How to plan, build, and execute a fundraising campaign with Bonterra Que

Most fundraising campaigns don’t fall apart because of a lack of passion or purpose. They fall apart because of time. Writing the appeal, building the donor lists, creating the giving page, following up with the people who slipped through the cracks after the campaign closed. All of that work adds up fast, and for most nonprofit teams, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all well.

That’s exactly where Bonterra Que comes in. Built directly into your fundraising platform, Que doesn’t just give you advice. It acts, helping you move from strategy to launch-ready campaign faster than you thought possible, all while staying true to your data and your organization’s voice.

Here’s a practical walkthrough of what it looks like to use Que at every stage of a fundraising campaign.

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Step 1: Start with strategy, not a blank page

Before you write a single word of copy, the most important thing to do is get clear on where to focus your energy. Que’s personalized coaching skill makes that part of the process significantly faster. Rather than digging through dashboards or waiting on custom reports, you can open Que and simply ask.

Que reviews your organization’s donor data, past campaign performance, and sector-wide benchmarks to surface the highest-impact opportunities for your specific situation. Whether you’re trying to grow your monthly giving program, re-engage lapsed donors, or hit a year-end revenue goal, Que points you in the right direction and builds out a plan to get there.

One customer described their experience this way: “I used Bonterra Que to plan a March fundraising campaign from start to finish. I shared our goals, metrics, and criteria with Que and asked for strategy, a timeline, audience segmentation, messaging themes, and campaign initiatives.”

That’s not a feature preview. That’s a full campaign planned in a single working session.

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Step 2: Build the right audience

With your strategy in place, the next step is identifying who you’re actually talking to. This is where a lot of campaigns lose momentum. Segmentation takes time, requires technical skill, and often gets oversimplified because the capacity just isn’t there. Que takes that burden off your plate entirely.

Simply describe who you want to reach in plain language and Que builds the list for you, using your organization’s giving history, engagement data, and predictive models to identify the donors most likely to respond.

One customer shared what this shift felt like in practice: “It’s been really nice to ask questions about lapsed or new donors and quickly get the totals instead of sifting through spreadsheets and calculating on my own.”

And when segmentation is done right, the results show up in the numbers. One organization reported that using Que’s segmentation helped them increase campaign revenue by 41% year over year. That kind of outcome doesn’t come from working harder. It comes from targeting smarter.

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Step 3: Create your campaign assets

Now comes the part that typically eats up the most time: writing the emails, building the donation form or giving page, and making sure everything maintains a consistent voice. Que handles all of it, and does it fast.

For emails, give Que the context it needs, and it returns a complete draft with a subject line, pre-header, body copy, and call-to-action that’s already aligned with your voice and campaign goals. 
The key is specificity. The more detail you give Que about your campaign, your audience, and the impact you’ve already had, the stronger the output will be.

One customer noted the difference in quality right away: “Que has a warmer, more genuine tone that’s easier to send without having to edit, compared to ChatGPT’s generic tone.” That matters more than it might seem, because every edit you don’t have to make is time you get back.

For donation forms and giving pages, a single prompt is all it takes to get a fully optimized, on-brand page ready for review.

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Step 4: Follow through with stewardship

A campaign doesn’t end when the emails go out. Some of the most valuable fundraising work happens after the campaign closes, in the follow-up touchpoints that deepen donor relationships and set the stage for the next ask. Que’s donor stewardship skill helps your team stay on top of those moments without letting anyone slip through.

One customer described exactly how this played out for them: “I simply asked, ‘Tell me about her,’ and was immediately provided with engagement data and suggested approaches for correspondence.”

That’s the kind of relationship intelligence that used to require a dedicated major gifts officer. Now it’s available to any fundraiser who knows how to ask.

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The full picture

Running a fundraising campaign used to mean weeks of planning, list building, copywriting, and follow-up spread across a team that was already stretched thin. Bonterra Que changes that equation by giving you the strategy, the audience, the assets, and the follow-through in a fraction of the time, all built around your data and your mission.

One customer summed it up well: “What I could do in an hour is now more efficient than what I could have done in a whole day.”

You don’t need to be a data analyst or a seasoned fundraiser to use Que effectively. You just need to know what you’re trying to accomplish and be willing to ask.