> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wegive.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Why a Donation Isn't Linked to the Email It Came From

> How WeGive connects a gift to the email that drove it, what breaks that connection, and how to set up links so email revenue is attributed.

If a supporter gave after reading one of your emails but the gift is missing from that message's **Revenue**, the link between the email and the gift was lost somewhere between the click and the checkout. This article explains how the link works and how to keep it.

## How a gift is tied to an email

Every link in an email WeGive sends is personalized for each recipient. WeGive adds two tracking values to the end of the link, `message_id` and `message_donor_id`. When the supporter reaches your checkout, the checkout reads those two values from its own web address and attaches them to the gift. A message's **Revenue** is the total of successful gifts that carry that message's tracking values.

The connection lives only in the web address. WeGive does not store it in a cookie or on the supporter's login. If the supporter reaches a checkout without those values in its address, for example by coming back later through your website's giving page, the gift is not credited to the email.

## Where the connection gets lost

* **The button points to a page on your website that uses a raw iframe embed.** The tracking values arrive on your website page's address, but a plain iframe does not pass them on to the checkout inside it.
* **The page strips or redirects away the query string**, so the values never reach the checkout.
* **The supporter gives later from a different route**, such as a bookmark or your homepage, rather than the email link.

A **pop-up** embed behaves differently: it copies the tracking values from your website page's address into the checkout, so a gift made through it is still credited to the email.

## The UTM Attribution Window does not link emails

The **UTM Attribution Window** setting keeps `utm_*` marketing values (source, medium, campaign, term, content) in the supporter's browser so later gifts can still be tagged with them. It only handles those UTM values. It does not store the email tracking values, so changing the window will not connect a gift to an email.

## How to check a missing link

1. Open the email and see where the button points: straight to a WeGive checkout, or to a page on your own website. If it goes to your website, see whether that page uses a pop-up or a raw iframe embed. See [Embedding a Checkout on Your Website](https://docs.wegive.com/external/support/elements/embedding-a-checkout-on-your-website.md).
2. Open the supporter's record in Dashboard V2, go to their **Activity**, and open the checkout-session entry for the gift. Check whether its **Message** field is filled in. If it is empty, the tracking values did not reach that checkout.

## How to set up attribution-sensitive sends

For emails where tracking revenue matters, such as appeals:

* Point the email button directly at your **WeGive checkout link** instead of a page on your website.
* Add UTM parameters to that link so you also get marketing-channel reporting. See [Checkout URL Parameters](https://docs.wegive.com/external/support/elements/checkout-url-parameters.md).
* If the button must go to a page on your site first, host the checkout there with the **pop-up** embed rather than a raw iframe.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.