Getting Started
Attributions and Soft Credits allow you to give a donor credit for a contribution even when the payment didn't come directly from them. This feature can be accessed when adding or editing contributions from contact records, through the Financial Batch Manager, or when setting up online contribution forms.
Feature Details
When you attribute soft credits for donations, you create a connection between a contribution and contacts who influenced or deserve recognition for that gift, even if they didn't provide the funds directly. Each attribution includes a specific attribution type (such as Board Member Giving, Corporate Matching, or Tribute Gift) which helps categorize the relationship between the donor and the contribution.
Soft credits enable you to track a donor's full history of both direct donations and credited gifts on their contact record. This comprehensive view allows you to query for donors based on both direct and soft credited gifts and include soft credits when creating custom calculated fields for giving summaries like Highest Previous Contribution, Most Recent Contribution, or Lifetime Giving.
Feature Navigation
Read more about specific actions related to Attributions and Soft Credits:
- How do I add attributions to a contribution from a contact record?
- How do I add attributions when entering contributions in Financial Batch Manager?
- How do I set up attributions on Online Actions forms?
- How do I add attributions to Recurring Commitments and Pledges?
- How do I include soft credits in Custom Calculated Fields?
- How do I add attributions through Bulk Upload or Bulk Apply?
Tracking your Success / Reporting
You can track attribution data using the Attributions and Soft Credits Report. This report allows you to filter for specific attribution types, date ranges, and other criteria to measure your success in different giving categories. You can also use this report to generate thank you letters and mark attributions as thanked in bulk.
Transition Statement
Below, you'll find step-by-step instructions for common attribution and soft credit tasks to help you implement these features in your fundraising workflows.