Soft credits allow you to track donations made by organizations, institutions, groups or households that were influenced by the primary donor that provided funds. The gift amount stays with the donor who gave it, and the soft credit lets you also see it on the record of the person, family or organization who made it happen.
Common cases:
An employer matches an employee's donation, and you want the employee recognized for the match they generated.
One family member writes the check, and you want the gift visible on another household record too.
A board member introduces a donor who then gives, and you want the board member credited with the relationship.
Soft credits are recognition only. They do not create a second gift and they do not double your fundraising totals.
Adding a soft credit
Soft credits are added to a gift after it is saved.
Open the donor's record and go to the Activity tab.
Find the gift and click the chevron to expand it.
Open the Soft Credits tab.
Choose Tag donor to credit an existing donor record, or Add text to credit a name that is not in your system.
[Screenshot: expanded gift on the Soft Credits tab, with Tag donor and Add text boxed]
Tag donor links the credit to a real donor record, so the gift appears on that donor's profile as well. Use this whenever the party has an account, or is worth creating one for.
Add text records a name only. Nothing links to a profile, so use it when you want the recognition noted but the party will never need a record of their own.
Note: you can add up to 3 soft credits to a gift.
Soft credits can be added and removed at any time, so you do not need to work out the recognition at the moment you log the gift.
Example: spouse influence
Melvin Ackerley donates, and his spouse influenced the donation
Log Melvin's gift on his donor record.
Expand Melvin's gift, open Soft Credits, and Tag donor Genevieve.
Melvin's record now shows his own gift as a hard credit and the Genevieve match as a soft credit, which is the full picture of what her relationship brought in.
On the credited donor's own Activity tab, the gift appears with a SOFT CREDIT badge, and the entry reads "Credited from Melvin Ackerley" so it is clear whose gift it was.
Soft credits in the Giving Summary
On each donor profile, the Giving Summary lets you include or exclude soft credited amounts. Toggle it off to see only what that donor gave directly, and on to see everything they are recognized for.
Keep this in mind when you compare two numbers and they do not match. A total that includes soft credits is answering a different question than one that does not.
Soft credit, reassign or hard credit
Soft credit when the gift is on the right record and someone else also deserves recognition.
Reassign when the gift is on the wrong record entirely. Expand the gift and click Reassign to move it to the correct donor.
A second gift only when money actually came from a second source.
What happens to soft credits when a gift changes
Soft credits belong to the gift, not to the donor, so they follow it. Reassign a gift and its soft credits move with it. Delete a gift and its soft credits go with it.