potential? Contact us; we are here to help!