Apteco
Learn Mission
Apteco Mission · a hands-on course

Learn Mission
by using it.

Seven parts, at your own pace. You work inside Orbit, Apteco's platform, with the Field Guide open beside you. Orin, the assistant built into Orbit, walks with you. You finish by running one whole pathway: scattered data, one record per person, the right audience, and a thank-you that lands on time.

Open the Field Guide

About eight hours in all. Your progress is saved in this browser only. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Just need one topic? Every stop is open, and each has its own page.

PART 1ConnectOne record per person. Where your data lives, and how Apteco Connect brings it together.
PART 2AnalyzeRead what your data already says: who stayed, who moved, who is drifting.
PART 3BehavioursSimple questions, answered on the spot: who gave when, who stayed, who is new, and which volunteers are drifting.
PART 4The dashboardsThe 10+ standard dashboards, tab by tab, on a demo charity's own system: what each one answers and how to use it.
PART 5AudiencesTurn a question into a list of people worth contacting, by hand and by asking Orin.
PART 6Apteco EmailBuild the email, test it, set the guardrails, send it on time, and watch what comes back.
PART 7The campaigns10+ real journeys read step by step: who enters, what each split decides, and what to change for your charity.
CAPSTONEOne whole pathwayPick a Field Guide pathway and run it start to finish: the audience, the email, the schedule and the guardrail.

How this course works

Each stop takes 5 to 15 minutes. You read a little, then do it yourself in Orbit, then answer one quick check. Open two browser windows: this one, and one for Orbit.

Have a Mission system? Use it. Your numbers will be your own. Not yet? The practice system shows the dashboards. Audiences, Orin and campaigns need a login, so for those stops you read the steps and answer from the examples. Schedule time with an Apteco architect if you want your own data in it.

The screens in this course come from a demo charity's own Mission system (sample data, no real supporters), from the practice system, and from Apteco's Help Hub. Your tiles and campaigns will carry your own names.

Every definition in this course is a standard one from the Mission Field Guide. Your Orbit Admin or Apteco can change any of them to fit you.

The course, stop by stop

55+ stops in seven parts, then a capstone. Each one answers a question a fundraiser, a coordinator or a board member asks. The dashboard and campaign stops use a demo charity's own Mission system, so you see real tiles and real journeys.

Part 1 · Connect: one record per person

  1. What is Apteco Mission? It works beside your CRM, not instead of it.
  2. Sign in to Orbit and meet Orin, the assistant at the bottom left of the screen.
  3. Three columns: supporter ID, gift amount and gift date are enough to start.
  4. How your data gets in: anything in rows and columns, joined into one record per person.
  5. Tables: are you counting people or gifts? The demo charity's eleven tables.
  6. How to use the Field Guide: base fields, insights, audiences and pathways.
  7. Who needs access: Viewer, User or Admin.

Part 2 · Analyze: read what your data says

  1. Find your way around dashboards.
  2. Charity Overview, the board pack that builds itself.
  3. How to use filters.
  4. Bands: Donor Status and giving cadence.
  5. Stages and the second gift.
  6. Flags, scores and rhythms: Sleeping Giant, Rhythm Drift, Action Clock.
  7. Who stayed, who moved: retention and movement.
  8. Picking the right chart.

Part 3 · Behaviours: simple questions, answered on the spot

  1. What is a Behaviour? When, how many and how much, worked out on the spot.
  2. Who gave when: Gave this year, Gave last year, LYBNT and SYBNT.
  3. New and kept donors: Retained donors, new donors, and donor retention done right.
  4. Volunteer Behaviours: count people, not shifts, and spot who is drifting.

Part 4 · The dashboards: 10+ standard dashboards and how to use each

  1. Charity Overview, tab by tab: Summary, Fundraising, Engagement. (its dashboard page)
  2. Donation Analysis: who gives, how often, how much, and one donor at a time. (its dashboard page)
  3. Campaign Performance: which appeals bring in the money, and goal progress. (its dashboard page)
  4. Instant Insights, part 1: Overview, Action Clock, Waterfall, Rhythm Reader, First 90 and Sleeping Giant. (its dashboard page)
  5. Instant Insights, part 2: Cliff Edge, Upgrade Window, Personal Season, Cohort Fingerprint, Giving Clock and Metronome.
  6. Jumping Off Metrics: the board report, LYBNT and SYBNT, and data hygiene. (its dashboard page)
  7. Grant Tracking: the pipeline, funder retention, days to decision, reports due. (its dashboard page)
  8. Event Insights: attendance, no-shows, capacity, and participants who give. (its dashboard page)
  9. Volunteer Insights: hours, segments, and the volunteer and donor overlap. (its dashboard page)
  10. Volunteer Insights (v2): retention and recruitment rates. (its dashboard page)
  11. Program Impact: clients served, outcomes, spend, and cost per positive outcome. (its dashboard page)

Part 5 · Audiences: find your people

  1. Ready-made audiences in the Field Guide, and the demo charity's audience list.
  2. Build an audience by hand.
  3. Ask Orin to build it.
  4. Get to know the list: the audience workbook.
  5. Tidy the list: excludes and limits.
  6. Volunteers and guests: supporters who are more than donors.
  7. Share it with your team.

Part 6 · Apteco Email: reach them on time

  1. Where campaigns live.
  2. Journeys and templates.
  3. What Apteco Email is: promotional and contractual, marketing and transactional.
  4. Build the email in the Email Builder.
  5. Preview and test it.
  6. Guardrails: volume, contact strategy and manual approval.
  7. Watch it work: delivered, opens, clicks and bounces.

Part 7 · The campaigns: eleven real journeys and how to run each

  1. Welcome: the first 30 days, with a split on what each person clicks. (its campaign page)
  2. Supporter milestones: triggered thank-yous on the day they are earned. (its campaign page)
  3. Regular giving: three conversations and an A/B test of the increase ask. (its campaign page)
  4. Emergency appeal: built in advance, with the thank-you that stops the reminders. (its campaign page)
  5. Impact Awareness: quarterly updates in donor words and volunteer words. (its campaign page)
  6. Supporter motivations: one email, one split, one trigger. (its campaign page)
  7. Legacy motivations: a yearly loop for pledgers, a path for everyone else. (its campaign page)
  8. Volunteering push: thank, nudge, invite. (its campaign page)
  9. Get creative for our cause: fundraisers, the pack, and the thank-you when the money lands. (its campaign page)
  10. Event journey: a countdown to each person's own event date. (its campaign page)
  11. Rebate Program Application: ads, push and a call list for the people who never open the email. (its campaign page)

Capstone · One whole pathway

  1. Pick your pathway: The First 90 Days, From Guest to Giver, Volunteers Who Have Never Given, or Catch Them Before They Lapse.
  2. Build it: the audience, the email, the schedule, the guardrail.
  3. Close the loop: what flips back on the record, and your own question answered.

Then an optional 19-question check, and a 15-minute weekly habit built on The Monday Call List.