The Goal Bar is a visual, front-end display tool that allows you to showcase progress toward a goal on campaign and event pages. While goals themselves are set and tracked at the campaign level by admins, Goal Bars give you flexibility in what you choose to display (or not display) to participants and donors.
Whether you’re highlighting total funds raised, participation rates, or registrants, the Goal Bar helps create momentum and transparency—without altering your core campaign reporting.
Key features
Three goal types
Choose the metric that matters most for your campaign:
Funds Raised – Display your progress toward a fundraising target.
Participation Rate – Highlight how many people have participated relative to your goal.
Registrants – Track total sign-ups for an event or initiative.
You can choose to display your goal publicly or keep it hidden.
Two visual styles
Match the Goal Bar to your event or campaign style:
Horizontal Bar – A classic progress bar for clear, linear growth tracking.
Circular Bar – A dynamic circular display to visually highlight percentage progress.
Filters & tagging
Display results for specific segments by applying:
Campaign Filters – Focus the goal bar on a particular campaign.
Company Filters – Show progress for specific workplace partners.
Tag Filters – Only display activity for users with selected tags (e.g., departments, regions, membership groups).
This is ideal for workplace giving challenges where different teams or offices compete toward a goal.
Live updating display
The Goal Bar updates automatically every 3 seconds, ensuring participants and donors always see the latest progress. During in-event donation drives, you can also display recent donations in real time—celebrating generosity and encouraging others to give.
Campaign goals vs. displayed Goal Bars: what’s the difference?
It’s important to distinguish between backend campaign goals and frontend Goal Bars:
Campaign-level goals (admin tracking)
Admins can set goals when creating or editing a campaign
These goals are used for internal tracking and reporting
Goals cannot be set at the event level
Campaign goals exist whether or not a Goal Bar is displayed publicly
Goal Bars (public display)
Goal Bars are visual widgets added to campaign or event pages
They do not create or change campaign goals
A Goal Bar can reference any existing campaign, even when placed on an event page
You control what metric is shown, how it looks, and which activity is included
This separation allows you to track one thing internally while displaying something else publicly.
How Goal Bars work on event pages
Although events do not have their own goals, admins can still add Goal Bars to event pages.
When a Goal Bar is placed on an event page:
It must reference a campaign
The progress shown reflects activity from the selected campaign, not the event itself
You can choose which campaign to reference using filters
The Goal Bar updates in real time as campaign activity occurs
This is especially useful when:
An event is part of a larger fundraising campaign
You want to show donation progress without including ticket sales
Multiple events roll up into one campaign goal
How to set up your goal bar
Create a campaign page – In your campaign dashboard, click on the New Page button.
Add a goal bar – In the top right hand corner, click the plus button to add a variety of widgets and items to your page. Click goal bar.
Choose Your Goal Type – Select Funds Raised, Participation Rate, or Registrants.
Set Your Goal Amount – Enter your target number.
Select Your Style – Pick Horizontal Bar or Circular Bar.
Apply Filters (Optional) – Choose campaigns, companies, or tags to display specific segment results.
Save & Display – Add the Goal Bar to your live campaign or event page.
Goal Bar settings and features
Goal type
Choose what metric the Goal Bar displays:
Funds Raised – Tracks donations toward a monetary goal
Participation Rate – Displays participation as a percentage
Registrants – Shows total sign-ups
Each Goal Bar can display one metric at a time, independent of other campaign data.
Public title and goal configuration
Title (Public): Fully customizable text displayed above the Goal Bar
Supports dynamic variables such as {{amount}}
Prospects: Optional reference number for participation-based goals
Goal: Define the target amount or percentage
Visibility toggle: Choose whether the goal value itself is visible to users
Visual styles
Customize the appearance to match your page design:
Horizontal Bar – A classic progress bar for linear tracking
Circular Bar – A compact, percentage-based visual
No Goal Bar – Hide the visual while retaining the widget configuration
Additional style controls include:
Height and corner radius
Progress color and background color
Title and goal font size
Title and goal font color
Filters
Filters determine which activity is included in the Goal Bar calculation.
You can filter by:
Campaign – Select which campaign the Goal Bar references
Company – Display progress for a specific workplace or partner
Tags – Only include activity from users with selected tags
This allows for highly targeted displays without changing campaign reporting.
A few use cases
Workplace giving competition
A United Way workplace giving campaign wants to create friendly competition between departments. By tagging participants according to department, they can filter the Goal Bar to display participation rates for each department in real time—motivating teams to boost their numbers.
National office fundraising tracker
An organization wants to showcase the amount raised by different offices during a national giving campaign. Each office’s progress is displayed through a filtered Goal Bar, creating visibility and driving momentum.
In-event fundraising drive
During a live gala, the Goal Bar is projected on the screen, updating every 3 seconds to show donations as they come in. Recent donor names and amounts appear alongside the Goal Bar, adding excitement and inspiring others to give.
Excluding ticket sales from a Goal Bar
If you want to exclude ticket sales from a displayed goal:
Create or use a campaign that tracks donations only
Associate your event with that campaign (if applicable)
Add a Goal Bar to the event page
Use the Campaign filter to reference the donations-only campaign
Result:
Internally, ticket sales and donations can still be tracked separately
Publicly, the Goal Bar reflects only donation progress
This is ideal for galas, benefit events, and ticketed fundraisers where you want to spotlight giving rather than attendance revenue.
Why use Goal Bars?
Create urgency and momentum
Make progress visible without exposing backend reporting logic
Tailor what donors and participants see—without changing how you track internally
Support flexible storytelling across campaigns and events
For maximum impact, combine the Goal Bar with live donor recognition and leaderboard competitions to keep engagement high throughout your campaign or event.
By using Goodworld’s Goal Bar, you can make campaign progress visible, inspire friendly competition, and create a real-time sense of momentum. Whether tracking funds raised, participation rates, or registrants, this dynamic feature keeps supporters engaged and motivated from start to finish.
If you have questions about Goal Bars, schedule a support call with our success team.