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Advanced Search

Empowering donors within a fund discovery and selection experience.

Raagini Sarkar avatar
Written by Raagini Sarkar
Updated over 3 months ago

Goodworld’s Advanced Search functionality allows for admins to customize the selection and rank order of funds that appear during a donation experience. Admins can choose to manually rank funds or enable proximity ranking which displays funds that are relevant donors based on their location.

The five steps in Goodworld’s Advanced Search feature demonstrate the levels of depth within the donor journey as they move through the process of selecting a designation. Admins can tailor each step in the process according to their preferences.

1. Funds

The funds tab is the first opportunity for admins to display and/or promote funds to donors. Admins are also welcome to customize the call-to-action on this screen.

‘Display Search’ vs ‘Display Designation Button’

Nonprofits can either choose to display a search bar or display a designation button. A search bar allows for the donor to immediately search funds within a list provided by the admin. The ‘Display Designation Button’ enables donors to access a more robust list of designation options with the click of a button. This list can be as wide as the IRS database or charities or as narrow as a list of ten funds that are uploaded by the admin.

Use Case

United Ways are committed to helping donors make local impact and many of Goodworld’s United Way clients use the ‘Display Designation Button’ to encourage donors to make local impact. By promoting local funds up front, United Ways more effectively drive local impact without removing the opportunity for donors to search a larger database of charities.

Proximity ranking vs Manual ranking

Proximity ranking and Manual ranking are two distinct sorting mechanisms that determine the order in which fund designation options are displayed to a donor. Proximity ranking displays designation options in an order that shows the most proximal organizations to the donor. Manual ranking empowers admins to manually choose the order in which donors will see organizations and/or funds.

Proximity ranking

Goodworld’s proximity ranking algorithm enhances donor engagement by prioritizing charities based on their geographic proximity to the donor. This approach increases relevance and encourages support for local causes that have a direct impact on the donor's community. By highlighting nearby charities, the algorithm streamlines the donor's search process, making it more efficient and personalized. It also promotes awareness of local organizations that may otherwise be overlooked, fostering stronger connections between donors and charities that share geographical proximity and common interests.

iGuide Use Case

United Ways often rely on Goodworld’s proximity algorithm to enriches the donor experience, but have another option as well through Goodworld enablement of the iGuide. The iGuide, along with a database called GiftLink is United Way's comprehensive directory connecting individuals to a wide range of social services, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies. Goodworld empowers United Ways to submit their iGuide data to our platform, so proximity ranking is powered by United Way’s very own iGuide database. In this case proximity ranking is based on ZIP codes, where Goodworld recommends the local designations based on the data provided. Alternatively, admins have the ability to manually rank designations for donors.

Manual ranking

Manually ranking funds (from 1 through 5) will establish the order in which donors or pledgers see designation options during the donation process. Use the “Search” box to find other funds that you would like to have visible to your donors. There is also the option to display a general fund as a pre-selected, default designation. This encourages donations to the fund that is most preferred by the organization.

Group Filtering

Group filtering empowers admins to display the most relevant funds to donors based on the way a donor is grouped or tagged within the platform. It can also be used to hide funds that could be potentially irrelevant to a donor based on a tag. These tags are applicable to both proximity ranking and manual ranking. For example, if a donor is tagged with a city, the proximity ranking option would display all funds that are also tagged with that city. Alternatively, if a donor is tagged with a cause area, funds tagged with that specific cause area would be displayed.

Upload List

The Upload List button is where admins have the ability to upload a list of funds that they would like to display within the donor’s experience. Admins can upload lists in either the Funds tab or the Featured tab.

2. Featured

The ‘Featured’ tab is where admins have the ability to display an additional list of nonprofits and/or funds to donors. This list is typically broader than the options available in the ‘Funds’ tab, but narrower than the IRS database. The ‘Featured’ screen is where the donor finds themselves if they bypass the ‘Funds’ screen.

On the ‘Featured’ tab, admins have all the same capabilities to manage the screen, including the ability to customize the call-to-action, apply group filtering and/or enable proximity vs. manual ranking to the list of organizations/funds.

3. IRS Database

In the IRS Database tab, admins have the capability to enable or disable donor access to over 1 million 501(c)(3) nonprofits in the US. You are also welcome to customizing the title, description and other miscellaneous text that displays to donors.

4. Write-Ins

Write-Ins enable donors to write-in information about a charity that they wish to support that they are unable to find in the list of organizations that the nonprofit admin has enabled access to. This feature can be enabled or disabled by a nonprofit admin depending on the preferences on the campaign.

5. Splitting

On this screen, admins determine whether donors will be able to select multiple designations for their donation. Splitting allows donors to choose exactly how much of their donation goes to each designation they have chosen. Admins can customize all the text that would be visible to the donor as they complete their pledge process.


If you have questions about Advanced Search, schedule a support call with our success team.

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