Custom Fields

Custom fields let you extend any record in WeGive — donors, transactions, campaigns, and more — with your own data. Use them to track information that matters to your organization but isn't part of WeGive out of the box, like a donor's volunteer status, a transaction's grant cycle, or the lifetime giving total for a household.

This article covers what custom fields are, how to create them, where they show up across WeGive, and the most common ways nonprofits use them.

What is a custom field?

A custom field is a piece of data you define and attach to a specific type of record. You decide the name, the data type, and what record it lives on. WeGive then makes that field available everywhere you'd expect it: profiles, filters, segments, exports, merge tags in emails, and integrations.

There are two kinds of custom fields:

Static fields hold data you enter or collect from a form. Examples: a donor's preferred name, a transaction's check number, a household's anniversary date.

Computed fields auto-calculate their value from related records. WeGive does the math for you and keeps it up to date. Examples: a donor's lifetime giving total, the date of a donor's most recent gift, the count of registrations for an event.

Records you can add custom fields to

Custom fields can be attached to any of these record types:

• Donors — individual and company supporters

• Households — families and groups of donors

• Transactions — individual payments and donations

• Recurring Donations — scheduled/recurring giving plans

• Pledges — committed future gifts

• Campaigns — your fundraising campaigns

• Events — campaign events

• Event Registrations — registrations for those events

• Fundraisers — peer-to-peer fundraising pages

• Campaign Fundraisers — fundraiser pages within a campaign

• Designations — the funds donations are allocated to

Who can manage custom fields

Creating, editing, and deleting custom fields is restricted to Admin and Development roles. Custom fields are scoped to your organization, so anything you create is only visible inside your WeGive account.

Other roles (Finance, Marketing, etc.) can still see and use custom field values where they appear — on a donor profile, in a segment, as a merge variable — they just can't create or modify the fields themselves.

Where to find custom fields

In your WeGive dashboard, open the left navigation, click Data, then select Custom Fields. This page lists every custom field in your organization and is where you go to create, edit, or remove them.

Creating a custom field

Click Create Custom Field on the Custom Fields page to launch the wizard. The wizard walks you through five steps:

1. Pick a record type — Choose what the field attaches to (Donors, Transactions, Campaigns, etc.).

2. Choose static or computed — Decide whether you'll enter the value manually (static) or have WeGive calculate it (computed).

3. Configure the field — For static fields, pick a data type. For computed fields, set up the relation, aggregation, and attribute.

4. Add formatting — Optional prefix, suffix, decimal precision, multiplier, and default value.

5. Review and save — Confirm everything looks right, then save.

Static field data types

When you create a static field, you'll choose one of these data types:

• Text — Any free-text value. Use for names, notes, IDs, codes.

• Number — Numeric values you can sum, average, or compare.

• Date — A calendar date.

• Boolean — True/false or yes/no.

Formatting options

For number fields especially, formatting helps the value display the way you want it everywhere it appears:

• Prefix — Text shown before the value (for example, $ for currency).

• Suffix — Text shown after the value (for example, % for a percentage).

• Decimal precision — How many digits to show after the decimal point.

• Multiply by — A multiplier applied to the stored value (useful when source data is in cents but you want to display dollars).

• Default value — The value the field starts with when no one has set it yet.

Computed field configuration

Computed fields pull from related records and roll them up into a single value. You configure three things:

• Relation — The related record set to look at. For most record types this is transactions; for events it's registrations.

• Aggregation — How to combine the related records into one value (see the table below).

• Attribute — Which field on the related record to aggregate (for example, amount on transactions, or created_at for the date a transaction was made).

The aggregation types available are:

WeGive recalculates computed fields automatically whenever the underlying data changes, so you don't have to refresh or rerun anything.

Editing and deleting custom fields

From the Custom Fields page in the Data tab, click any field to edit its name, formatting, or default value. To delete a field, use the delete action in the same view. Deleting a field removes it everywhere it's used, including segments and merge tags, so double-check before removing one that's been around for a while.

Where custom field values show up

Once a custom field exists, its value is available in every part of WeGive where the parent record appears:

On the record itself. The field appears on the donor profile, transaction detail, campaign settings, and so on. Static fields are editable inline; computed fields show the calculated value as read-only.

In segments and filters. Build audience segments and filtered table views using custom field values as criteria — for example, "donors whose lifetime giving total is over $1,000" or "transactions where grant cycle equals 2025."

In tag rules. Use custom fields as inputs to your tag rules so donors are automatically tagged based on the data you track.

In emails and messages. Custom fields are available as merge variables, so you can personalize messages with values like a donor's preferred name or their last gift amount.

In journeys. Use custom field criteria to trigger automated journeys or branch journey logic based on the value of a field.

In reports and exports. Custom field values are included in any export you run and can be added as columns in reports.

In custom questions. Custom questions on checkouts, registration forms, and other forms can be configured to save the donor's answer to a custom field.

In Salesforce and other CRM integrations. Custom fields sync to connected CRMs using the API name format CF_{id}_{field_name}, so the data flows back and forth automatically.

Common use cases

Some of the most common custom fields nonprofits set up:

• Donor lifetime giving — A computed Sum on the Donor record over transactions.amount. Powers segments, recognition tiers, and merge tags in stewardship emails.

• Last gift date — A computed Max on the Donor record over transactions.created_at. Useful for lapsed-donor segments and re-engagement journeys.

• First gift date — A computed Min on the Donor record over transactions.created_at. Useful for new-donor onboarding journeys.

• Number of gifts — A computed Count on the Donor record over transactions.id. Good for "ever donated" segments.

• Volunteer status — A static Boolean on the Donor record.

• Grant cycle — A static Text field on the Transaction record. Tracks which grant cycle a gift belongs to for reporting.

• Anniversary date — A static Date field on the Household record for sending an annual thank-you.

• Event headcount — A computed Count on the Event record over registrations.id. Live attendance number on the event itself.

Tips and things to watch for

Name fields clearly. Field names show up in lots of places — segments, exports, merge tags, your CRM. A clear, consistent name (donor_lifetime_giving rather than LTV) saves time later.

Computed fields are read-only. You can't override a computed field's value on a single record. If you need to manually adjust it, you probably want a static field instead.

Deleting is permanent. Removing a custom field also removes any references to it in segments, journeys, tag rules, and merge variables. Audit those before deleting.

Salesforce sync. If your org has a Salesforce integration, new custom fields show up there with the API name CF_{id}_{field_name}. Make sure your Salesforce admin knows the new field exists if they need to map it on the Salesforce side.

Permissions. If a teammate can't see Custom Fields under the Data tab, check their role. Only Admin and Development roles can manage them.

Need help?

If you're not sure what record type a field should attach to, or whether to use a static or computed field for what you're trying to track, reach out to your WeGive contact and we'll help you set it up.