Bulk upload for one contribution with many attributions? Sample spreadsheet or recs?

The way I can imagine it is we add the contribution to EA, then maybe we can edit that contribution with bulk apply, selecting “Apply Contributions > Contact Attribution” in mapping and then "choose column from data file" for contact attribution and attribution amount? Does that sound right?

This sounds like it would work if you used the Bulk Uploader to add the contact and apply the contribution or use “Load Data with Contribution ID” rather than bulk apply. The way to add an attribution during bulk upload apply contributions is to map to the attribution VAN ID, so you’d need to have/create VAN IDs for all the individuals and have their amounts mapped to their VAN IDs too. 

The part that is stumping me is how to format the spreadsheet with one contact/contribution for Pick Click Give and then 80 individual VAN IDs with amounts. Maybe a Bonterran can advise!

Hi Melissa! 

You can use Bulk Upload to add multiple attributions for a single contribution in EveryAction. Here's how you can approach this specific situation with the program donations:

Required File Format
The spreadsheet should include these key columns:

• VANID for the contribution (main donation record)
• VANID for the attribution (each individual donor)
• Attribution Type (required)
• Attribution Amount (required)
• Attribution Note (optional, limited to 100 characters)

Process Steps

1. Prepare your spreadsheet with one row per attribution (so ~80+ rows for your situation)
2. Upload your file through Bulk Upload
3. Select "Apply Contributions" when mapping columns
4. Choose "Contact Attribution" option
5. Map your columns to the required fields

Important Notes

• All attribution types must be valid in your system
• Attribution amounts must be numeric with maximum 2 decimal places
• You cannot attribute the same contact more than once to the same contribution
• Consider saving your mapping as a template for future use

For this specific situation, I recommend first creating the main contribution record for the total amount received, then using bulk upload to add all the individual attributions from your spreadsheet of donors.

Erica,

We tried to do this today and were unable to make it work. I think the big issue was certain fields being required and, therefore, the inability to apply attributions without also applying a contribution amount.

In round one, we ended up with the full check amount applied as a contribution to each attribution contact, with their own contact as attribution. We bulk deleted the contributions in the financial batch. 

In round two, we edited the spreadsheet to have two VANID columns (one for the contribution and one for the attributions) and ended up with one contribution associated with the correct contact, but EA ignored all other rows and applied zero attributions. 

Any guidance?

I have a couple of other things I’m planning to try and I’ll report back. 

In round 3, I selected ‘load data with contribution ID’ instead of VANID and entered the contribution ID for the deposited full check in every row. I chose “edit contribution data” and mapped contribution ID, attribution contact VANID and attribution amount, and I selected one value for attribution type. The bulk upload failed with an error for each contact. The issues data report had added a new column for VANID and put the VANID for the organization that sent the check. 

In round 4, I selected ‘load data with contribution ID’ and had one contribution ID in the first cell of the column, instead of the same contribution ID in each cell of the column. When I tried to select ‘edit contribution data,’ I received an error message: “The first column in the uploaded file must be a numeric Contribution ID.” I had made not changes to the formatting so it was still a numeric contribution ID. 

I don’t think comma-separated values in a single cell would work and it would be a hot mess if it did. 

Hey just chiming in to say that I too have experienced what Melissa reports.

If one contribution has (let’s say) 80 different attributions, bulk uploading in a single bulk upload won’t work.  If it’s a one off, you’re basically better off just updating that one contribution manually in the tool.

What’s a pain is if you have numerous contributions with numerous attributions.  I had a migration with this situation and basically had to do a crazy hack to parse what should have been a single bulk update to existing contributions into repeated bulk uploads

basically for each attribution for each contribution, i numbered the attributions.  so first bulk upload was by contribution ID, update all contributions to append their FIRST attribution; second bulk upload was the same but all contributions and their SECOND attribution. 

it was onerous and insane but at least for the first like 25 rounds of this was more efficient than manually updating individual contributions (which was what I later resorted to when the number of individual contributions was small enough that manual attribution updating was more efficient).

Am I saying this is how it should be?  Oh heck no, it was awful. But it was what I had to do to get the attributions in.  

The other thing I’ve seen people do is (for example) take an $8000 contribution that should be attributed to 80 people and load it as 80 $100 contributions by the hard credit donor so that the 80 contributions and their correct attributions could be bulk uploaded.  But then you’ve essentially split a gift (in theory you could then manually join the 80 contributions as splits of a single gift after the fact but I don’t know if that’s any less work, ugh!)

Rumi

One more thing stemming from this whole situation is the question of a receipt/triggered email related to multiple attributions. 

We (perhaps pointlessly) edited our triggered contribution receipt email to include different information for folks who contributed via this program. We tried to figure out a way to trigger the emails, as is the norm with offline donations, but the only thing we could do with the attribution report was make folks thanked. 

The only way to trigger that thank you email is in the contribution and it appears that it would just go to the organization that sent the check. Is that correct? Or would it send receipts to the attributions as well? 

It seems like the only way to thank the attributions is doing a mail merge and paper letters or sending a targeted email that won’t make it to any folks who aren’t subscribed. Or to send an email directly instead of using EA (though we can at least use the email to notes feature in BCC to record the communication). 

The Triggered Email for Contribution Receipt only goes to the organization who sent the check, that’s correct. There is not a Triggered Email template for an Attribution. I get why, it has to do with CAN-SPAM, since Triggered Emails are allowed to go to people who didn’t opt in. 

You could set up an automation to email attributions, but you’re right that it wouldn’t go to people who don’t have an email or who are not opted in. BCC to Notes is a good way, although I lean toward Mail Merge and paper letters (or just emailing the letter as an attachment). Then you could use BCC to Notes when you email the letter as an attachment, if you don’t want to mail hard copies of the letters. 

From the Attribution and Soft Credits Report you can Generate Letters, and with the template, you can configure Mark As Thanked and add to Contact History, also. 

To save you finding this out: if you Generate Letters one at a time, you’ll get one Word doc with one letter. All good, you can download that letter and email it.

If you Generate Letters from an Attribution Report of 80 attributions, you’ll get one Word doc with 80 pages/letters. So if you want to email the actual attachments instead of USPS mail, you’ll need to either generate them one by one or figure out how to split one Word doc of 80 pages in 80 Word docs. (This is because EA thinks generating letters means they’re going to be printed.)

@melissa Sorry this is not working out for you as expected. Our support team let me know they would recommend a back end edit to fix this for you. I will get this ticket started for you. Stay tuned. 

Thanks, Liz!

Sally, thanks for all your insights!