Why campaign dates matter
In GivePanel, campaign start and end dates are used to calculate when certain emails should be sent, especially for date based triggers like:
“X days after campaign start date”
“X days before campaign end date”
These triggers rely on the campaign dates that were in place at the time a supporter registered.
Why we recommend not changing campaign dates after launch
Once a supporter registers, the campaign dates at that point are stored against their record.
If campaign dates are changed after registrations have started coming in, those updates don’t apply to existing supporters.
This means:
Existing supporters continue to follow the original campaign dates
New supporters follow the updated campaign dates
This can lead to emails being sent at different or unexpected times across your audience.
Example
Original campaign start date: 1st April
Updated campaign start date: 1st May
A supporter who registered before the change will still have 1st April stored against their record.
If you have an email set to send 21 days after campaign start date, they will receive it based on the April date, even though the campaign now starts in May.
Our recommendation
To keep email timing consistent across all supporters:
Set and finalise your campaign start and end dates before launching
Avoid changing campaign dates once registrations have started
If dates have already been changed
If campaign dates have been updated after registrations have started, you may see emails sending earlier or later than expected for some supporters.
This is expected behaviour based on how campaign dates are stored per registration, and existing records won’t automatically update to reflect the new dates.
New registrations will follow the updated campaign dates, but earlier registrations will continue using the original ones.