As 2024 gets into full swing, we wanted to share a look at changes our developers made to Little Green Light in 2023. Click any item to link to more details about last year’s feature highlights and updates.
2023 feature highlights
- Addition of an external ID field for volunteer time entries
- “Re-send email” button now available for tribute emails
- Final adjustments to the new look and feel of Little Green Light’s updated user interface
- New dashboard widget: Favorite Lists, including constituent counts
- Forms: Addition of the ability to enable/disable Apple Pay and Google Pay for LGL forms using Stripe enhanced checkout
- Forms: Enhanced ability to pass preset values through to an LGL form
- Forms: Addition of the ability to edit data that was submitted through a radio button, dropdown, and checkbox type field
- Forms: Addition of “Pending Transfer” to daily digest email
- Forms: User interface in LGL Forms updated to improve accessibility
- Forms: Admin/Gift Entry users are automatically added to LGL Forms
- Forms: Conditional display for form fields based on donation frequency for recurring gifts
- Forms: Double the Donation integration
- Fix: Flex Importer creating duplicate addressee values for organizations
2023 integration highlights
- The API now allows constituent searches to be restricted by constituent type
- API search results can return “expanded” results to eliminate the need for subsequent requests
- Ability to query via API for gifts by date created and gift query fields
- Expose tribute-related gift fields in the API
- Integration with Civic Champs volunteer software (beta invitation)
2023 feature updates
- Ability to bulk edit appeal status from within an appeal
- Deductible amount now available in gift history report
- Ability to quickly clone a gift from the “Related Activity” section of a constituent record
- Name field now required in related constituent lists
- Class year now displayed in phonathon call sheets
- Forms: Ability to limit matches by constituent type in webhooks custom integrations
- Forms: Merge fields can now be added to redirect confirmation URLs
- Annual Statements: Improved ability to fix and re-send failed emails
- Annual Statements: Addition of receipt numbers (mostly for Canadian accounts)
2023 feature highlights
Addition of an external ID field for volunteer time entries
We have added an external ID field for Vol. Time entries. This is similar to the external gift ID field, which allows existing volunteer time entries to be updated. This field can help with imports by:
- Avoiding the creation of duplicates
- Allowing the update of volunteer time entries
“Re-send email” button now available for tribute emails
Tribute emails now have the same re-send functionality as other email types.
Final adjustments to the new look and feel of Little Green Light’s updated user interface
Over the summer, LGL updated its look and feel, with new color options, spacing, and font updates designed to improve readability.
New dashboard widget: Favorite Lists, including constituent counts
A new “Favorite Lists” widget is now available on the dashboard. This widget displays the top 5 constituent lists that you have favorited and links to the List page, the List detail page, and the search results for the list itself. This widget is not active by default, but you can add it to your dashboard by customizing the dashboard and selecting it.
Forms: Addition of the ability to enable/disable Apple Pay and Google Pay for LGL forms using Stripe enhanced checkout
We have added the ability to disable both/either Apple Pay and Google Pay with enhanced checkout, so users who do not want to create a custom domain and have it verified can still use enhanced checkout.
Forms: Enhanced ability to pass preset values through to an LGL form
Previously, you could pass values through a link to a user in email or from a confirmation page that would pre-populate values in an LGL form. This has been enhanced to include the recurring gift schedule giving interval as a value that can be passed through.
Forms: Addition of the ability to edit data that was submitted through a radio button, dropdown, and checkbox type field
It’s now possible to edit LGL form submission data that was submitted through checkbox and other multi-line fields after the form is created.
Forms: Addition of “Pending Transfer” to daily digest email
We have added payments with a status of “Pending Transfer” (only applicable to ACH payments) to the LGL Forms submissions daily digest email.
Here’s where you can subscribe to the daily digest email:
Forms: User interface in LGL Forms updated to improve accessibility
We have updated the user interface in LGL Forms to improve accessibility in the following ways:
- Default font colors and weights are optimized to improve contrast and make it more readable for people with low vision or colorblindness.
- All form fields are labeled so that screen readers can read them when a form field is selected.
- Related fields are grouped with a legend for screen readers to read, providing context.
- A title has been added to the required field asterisk and an attribute added to required fields for screen readers to alert users when a form field is required.
