Goal Thermometers

In this article:

1. Creating a goal thermometer
2. Embedding a goal thermometer on your website or email

Goal thermometers track donation totals on a contribution form. They give supporters a visual representation of how close your campaign or organization is to a specific fundraising goal and can motivate your supporters to participate in reaching that goal. Here’s an example:

Thermometers are especially helpful if you’re fundraising on a deadline and need a way to get that across to your supporters.

Creating a Goal Thermometer

To create a goal thermometer, head to the “Contribution Forms” tab of your Dashboard menu. Then open your form by clicking the “Edit” button to the right of your form name.

You’ll see your form with the form editor opened up on the left.

Click on the 'Goal thermometer' tab. Then click the blue 'Create a goal' button.

Decide if you want your goal to be a dollar amount or number of donors, and then enter your goal number in the “Amount” field. Make sure your goal is reasonable — a $1 million goal for a very small campaign or organization won’t compel supporters to donate. People want to be part of hitting a real and tangible goal!

You can also choose some additional goals so when you hit your initial goal, your thermometer will automatically update with a new and higher goal. Enter these in order, separated by commas with no spaces in between. If you don’t enter the values correctly, your thermometer won’t update automatically. You also have the option to set a start date for your goal.

Finally, choose the “Color Scheme” you’d like for your goal thermometer! Click the “Preview goal” button to see what your goal thermometer would look like on your form with each color scheme.

You can choose from five color schemes: dark, light, blue, green, and grey.

'Dark' color scheme:

'Light' color scheme:

'Blue' color scheme:

'Green' color scheme:

'Grey' color scheme:

Make sure you publish all of your changes by clicking the green 'Publish' button at the top of the form editor, or they won't be saved.

Embedding a Goal Thermometer on Your Website or Email

You can even add your thermometer to your website or fundraising emails using code we provide. To find this code, click on the “Stats” button in your form navigation bar (form navbar) at top.

Then click the “Goal” tab from the side menu.

At the bottom of the page, you can see the two thermometers that you can embed on your website or fundraising emails: the 'light' and 'dark' color schemes.

Click the “Get code” button under the thermometer you’d like to embed. The HTML code you need will then appear!

The code will automatically contain a link to your contribution form, which means that anyone who clicks on the thermometer embedded on your website or email will be directed to your form. The form link will also include the refcode “thermometer” (but you can change that refcode to anything you want!). This will help your team determine how much money you raise from people clicking on your goal thermometer and giving through the form.

Copy and paste the code into your mass mailer or web design software.

Please note that if you’re not seeing your thermometer updating on your website or forms, it’s most likely due to simple caching issues with your browser. Just clear your cookies, and you should be good to go!