Pledge It's data import feature lets you bring participants and transactions from past events into Pledge It as an imported campaign. Once your imported campaign is created, you can connect the imported campaign to an active campaign to compare year-over-year progress, recruit past participants, and give returning fundraisers access to their past donors, so you don't have to start over when moving events to Pledge It.
Note: Imported campaigns are a place to store Participant and Transaction data from a past campaign completed on a different platform so the data can be used for analytics and recruitment. The data import feature does not import data into an active campaign.
Why Create an Imported Campaign?
Switching platforms or transitioning events over to Pledge It shouldn't mean you have to start over and lose access to historical campaign data. Creating an imported campaign that you connect to a new campaign on Pledge It benefits both your organization and your fundraisers.
You’ll be able to… | Fundraisers will be able to… |
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How to Create an Imported Campaign
Navigate to your Organization Dashboard.
Select Campaigns.
In the top right corner, select Create.
Select Import a Previous Campaign from the campaign creation options.
Provide a Campaign Name for your imported campaign.
Add an In-Person Event Date (if applicable).
You'll be taken to the Data Import page of your Imported Campaign where you can access import templates for Participants and Transactions and be able to import data.
Review the procedures below for preparing your import file before beginning an import. Participant data and Transaction data should be prepared separately, with Participant data uploaded first for accurate transaction mapping.
Once your import file is complete, select Import to upload your file. You will be notified if there are any errors.
After your data is successfully imported, your imported campaign can be connected to your current campaign for you to recruit past participants and view year-over-year comparisons.
Note: Adding a date for your previous in-person event will allow you to compare data from this campaign to a future campaign you create on Pledge It. If no date is entered, you will not see a year-over-year comparison chart in your dashboard.
Preparing Your Import File
We recommend downloading the import templates found in your newly created imported campaign to get started. Each template includes the columns corresponding to the data that will be saved for imported Participants and Transactions.
We recommend importing Participants followed by Transactions to ensure transactions are properly credited to a Participant. Transactions can only be credited to a Participant if the Participant has been imported and has an External Participant ID assigned.
Before you upload, be sure:
To save your file as a comma-separated value (CSV) file with a header row. In Excel, use CSV UTF-8.
Values are in accepted formats. See Value Type Breakdown section below for more details.
What is a header row? A header row is the first row of your data that includes a title for each column.
Note: If you opt to use an alternative file than the import template, be sure your file meets the following criteria:
Your file is saved as a comma-separated value (CSV) file. In Excel, use CSV UTF-8.
Your file includes a header row.
Columns in the header row are unique.
Columns can be in any order in your file.
Import Participants Template Breakdown
Column Name | Field Requirement | Value Type | Additional Details |
External Participant ID | Required | Text | The External Participant ID must be unique to the campaign. |
First Name | Required | Text |
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Last Name | Required | Text |
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Optional |
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Total Raised | Optional | Amount |
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Date Created | Optional | Date |
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Is Team Captain | Optional | Boolean | “Is Team Captain” will be set to No if the value is blank on the import. |
Import Transactions Template Breakdown
Column Name | Requirement | Value Type | Additional Details |
External Transaction ID | Optional | Text | If External Transaction ID is populated on the import, the value must be unique to the campaign. |
First Name | Required | Text |
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Last Name | Required | Text |
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Optional |
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Amount | Required | Amount |
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Date Created | Optional | Date |
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External Participant ID | Optional | Text | If External Participant ID is populated on the import, the value must match a previously imported participant. |
Value Type Breakdown
Value Type | Accepted | Examples that will cause errors |
Text | Up to 250 characters. First Name and Last Name together are limited to 254. |
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Must follow standard email structure, including an @ symbol and domain.
Acceptable Example: | b@c a@ | |
Amount | 0 to 99,999,999.99 Extra decimals are dropped, not rounded.
Acceptable Examples:
| -50 (50) 123,45 1 000 USD 5 |
Date | YYYY-MM-DD or M/D/YYYY Stored as 00:00 UTC.
Acceptable Example:
| 1/5/26 2026-1-5 2026-02-30
Any date that includes time will error.
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Boolean | Any of the following will be recorded as a Yes:
Any of the following will be recorded as a No:
Capitalization doesn't matter. | Captain |
Additional Details:
Spaces around values are removed.
Blank rows will be skipped.
A value with a comma, quote or line break must be quoted, with inner quotes doubled.
Imported campaigns are created in the UTC time zone.
Error Messages
Error Message | Possible Resolutions |
Missing required field: [Column Name]
| Populate the missing required field. |
Invalid number for extTotalRaised. | Update the unsupported value for Total Raised. |
Invalid number for amount. | Update the unsupported value for Amount. |
Invalid email address for email. | Update the unsupported value for Email. |
Invalid date for extCreatedAt. | Update the unsupported value for Date Created. |
Invalid true/false value for isTeamCaptain. | Update the unsupported value for Is Team Captain. |
Date with time is not supported in extCreatedAt. | Update the Date Created value to remove time. |
Value longer than 250 characters for [Column Name]
| Reduce the number of characters for the value. |
The length of firstName and lastName combined must be less than 255. | Reduce the length of the first and last name fields combined to 254 characters or less. |
A row with extId [value from import] already exists. | Occurs when a participant on the import file has an External Participant ID that is already assigned to a previously imported participant.
There are two ways to resolve this issue:
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No fundraiser with external id [value from import] in this campaign. | Occurs when importing a transaction that has an External Participant ID assigned but no imported participant is found with that ID.
There are two ways to resolve this issue:
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I make updates to data that I have already imported?
When you import a file, the system will add new data but will not update existing data. To make edits to previously imported data, you’ll want to navigate to the Participants or Transactions snapshot for that data and select Edit.
I want to upload multiple years of data. Should I do this as one import or import each year separately?
We recommend uploading data from the most recent campaign separately to ensure your campaign's year-over-year comparison chart will accurately compare against the previous year. If it is important to upload data from previous years as well, you can simplify the import of the remaining years by adding them all in bulk to a separate imported campaign. This ensures the donor history for fundraisers is accessible, but will not skew your comparison of the current year and previous year's campaigns.