Our November updates focus on making it easier for supporters to engage with your auctions, helping your staff find the right records faster, and giving your members a clearer experience inside the Constituent Portal. These enhancements are designed to save time, reduce guesswork, and create more meaningful interactions with your community. 

Make Auction Easier to Browse and More Exciting for Bidders

Auctions remain a powerful way for nonprofits to raise money and engage supporters, from gala nights to online bidding. And because CharityEngine’s auction tools are built in, every bid and purchase is automatically mapped to the CRM. You can even view a supporter’s past auction activity right inside their contact record.

This month’s enhancements make auctions even easier to run and more intuitive for bidders. 

Organize Items with Categories 

Auction items can now be grouped into categories such as Art, Experiences, Wellness, or Clothing. This allows bidders to quickly browse what interests them most. Structured categories help supporters discover more items and stay engaged longer. 

Clearer Bid Notices That Keep Donors Involved 

Outbid notifications now automatically include the item name in the message. This helps bidders track multiple items at once and encourages timely bidding. Clearer communication often leads to more activity and higher revenue. Personalized Messages for Auction Winners 

You can now include the new Auction Item token when emailing winners directly from the Auction Winners screen. This dynamic field inserts the exact item name into your message, making every congratulations or follow-up email feel personal and purposeful. 

It’s a small detail that goes a long way in stewarding your auction participants. 

A More Helpful and Flexible Constituent Portal 

A great donor portal gives supporters a central place to manage their giving, keep their information up to date, and stay connected with your organization. This month’s updates make that experience even more seamless: 

• Membership IDs now display by default, giving members quick access to important information. 

• Donors can now update their own username, making it easier to manage their profile without staff assistance. 

And don’t forget, the portal is highly customizable. You can tailor the content, layout, and messaging to match your organization’s brand and priorities, creating a donor experience that feels like a natural extension of your website. 

Find the Right Contact Faster with Smarter Global Search 

Ever find yourself trying to look up a donor by the name you actually know them by, like “Bill” instead of “William”? Now you can. Global Search is now more intuitive and helps you get to the right record faster: 

• Search by nicknames, making it easier to find a contact even when you don’t remember their formal record name. 

• See prefixes and suffixes in search results such as Dr., Jr., or Sr., giving you clearer context when several contacts share similar names. 
  

These enhancements reduce guesswork and help your team confidently pull up the right supporter every time. 

Looking Ahead to a Strong Giving Season 

As you gear up for Giving Tuesday and the busiest fundraising weeks of the year, we hope these enhancements make your work a little smoother, whether you’re running an auction, searching your database, or giving supporters a great experience in the Constituent Portal. Every improvement is designed to help your team work more efficiently and create meaningful connections with your donors. 

We’re also closing out the year with a bang. In December, we’ll be sharing a look back at our biggest updates of 2025, a roundup of the enhancements that had the greatest impact on fundraising, donor engagement, and day-to-day ease of use. Stay tuned. 

And as always, thank you for your partnership and for the incredible work you do every day.