- An alt attribute was added to theme logo images to enable screen readers to read the alt title for an image (rather than a potentially long, complex filename that provides no context).
- Heading tags have been added to form titles and section headers to provide important navigation references for users of assistive technologies and to improve readability.
- An attribute was added to instruct screen readers and pronunciation engines.
Forms: Admin/Gift Entry users are automatically added to LGL Forms
Any active team member who is assigned either the Administrator or Gift Entry role in LGL is also automatically added to LGL Forms as a user.
Forms: Conditional display for form fields based on donation frequency for recurring gifts
It’s now possible to cause form fields to display conditionally based on the donation frequency field in a donation form.
Forms: Double the Donation integration
We are adding an integration with Double the Donation for LGL Forms users. This integration is currently available upon request. If you’re interested in using this feature, email us at [email protected].
Read more about this integration in our knowledge base.
Fix: Flex Importer creating duplicate addressee values for organizations
This is a highlighted fix. The Flex Importer was previously creating duplicate addressee values when organization data was imported. This has now been fixed.
2023 integration updates
The API now allows constituent searches to be restricted by constituent type
in the LGL API (Application Programming Interface), it is now possible to restrict a constituent search based on constituent type.
API search results can return “expanded” results to eliminate the need for subsequent requests
We have updated the API constituent search results so a requester doesn’t have to make subsequent requests to get the full data they need. We have added an “expand” parameter that allows street_addresses, phone_numbers, email_addresses, web_addresses, categories, groups, memberships, or custom_attrs to be fully included within the results returned. See the API documentation for details.
Ability to query via API for gifts by date created and gift query fields
The API now has the ability to query for gifts, including parameters to filter the query by date created. This is not restricted by constituent ID.
Expose tribute-related gift fields in the API
We have added the following tribute-related gift fields to the API:
- Tribute Name
- Tribute Hon/Mem Name
- Tribute Dedication
- Tribute Recipient Name
- Tribute Recipient Salutation
- Tribute Recipient Email
- Tribute Recipient Address
- Tribute Notification Template
Integration with Civic Champs volunteer software (beta invitation)
Civic Champs is now offering a monthly sync to get your volunteer data from your Civic Champs account into your Little Green Light account. (Note: This integration was updated to be fully automatic in January 2024.)
2023 feature updates
Ability to bulk edit appeal status from within an appeal
You can now bulk update the appeal status for constituents in an appeal from within the appeal itself. First select the constituents whose appeal status you want to update, and then click Bulk edit > Update appeals:
Deductible amount now available in gift history report
The Constituent Giving History has been updated to include both a “Deductible Amount” column and a “Total” row at the bottom of the table for both the “Amount” and “Deductible Amount” columns. This is useful for providing deductible and total deductible amounts to donors.
Ability to quickly clone a gift from the “Related Activity” section of a constituent record
It’s now possible to clone a gift directly from the “Related Activity” section of the constituent record by clicking Actions > Clone:
Name field now required in related constituent lists
Previously, you could create a related constituent list without completing the “Name” field. This could cause confusion when looking at the List Manager page because only the source/parent name list was displayed.
Class year now displayed in phonathon call sheets
Previously, the General Phonathon and Alternate Phonathon report templates, when either was used to create a phonathon call sheet, were displaying only class years for constituents with the “Student” affiliation. Now these reports should show all class years with the type of affiliation in parentheses (e.g., “1992 (Student), 2010 (Parent)”).
Forms: Ability to limit matches by constituent type in webhooks custom integrations
The webhooks custom integration settings have now been updated to allow matching to be restricted by constituent type:
Forms: Merge fields can now be added to redirect confirmation URLs
LGL Forms can now pass a variable from a form submission through to the confirmation URL for analytical or tracking purposes. Any merge field that can be used in a confirmation page or confirmation email can be used in this way. Here is an example of how you can set up your redirect using an LGL Forms merge field:
Annual Statements: Improved ability to fix and re-send failed emails
In Annual Statements, to better manage failed emails, we have added an “Edit email address” button next to “Resend email”.
Annual Statements: Addition of receipt numbers (mostly for Canadian accounts)
In Annual Statements, when Canadian Receipt Numbers are present on a gift, those receipt numbers will be displayed in a column within the Annual Statements table.
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