How to create a Program Profile

Setting up your account includes creating a Program Profile for each of your active programs. A profile describes what the program does and the change it works toward. You complete it once and update it when the program changes.

Your profiles do two things:

• They fill in parts of every report you create for that program, so you do not re-enter the same details each year.
• They help funders find you. Public profiles show up when funders search for nonprofits on partner platforms, including Blackbaud.

In Blackbaud and Charity Navigator: Program Profiles are public by default.

Before you start, have a short description of each program ready, and know how often and for how long people take part (for example, weekly for 10 weeks).

Step 1: Add your active programs

Either from your to-do page or from the Programs & Reports tab, add each of your organization's active programs.

Your programs should cover each core initiative, not each grant. 

Step 2: Open the profile

If you bulk added on your To-Do page, it should now show a Complete Program Profile task for each program. Click Start next to the program you want to work on.

If you added directly from the Programs & Reports tab, adding a program will bring you directly to the profile. 

Step 3: Tell funders how they can support the program

Choose whether the program is open to donations, volunteers, or neither.

Step 4: Describe the program

Enter a description for the particular program: what you do, who you serve, and the change you hope to create.

Descriptions must be a minimum of 150 characters and no more than 900 characters.

Step 5: Describe your activities

1. Choose your service type: Direct Service, Capacity Development, or Policy & Advocacy.
2. Choose the intervention type that best describes what the program does.
3. Answer the follow-up questions about how often people take part and for how long.

Step 6: Choose your cause area and impact model

Choose the cause area that best fits the program. Then choose the impact model that is closest to how your program creates change. The impact models you can choose from depend on the cause area.

Step 7: Choose your Succeed indicators

Choose the long-term changes your program works toward, such as "students improve their reading level" rather than "students attend sessions." The options depend on the impact model you chose. 

Step 8: Review and submit

Check your answers and click Review & Submit. On the Programs & Reports tab, the program profile now shows as Complete. Until you finish, it shows an Incomplete profile badge and you cannot create a report for it.

Repeat these steps for each active program.

Updating a profile later

Open the program from the Programs & Reports tab and edit the profile. Your changes apply to any new reports you create for that program. Reports you already created keep the details they had.

If you change the cause area or the impact model, you will need to choose your Succeed indicators again, because the options depend on the impact model.